Opposition members protest with banners stuck to their bodies and their hands covering their mouths symbolizing 'no freedom of speech' in Kuala Lumpur, on May 31, 2001. There was much excitement when Anwar Ibrahim in his election campaign promised to remove controls to free the media. Instead, his government’s actions have exacerbated matters. (Photo: AFP)
There has been a slew of reports lately that point to the Malaysian government regressing in its approach towards free speech and expression.
The latest is a surge in the government’s takedown requests to TikTok. The short video platform has received 2,202 requests to remove more than 6,000 pieces of content. In 2022, there were only 75 requests.
Malaysia also topped the list of governments requesting TikTok takedowns, according to its bi-annual Government Removal Requests Report for 2023. A quarter of total requests for the year came from Malaysia.
There is no response yet from the government to the June 6 report. Should there be a response, it will likely be the oft-repeated need to control false content disseminated by organized groups to create unrest in the country or provocative content that touches on the 3Rs (race, religion, and royalty).
The government does not give specifics on the breakdown of the culled content beyond these blanket reasons. This has led many to claim that the deleted material may likely have included content critical of the government.
Earlier this year, opposition MP, Radzi Jidin, claimed that his TikTok post on the weakening ringgit was geofenced. His post could be viewed by those outside Malaysia and not those in the country except through VPN access.
A pro-opposition blogger who goes by the name Ratu Naga (Dragon Queen in Malay) claimed that her TikTok account, which she opened in 2020, was taken down in April this year.
She said no explanation was given despite numerous emails to the platform administration, and this has fueled speculation that the TikTok influencer’s posts, which are usually critical of the government, had caused her account to be taken down.
TikTok was one of the main channels used by Islamists and Muslim conservatives in the 2022 general election to draw support, especially from young first-time voters. The electorate had swelled by more than 30 percent as a result of the lowering of the voting age and automatic voter registration.
The Malaysian Islamic Party (known by its Malay acronym PAS) was adept in using TikTok to lure these young voters who had little or no party loyalties and this strategy paid off handsomely. PAS emerged as the party with the largest number of MPs.
The ruling coalition was formed without PAS and since then there is no indication that PAS and its fellow alliance members are losing TikTok ground to the ruling coalition when it comes to political content.
The Malaysian government since early 2023 has come down hard on social media platform owners.
Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil had threatened to take legal action against tech giant Meta for failing to remove harmful content despite repeated requests. He also threatened Telegram for allowing the messaging app to be misused for scams, pornography, and illegal drug sales.
In April this year, he ordered TikTok and Meta to step up efforts to monitor and remove posts linked to scams and illegal gambling.
He and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission insist that the requests to remove content were not to suppress criticisms towards the government but rather to shield Malaysians from a sharp rise in online harm.
Meta reported that almost 8,600 content restrictions were applied in Malaysia in 2023, a 15-fold increase from the 553 applied in 2022.
Critics want to know how many of those who post such content have been charged. By merely asking the tech companies to take down posts and not prosecute offenders, the government is opening itself up to allegations that it is secretly stifling free speech.
Recently, lawyer Shamsher Singh Thind claimed his Facebook post on May 26 questioning the decision to award a government project to a minister’s husband was geofenced.
He was told by the platform administrator that his content was deemed to have gone against local laws by the commission. Singh said he was taking legal action against the commission.
The opaqueness that looms over social media takedowns seems to be an extension of all that has been happening to the old and new media. The formal and informal controls over media in Malaysia over the decades are now seeping into the social media realm.
Malaysia is known for its repressive media laws, informal controls on editorial decisions, and the politics-media nexus where media companies are either directly or indirectly owned by politicians or their proxies.
There was much excitement when Anwar Ibrahim in his election campaign promised to repeal these laws and remove controls to free the media. Instead, his government’s actions have exacerbated matters. There is a complete turnaround in Anwar who was one of the loudest critics of restrictions on free speech when he was in the opposition for 24 years.
In February, the government revised the Code of Ethics for Journalists, claiming that the 35-year-old guidelines needed updating. This is the first time the government has done so and journalists are fuming over the blatant interference.
As for the new code, many say the changes are open to government interpretation and there is a fear this will allow unbridled political interference on the editorial floor like in compelling journalists to reveal their sources.
The government is looking at introducing more controls over online news portals, on top of the existing ones. The Printing Presses and Publications Act was mentioned and mandatory registration for online news portals is being considered. Presently, these sites do not need permits to operate, unlike print and broadcast media.
This law gives the home minister the power, among others, to ban any publication deemed to be threatening public order and other such reasons.
In April, Amnesty International said freedom of expression in Malaysia had declined after more than a year of the Anwar-led administration. The following month, the World Press Freedom Index 2024 showed that Malaysia had a 34-rank fall to 107th place.
“The government exerts a great deal of political pressure to deter the media from tackling sensitive subjects or from criticizing politicians and government officials,” said the report published in May.
Anwar seemed unperturbed. “I don’t mind. It does not matter if we are downgraded because we are tough against the racists and the religious bigots.”
He said what the prime ministers before him had said to justify the need for restrictive laws — that national security took precedence over civil liberties.
This is why the excitement over the setting up of the Malaysian Media Council is dying. Journalists and civil society organisations are asking for an independent and self-regulating council but that may be wishful thinking on the part of these groups.
The government may want to make sure that it is well represented in the council.
The noose around free speech is getting tighter.
*The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official editorial position of UCA News.
