Freedom of Expression in Malaysia in 2007: An Annual Review by CIJ

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Malaysia: Freedom of expression 2007

An Annual Review by the Centre for Independent Journalism

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This year, the Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) produced its inaugural annual review for freedom of expression (FOE) in

Malaysia. It is a step further towards systemic documentation of the state of FOE in the country. The review is the outcome of a year long monitoring, which constitutes one of CIJ’s key functions. We are hopeful that the annual review will contribute towards greater awareness of FOE issues.

2007 is a year sadly marred by continued shrinking of media space and persecution of those who seek alternative modes of expression, namely through the internet and street assemblies. The review section highlights the main FOE violations and the context of such violations, and accompanied by a list of cases recorded throughout 2007 by CIJ. We wish to remind readers that the list is based on reports in both the mainstream and alternative press and therefore is by no means exhaustive. CIJ has undertaken verification for the cases to ensure factual accuracy.

The continued deterioration is a result of lack of reforms towards greater openness by the current administration despite promises made by the Prime Minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi before taking power in 2004. The lack of reform in this and other areas, such as the economy and religious practices, also ignited people’s desire to speak out using what little available means. To the people, blogs and peaceful assemblies are legistimate modes of expression, a view unfortunately not shared by the government, which seemed to be alarmed at the sudden show of defiance. Instead of listening to and addressing the people’s needs, the government chose persecution.

Although FOE in Malaysia will continue to be dominated by legislation and political factors, it is CIJ’s mission to see the creation of a society where all people enjoy free media and the freedom to express, seek and impart information. We continue to call for the abolition of repressive laws, the setting up of a Parliamentary Select Committee on Media Reforms, and for greater public scrutiny of and engagement with the media.

Gayathry VenkiteswaranExecutive Director

Foreword

Content

Foreword 2

Review 3-6

Outline 7-12

AboutCIJ 12

Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ)27C Jalan Sarikei, Off Jalan Pahang53000 Kuala LumpurTel: 03 40230772Fax: 03 40230769www.cijmalaysia.org

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‘If the choice is between public safety and public freedom, I do not hesitate to say here that public safety will always win,’ - Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, 9 Dec 2007

Overall, the state of freedom of expression in 2007 marked a further deterioration

compared to 2006. While 2006 was highlighted by the suspension of newspapers due to the Muhammad caricature, the closure of public discussion on race and religion initiated by the Article 11 coalition, and the censorship on books and film, 2007 was marked by three distict trends; increased media interference to tighten the flow of information, persecution on people who use alternative platforms for expression such as bloggers, and clampdown on street assemblies.

Editorial interferences by the government were prevalent throughout the year, while harassment of bloggers increased both in frequency and severity during the second half of the year. The last two months of 2007 witnessed a surge of crackdown on public assemblies, culminating in the invocation of the Internal Security Act (ISA) against five leaders of the Hindus Rights Action Force (HINDRAF)

Tightening the media space

Interference in media reporting by official directives, warnings, “advice” and harassment continued to be one the biggest trends in Malaysia. The principal givers of directives were the Ministry of Internal Security, headed by the Prime Minister himself and the Ministry of Information, headed by Minister Zainuddin Maidin. However, the year also saw a number of other state actors exerting control over media content. They ranged from the police and the Law Minister, Nazri Aziz who tried to bar media coverage on crime, to the Chairman of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, Halim Shafie who ordered

broadcasters against giving airtime for speeches by the opposition political parties. This was however reversed by the Minister of Energy, Water and Communication, Lim Keng Yaik.

The “no coverage” orders by the Internal Security Ministry and Information Ministry to the media were prompted by various issues of the day, ranging from what was being discussed in the political blogs to the assemblies by BERSIH (a coalition of political parties and non-governmental groups on free and fair elections) and HINDRAF. The bans were sometimes selective. For example, the media was barred from reporting responses and outcry over the Deputy Prime Minister’s proclamation that Malaysia is an Islamic state despite its secular constitution. In a letter, it was stated that only the views of the Prime Minister and his deputy on this issue should prevail in the print media. This was at the expense of other Barisan Nasional component parties, which also felt strongly against the DPM’s statement. In the HINDRAF issue, statements by UMNO leaders continued to receive coverage despite an order by the authorities to play the issue down. This demonstrates that the level of dominance over the

Review: Freedom of expression 2007 - Persecution in the name of national security

The Printing Presses and Publications Act, which gives much power to the Ministry of Internal Security to exercise control over the media the censorship of publications.

