Malaysiakini website refuses to bow to censorhsip

Reporters Without Borders today pledged its backing to independent news website Malaysiakini which has decided to resist an order to remove two news videos judged to be “offensive” by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission. The commission told the website in a letter on 3 September that it considered the two film clips “offensive” and “intended to upset people, and particularly the Indians”. The penalty for refusing to comply is a fine of 50,000 ringgit (14,325 dollars) and one year in prison. The website www.malaysiakini.com had posted two video clips accessible only to subscribers to the site, the first on 28 August showing demonstrations by Malay Muslims against the building of a Hindu temple in their neighbourhood, in which they spat on and trampled the bloodied head of a cow, an animal sacred to Hindus. The second, on 2 September 2009, featured interior minister, Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Tun Hussein, speaking at a press conference at which he urged demonstrators not to use violence, while defending their right to protest. But in a change of stance, on 3 September, the minister ordered proceedings against the demonstrators. “The Malaysiakini website is right to resist the censorship the government is trying to impose on it. The authorities should understand that it is footage that shows something that happened, which may indeed be embarrassing for some authorities but does not constitute an offence”, the worldwide press freedom organisation said. “We urge the Commission to set aside its 3 September ruling and in general we call on the authorities to stop the censorship and intimidation that pushes journalists into self-censorship”, it added. The removal order was made under the “Communications and Multimedia Act" of 1988 banning all content that is “indecent, obscene, false, threatening or offensive with the intention or harming, abusing, threatening or harassing a third party”. Malaysiakini was put under a three-day investigation, involving interrogation of the entire staff, copying of the hard discs of the two computers used to edit online video and a demand for the original film. Editor, Steven Gan, said, “Our intention was not to do any harm, but to do our job as journalists". This is not the first brush Malaysiakini has had with the government. In 2003, it was subjected to an investigation after posting a letter critical of the government (http://www.rsf.org/spip.php?page=article&id_article=4782). The government in June 2009, temporarily banned its journalists from entering parliament. Malaysia is ranked 132nd out of 173 countries on Reporters Without Borders’ 2008 world press freedom index.