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media is certainly not uniform across the ruling parties. In the meantime, the Information Ministry has been vocal in attacking bolder or independent media, despite it having no power to censure the media. The Minister has twice attacked theSun, an English daily known for pushing the boundaries. It also attacked international new agency, Al Jazeera for its live report on police violence during the BERSIH rally.

Self-censorship

Editorial interference is also part of the underlying factor for the general practices of self-censorship among editors. It should be noted that the list of interference is not exhaustive as there could be many unreported cases especially the more subtle ones. This could be the reason for the termination of columnists Amir Muhammad and Zainah Anwar in the pro-government New Straits Times. The former is an independent filmmaker while the latter is a women rights activist. Self-censorship also leads to unethical reporting when certain stories were slanted heavily towards the government. One example of such bias is the reporting of public rallies by BERSIH in Batu Burok, Terengganu and Kuala Lumpur and the one organised by HINDRAF, also in the city. HINDRAF and BERSIH were subject to severe criticism for purportedly being violent, while the reports were silent on the violence by the police and security forces. Casualties from the civilians’ side were severely underreported. Also, the media mostly dismissed the RSF Press Freedom Index, which showed a huge drop in Malaysia’s ranking, as being a western agenda. Interestingly, state-run Radio 24 (a newly launched 24-hours news stations) ran an interview with the Centre for Independent Journalism Executive Director and National Union

of Journalists President, while all private-owned newspapers steered away from the issue.

Reigning in the bloggers

The second trend is the intimidation, which shifted from rhetoric in 2006 to actual persecution against bloggers who write about social and political issues. Two such bloggers were slapped with defamation suits (Jeff Ooi and Ahiruddin Atan, aka Rocky Bru) by New Straits Times and its top officials; one (Nathaniel Tan) was detained for four

days because of a link posted by an anonymous commentator; another (Raja Petra Kamarudin) and his wife, not a blogg er, were grilled by the police after UMNO, the largest ruling party lodged a report under the Sedition Act; and another (Tian Chua) was questioned under the Communications and Multimedia Act for posting a photo-montage. Two other bloggers received threats, one a member of the

government backbenchers club, (Ruhanie Ahmad) and a California-based Malaysian (M.Bakri Musa). These bloggers were targeted amidst developments that were threatening the government. Jeff Ooi and Ahiruddin Attan were sued amidst the feud between Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and former PM Mahathir Mohammad. Actions against Raja Petra and Nathaniel came at the time of a rift between the Deputy Minister of Internal Security and the police force, as allegation of serious corruption in the police force was gaining momentum. Tian Chua was questioned during the trial of the murder of Altantuya Sharibuu, a Mongolian. His photo-montage suggested a link between the Deputy Prime Minister, his aide Abdul Razak and Altantuya herself, who was purportedly murdered by Abdul Razak. It is clear from the

These bloggers were targeted amidst developments that were threatening the government. Jeff Ooi and Ahirud-din Atan were sued amidst the feud between Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and former PM Maha-thir Mohammad. Actions against Raja Petra and Nathaniel came at the time of a rift between the Deputy Minis-ter of Internal Security and the police force, as allegation of serious corrup-tion in the police force was gaining momentum.

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actions that they were intended to silence the bloggers from discussing those issues.Another related case is of a Malaysian student in Taiwan, Wee Meng Chee, who was under fire for his music video on YouTube, of the national anthem with rap lyrics, mainly about his feelings concerning corruption, discrimination and race relations. The government threatened action under the Sedition Act and the National Anthem Act. The police however conceded that it was unable to charge Wee for posting the video abroad. Wee was subsequently compelled to issue an apology. This incident also brought the issue of ethical reporting to attention as the story first appeared, in the language of condemnation, in Harian Metro, a tabloid under the government-link media conglomerate Media Prima.

Quashing peaceful assemblies

The momentum of crackdown on public assemblies gathered since the rally organized by BERSIH, the coalition for clean and fair election, at Batu Burok. Live bullets were shot at the crowd resulting in the injury of two. It is unprecedented in terms of police violence in controlling the crowd. At the BERSIH and HINDARF rallies, police instituted elaborate measures to break them by mounting roadblocks, stopping buses, cars and arresting passengers, firing chemical laced water and tear gas at the crowd, and arresting participants. In the BERSIH-organised rally in Kuala Lumpur on 10 November, 34 people were known to be arrested, while 136 people were arrested during the HINDRAF rally on 25 November. HINDRAF leader P Uthayakumar, his brother P. Waythamoorthy and V. Ganabatirau, were arrested under the Sedition Act two days before the rally. Two more assemblies were held after that - the lawyers’ walk on Human Rights Day and a gathering of people to support the submission of a memorandum to Members of Parliament organised by BERSIH. In a new trend, police obtained restraining orders against participants to the HINDRAF rally and the Parliament group. These gatherings resulted in six lawyers arrested

Police presence at the Bar Council’s lawyers walk, which ended with six lawyers arrested

in the Human Rights Day celebrations and 26 members of the BERSIH who tried to go to Parliament to submit a memorandum to protest the constitutional amendment on the tenure of the Chairman of Election Commission. Police also started hunting down leaders and re-arresting participants of the assemblies. Tian Chua from Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) and Mohamad Sabu from PAS, both part of BERSIH, were arrested on 9 December. Three days earlier, 31 people from the HINDRAF rally were re-arrested and charged fro attempted murder and attending an illegal assembly. Uthayakumar himself were arrested, released and re-arrested on 11 December under the Sedition Act. He and four others were eventually detained under the Internal Security Act on 13 December.

The government also showed less tolerant towards pickets organized by workers’ union. The MTUC, a union congress was threatened with deregisteration and accused of pro-opposition by the deputy human resource minister, Abdul Rahman Bakar, after organizing a series of pickets in June demanding a minimum wage. The ministry in August tabled an amendment which include provisions to curtail the right to picketing. Ogn December 15, the National Union of Bank Employees called of its second planned pickets following police’s directive.

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The real danger of little freedom of expression is the risk of increasing polarization along ethnicities among Malaysians. The gap is also poised to widen between those who subscribe mostly to the mainstream media, which often misinform according to the interest of the powers-that be, and those who access wider source of information from the internet and foreign media.

Threats, attacks against media workers

Another worrying trend that has surfaced is the attacks on journalists and photographers by state actors or those with suspected links with state actors. Four such cases were reported in the media. The more serious is a journalist from the Malaysia Nanban, a Tamil language daily, who was assaulted by unknown assailants. He has come out of a coma and has vowed to continue his writings, some of which are critical of the administration and the leading Indian political party, the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC). His colleague in the northern territory has also lodged a police report after receiving a death threat from an unknown person. He was warned to stop writing about the problem of the Tamil schools or faced the same consequences as his colleague in coma. In August, the government issued a one-month suspension order on Tamil-language daily Makkal Osai for its publication of a drawing of Jesus holding a cigarette and drink can. The newspaper is one of the few that has been critical of the Indian leadership.

Underlying these problems are the concentration of media ownership, where in this year alone, four Chinese-language dailies – Sin Chew Daily, Guang Ming Daily, China Press and Nanyang Siang Pau – were consolidated under one company owned by a timber tycoon, Tiong Hiew King, known for his close relations with the ruling party. Ownership of the private media by big corporate companies, and with close ties to the government, have further

impacted on the diversity and plurality of information in an already controlled environment.

Growing awareness among people

Ironically, the increase of persecution is the government’s direct response to the growing awareness of the people to their rights to express. The 20,000 - 30,000 turn out at the Bersih and Hindraf assemblies are signs of the times. The increased awareness is also reflected in the continued interest in web content, especially during the recent assemblies. On a smaller scale, groups and individuals began to challenge the government’s decision to censor. Author K Arumugam, is seeking judicial review for the ban on his book “March 8”, an account of the Kampung Medan clash. So is Pastor Jerry Dusing, president of the church group Sabah Sidang Injil, which challenged the government’s seizure of books it imported for education purposes. The books were seized because of Malay words used in Christian context, which the government argued should be for Muslims only. Islamic youth group ABIM has called upon the government to lift the ban on US writer Karen Armstrong’s books on religion.

It is still too early to tell where this revival of awareness, since the era of Reformasi, will lead to. Already, there is unease within the society that extremism might hold sway, a concern no doubt fuelled by the government. This danger can be curbed if people realize that the real danger of little freedom of expression is the risk of increasing polarization along ethnicities. The gap is also poised to widen between those who subscribe mostly to the mainstream media, which often misinform according to the interest of the powers-that be, and those who access wider sources of information from the internet and foreign media. On the clampdown of assemblies, those who read mainstream media are only presented with the picture of harmony under siege and the provocation of one race against the others. It seriously calls into question the government’s wisdom that freedom of expression must play second fiddle to racial harmony. The opposite proves to be true. Any widening of misunderstanding among races is traceable to the limitation on freedom of expression. q

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Outline: Freedom of expression violations 2007

4 December

2 December (reported)

Unspecified

12 Oct (reported)

29 August (reported)

4 September

19 July

12 July

29 June (reported)

22 June

17 May (reported)

Editors were told in a meeting with the Internal Security Ministry not to give prominence to Hindraf and to the images of police violence during the rally.

Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin criticized English daily theSun for giving coverage to the march organized by Bar Council, accusing it as disregarding the spirit of national unity in the time when the country just had a few massive public rallies.

Media instructed not to report on the BERSIH rally on Nov 10 and its aftermath.

Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin gave “advice” to news editors to not publish news that was unfavorable to the government image, saying the PM’s pledge to hear the truth doesn’t apply to media.

Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin accused English daily theSun as a pro Opposition paper.

Zainuddin repeated his accusations on theSun

The Internal Security Ministry directed media to stop reporting responses to the Deputy Prime Minister’s assertion that the country is an Islamic state. The media were only allowed to report the Prime Minister or the Deputy PM’s view on the issue.

De-facto law Minister Nazri Aziz barred media coverage from the public hearing on crime in Selangor, contrary to the previous hearing in Johor. The hearing was organized by the Parliamentary Caucus on human rights.

The MCMC directed private TV and radio stations to immediately stop broadcasting speeches by opposition. The letter was signed by chairman Halim Shafie, and gave no justification.

Borneo Post (Sarawak Edition) reported that police told crime reporters that police permission must be obtained to write and publish a crime story, and that information could only come from police sources including restrictions on visiting crime scenes. Anyone failing to observe the restrictions could be arrested under the OSA.

Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud sued two online news portal Malaysiakini and Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia - for alleged defamation over coverage of the timber kickbacks scandal.

Editorial Interference and Legal threat against media

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21 March

13 March

15 Feb

Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin issued a statement to mainstream press reiterating the earlier warning from the Internal Security Ministry to not publish information from the Internet, specifically blogs.

The Internal Security Ministry sent a circular to media directing them not to quote from blogs. The Warning comes amidst an investigation of the deputy minister of internal security on corruption charges which first broke out in the blogosphere.

The Internal Security Ministry warned the opposition paper Harakah for having transgressed licensing conditions, without being specific. It mentioned the publication of “speculative” article and threatened “strict action” against the paper.

Intimidation against bloggers

24 December

10 December

5 December

7-22 August

13 August (reported)

13 August

7 August

25 July

Police arrested, assaulted and raided the home of blogger Mohd Shukri Mohd Ramli, also a member of PKR. Shukri claimed police failed to pro-duce a warrant and provided no reason for his arrest.

Police interrogated blogger Jeff Ooi for statement he made as a guest com-mentator at Al-Jazeera for the BERSIH rally on Nov 10. Police reports were made against him by three groups affiliated with the government.

Deputy Internal Security Minister, Fu Ah Kiow revealed in Parliament that 5 persons are being investigated under the Sedition Act for their postings online, including Nathaniel Tan and Wee Meng Chee.

Following a video on YouTube of the national anthem with rap lyrics criti-cizing the government, its producer, student Wee Meng Chee was threat-ened with action under Sedition Act and the revoke of his citizenship. He subsequently apologized.

Vice-President of UMNO, Muhyiddin Yassin called for laws to be amended to enable action against bloggers, who are hitherto partially protected by the Multimedia Bill of Guarantees.

Ruhanie Ahmad, blogger and member of the Backbenchers’ Club, lodged a police report over a threat he received via sms, which said that “bloggers will be eliminated”.

Police questioned Marina Lee, wife of blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin about content on her husbands blog, Malaysia Today.

Police questioned popular blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin for 8 hours after a police report was made against him by the UMNO Information Chief, alleging him for insulting the Agong

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25 July (reported)

13 July

10 July

15 June (reported)

4 January

De-facto law Minister Nazri Aziz threatened to use the ISA, Sedition Act and Penal Code against bloggers.

Blogger Nathaniel Tan was detained by police for 4 days for investigation under the Official Secrets Act, due to a link to a website implicating the deputy minister of internal security Johari Baharum of corruption. The link was put in his blog by an anonymous commentator. On the same day, Johari Baharum instructed police to investigate bloggers who “spread lies”. He was cleared by the ACA a day earlier of corruption charges, which surfaced at the said website.

The Multimedia and Communication Commission (MCMC) launched an investigation against blogger and Information Chief of PKR, Tian Chua, after a complaint was filed by UMNO Youth, for publication of a photo montage portraying the deputy prime minister negatively.

The Cabinet decided to set up a taskforce to study how existing laws can be used against blogs and websites. It will look into expanding the Sedition Act to include blogs and other online contents.

New Straits Times Press (NSTP) filed defamation suits against bloggers Jeff Ooi and Ahiruddin Attan (Rocky’s Bru). NSTP also obtained injunction to remove postings from both blogs that they see as defamatory.

Some cases of bloggers harassment were less overt; In October, M. Bakri Musa, a surgeon based in US wrote about the warning from a police friend against him returning to Malaysia, and that his close friends being interviewed by the Special Branch.

Clampdown of Assemblies

15 December (reported)

13 December

11 December

10 December

The National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE) called off its planned picket after being told by the police.

5 Hindraf leaders, P. Uthayakumar, M Manoharan, R Kenghadharan, V Ganapathy Rao, and T Vasanthakumar were arrested under the ISA.

P. Uthayakumar was arrested twice under the Sedition Act on the same day. Police also arrested 29 people from BERSIH at the parliament, for leading a group to submit a memorandum opposing an amendment to the Constitution. The amendment allows for the extension of the tenure of the Election Commission’s chairman.

The High Court overuled the decision made by the Session Court of discharged not amounting to acquit the 3 Hindraf leaders, P. Uthayakumar, M. Manoharan and Ganapathy Rao.

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9 December

6 December

4 December

29 November

28 November

27 November

25 November

23 November

10 November

9 September

28 August

Police arrested and charged 5 lawyers and 3 others for leading the Bar Council walk without permit. Another lawyer, Edmond Bon was arrested and charged for refusing to take down a banner of the Bar Council’s Human Rights Festival. Police also arrested opposition leaders Tian Chua (Keadilan) and Mohammad Sabu (PAS) and 12 others in connection with the BERSIH rally.

31 people who assembled at the Batu Caves in order to take part in the Hindraf rally on November 25, were re-arrested, charged and denied bail for attempted murder of a police officer. 12 among them are also charged for participating in illegal assembly. All of them were released and discharged on 17 November.

Due to police’s reluctance to issue a permit, the Bar Council called off its planned walk on the International Human Rights Day.

Six more were charged for parcipating in the “illegal” Hindraf rally. Two of the leaders, Ganapathy Rao and M. Manoharan were re-arrested under the Sedition Act.

88 were charged for participating in the Hindraf rally.

PM threatened to invoke ISA against future rallies participants and those involved in the recent rallies.

Police broke the Hindraf rally by firing tear gas, water canon and gener-al force. 136 people were remanded, of which 69 were arrested before they arrived at the rally’s venue. They were taken at Batu Caves where they gathered in the morning. All of them were released at 27 Nov.

Police arrested three key organizers/leaders ahead of the Hindraf rally under the Sedition Act. They were discharged but not amounted to acquital on 27 November.

Tear gas, chemical laced water was fired at participants of the massive BERSIH rally. Days before the event, roadblocks were mounted to block people from entering the city where the rally was going to be held. Human right group Suaram reported 34 were arrested, though the police claimed 245 in the media.

Police used tear gas used and live ammunition on participants of the BERSIH rally in Batu Burok, Terengganu. Two participants shot and wounded. The rally which had been a traveling road show without prior incident, was refused a permit.

Deputy Minister of Human Resources threatened to deregister the Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC) after the union staged a nationwide picket in June to demand for minimum wage. The Minister also accused the Union of harboring an anti-government agenda.

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4 August Police canceled the permit for a meeting on the rights to water organized by the Coalition Against Water Privatization and several religious groups. The meeting was scheduled on 10 August.

Others

5 December

22 November (reported)

16 November

13 November

2 Nov

5 Oct (reported)

24 August

15 August

Unspecified

13 July

Catholic weekly the Herald filed a suit against the Internal Security Ministry because of the latter’s ban on the Herald’s using the Malay translation “Allah” for “God”. The Ministry had earlier refused to give a permit to the Herald, but relented on 30 December while maintaining the ban on using “Allah”, which it said is strictly for Muslim.

15 journalists lodged police reports against a police officer for preventing them from covering a murder case and using dogs to chase them away from the scene.

A photographer was assaulted by an UMNO member while on duty covering an opposition’s charge of public fund misuse by UMNO.

A journalist from Tamil paper Malaysian Nanban lodge a police report after receiving threat for his coverage on the state of Tamil schools.

A journalist from the same Tamil paper, covering the same issue was beaten to coma by unknown assailant.

The Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) threatened to prosecute PKR politician Sivarasa Rasiah and the party’s staff Sim Tze Tsin if they do not reveal within 7 days the source of a video implicating a senior lawyer in the fixing of senior judiciary appointments. Makkal Osai was suspended for 30 days following the publication of a picture of Jesus holding a cigarette and a canned drink. Makkal Osai had earlier published an apology for two days.

The Internal Security Ministry seized books imported by the church group Sabah Sidang Injil, for their translation from English containing several Malay words which the ministry said are strictly for Muslims. Its president, Pastor Jerry Dusing filed a suit for judicial review on December 10. New Straits Times terminated the columns of activist Zainah Anwar and controversial filmmaker Amir Muhammad. Last columns appeared 2 August, and 27 July respectively. Zainah Anwar is the director of NGO Sister’s in Islam, a group that has been criticized by UMNO, while Amir’s films were twice banned by the govt.

The Internal Security Ministry banned 14 books said to be deviations of Islamic teaching and pornography.

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7 June

15 May

27 April (reported)

3 April

22 February

31 Jan

10 January

37 books, deemed misleading the Muslims, were banned by the Internal Security Ministry. 21 of them were published in the US and UK while the rest were published locally and in Indonesia.

The Internal Security Ministry confiscated copies of a book about the riots of May 13, 1969, from a major bookstore in Klang Valley.

Local universities have set up election-monitoring committees to make sure students do not get involved in political activities of the recent by-elections. Officials followed students, photographed and recorded video of them without permission.

A journalist covering the nominations for the Machap by-election, R.Malini was hurled vulgarities by members of the ruling party MIC. Photographer Malayandi was allegedly pushed and punched by an MIC official and Parliamentary Secretary for the Youth and Sports Ministry, SA Vigneswaran.

The Censorship Board banned the film “Apa Khabar Orang Kampung” (Village People Radio Show) by local filmmaker Amir Muhammad, because of its interpretation of the history of local communists.

National Censorship Board banned Taiwan-based Malaysian filmmaker Tsai his latest film “I don’t want to sleep alone”. The film depicts urban poor and the haze in Kuala Lumpur among other issues. Due to public outcry, the ban was lifted after the scenes were cut.

Prime minister threatened to prosecute PKR under the Official Secrets Act for revealing the LDP Concessionaire Agreement, contradicting his agreement to uphold an open, transparent and accountable government.

About CIJ

The Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) is a non-profit organization which aspires to create a society that is democratic, just and free, where all people will enjoy free media and the freedom to express, seek and impart information.

CIJ was started in response to the political crisis of 1998 as Saksi.com, a website that attempted to give broad analysis to current events. Today we have expanded our effort to advocacy of freedom of expression (FOE) and information (FOI) and to encourage proffesional journalism practices and media freedom in Malaysia.

Our objectives;Promote and defend the exercise of FOERaise public awareness on FOE/FOI to mobilize support for media freedom, expression and access to

information.Ensure good policies and advocating legislative changeFacilitating marginalized voice through community radio

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