CIJ Annual Report: Freedom of Expression in Malaysia 2011

The Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) Malaysia would like to invite members of the public to the launch of its annual report, “Freedom of expression in Malaysia in 2011”, at Kuala Lumpur & Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall, on 16 May 2012 (Wed).

Besides the highlights of the 2011 FoE report, there will be an additional presentation on media coverage of Bersih 3.0 compared with Bersih 2.0. It includes analyses of how different media reported on, among others:

the numbers of those who turned up; and
the numbers of those injured and which side - protesters or police - is allegedly responsible.
We invite everyone to come in the T-shirt that expresses their most pressing cause. This is another opportunity for all to state whatever they espouse.
We have an exciting, interactive launch in store. Major protest groups of 2011 will come together to share their core messages as one giant human microphone!
Please find below the programme:
Launch of Centre for Independent Journalism's (CIJ) annual report “Freedom of Expression in Malaysia in 2011"

Date Time: 16 May 2012 (Wed); 8pm
Venue: Auditorium (1st Flr), Kuala Lumpur & Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall, 1 Jalan Maharajalela, KL

Programme:
8.00pm Welcome by CIJ executive officer Masjaliza Hamzah
8.05pm Curtain-raiser for presentation of Freedom of Expression in Malaysia 2011 report
8.10pm Presentation of Freedom of Expression in Malaysia 2011 report (by CIJ media monitor Ding Jo-Ann)
8.30pm Presentation of Bersih 3.0 media coverage (by Jo-Ann)
8.50pm Q&A
9.10pm Launch: Human microphone by major protester groups of 2011
9.40pm Ends

Bakun Dam Documentary by Chou Z Lam

This documentary series in 5 parts is reporting on social impact faced by more than 10,000 natives of Belaga area, who were forced to be relocated to Sungai Asap and Sungai Koyan area in 1998, to give way to the Bakun Dam construction. (producer : Chou Z Lam)

After the first 2 were broadcasted by RTM (Radio Telivision Malaysia), the series was taken off because of fears that it may affect the Sibu by-election. When Chou Z Lam told the public about it, he was sacked by RTM. Someone has uploaded it to Youtube and here are all the 5 parts for your enjoyment:

马来西亚国营电视台RTM2节目，因题材敏感在播完两集后即遭到腰斩。此节目制作人周泽南公开批评执政党侵害媒体自由，不久后也被电视台解雇。《巴贡水坝专题》是一出新闻纪录片，揭露东马砂拉越原住民因巴贡水坝计划而被迫搬离他们的家园，同时政府也没有兑现先前对他们许下的发展承诺。

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巴贡水坝专题2/1 (Bakun Dam Part 1)

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巴贡水坝专题2/2 (Bakun Dam Part 2)

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巴贡水坝专题3 (Bakun Dam Part 3)

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巴贡水坝专题4 (Bakun Dam Part 4)

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巴贡水坝专题5 (Bakun Dam Part 5)

Chou Z Lam's Bakun dam documentary - Angkasapuri lied

I have always held the opinion that many of the dastardly UMNO/BN politicians and the heads of Malaysian institutions or ministries frequently lie and their to the public. In the video below of an interview with Chou Z Lam, a journalist who was sacked because of his documentary on the Bakun dam, you will clearly hear him described how the Director-General, I assume of Angkasapuri, lied when questioned by reporters about the canning of his documentary. The Director-General said that there were only 2 episodes even though nobody sane can deny that Chou Z Lam's documentary comprises 10 episodes of which only 2 had been broadcasted before it was canned to avoid causing problems for SUPP/UMNO/BN in the Sibu by-election:

Protest support Chou Z Lam sacked Bakun documentary

PROTEST AT RTM – AGAINST POLITICAL INTERFERENCE

We the 528 Media Action Group，WAMI & CIJ, urge members of the public, political parties and NGOs to participate in a demonstration at RTM in response to the sacking of Chou Z Lam, who produced a documentary about the impact of Bakun Dam on indigenous people. Chou was sacked after he made public that his documentary was axed and that his superior in RTM has told him that “it would have negative impact on the (just-concluded) Sibu by-election”.

Please join us to make a stand that political interference into media industry, particularly in state broadcaster running on taxpayer money is unjustifiable!

Date : 19th May 2010 (Wed)
Time : 11:00am
Venue : RTM, Angkasapuri.
Organizers : *528 Media Action Group, WAMI & CIJ

Email : 528mediaaction@gmail.com
Blog : http://528taknakpotong.wordpress.com/
Facebook : http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?gid=122474034436151&ref=ts
Online Petition : http://www.petitiononline.com/20100430/petition.html

Note : 528 Media Action Group was formed after the resignation of NTV7 senior producer Joshua Wong and the revelation by Chou Z Lam, TV2 producer on interferences in newsroom. We had jointly organized a series of flash mob, distribution of flyer with WAMI and CIJ in support of Wong & Chou. Our coming up event is “Malam Tak Nak Potong 528″ that has the support of 13 civil society groups. Coordinator is Ng Yap Hwa.

Location Map, Angkasapuri

View Larger Map

Violation against media freedom, freedom of expression, Malaysia 2007

Below is the report by the Center of Independent Journalism (click BACK button to get back to this page) on some serious violations against media freedom to report news as they are, violations against freedom of expression. This is for the year 2007. The words are hardly legible as it is. If you want to read it, click the button highlighted by a red arrow as well as the mouse cursor (which changed from the standard "arrow" to a "gloved hand"):

Read this doc on Scribd: Violations against media freedom and FOE 2007

Who are the extremists?

Malaysia's Prime Minister was reported in the New Straits Times as saying: "Moderates must lead the fight against fanatics or extremism will prevail".

Our Prime Minister is correct, correct, correct. Allow extremists to take over the country, and we are in trouble. Only question is, who are the extremists?

Are they the brave Malaysians who risk the ire of the authorities by disagreeing with some of the decisions, policies or actions made by them, and tried to make things right by going through the normal channels. And when going through such channels produced little, no, or worst, opposite results, make speeches voicing their unhappiness, turned to other means like blogs, peaceful assembly or peaceful march?

Or are they people like the UMNO delegate who responded with "when are you going to use it?" when Hishammuddin brandishes his keris at the opening of the UMNO Youth meeting or current Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak who in 1987, as UMNO Youth Chief, vowed to bathe the keris with Chinese blood?

Incitement to violence is a crime. What has been done? Who are the extremists?

Isn’t a peaceful assembly within the law?

This is a response to a speech by Perak Raja Muda Raja Nazrin Shah’s speech urging Malaysians to respect law and order. It was in regards to the provision in the Malaysian Constitution for free speech, free expression and free assembly, and a further clause that says any law or regulation that goes against the spirit of the Constitution is invalid. So is the requirement to get a police permit to hold a peace assembly valid or not valid? The response was an attempt to get an answer. Here is the response to Perak Raja Muda Raja Nazrin Shah’s speech in theSun:

Isn’t a peaceful assembly within the law?

I refer to your report on Perak Raja Muda Raja Nazrin Shah’s speech (front page, Dec 30) urging Malaysians to respect law and order. However, I would like to ask this question which has troubled me for a long time, and I fervently hope that Raja Nazrin and his father Sultan Azlan read this.

Both Raja Nazrin and Sultan Azlan are highly qualified lawyers and are highly respected (Sultan Azlan was a former Lord President), so would be eminently qualified to clarify the issues I hope to raise.

The Constitution provides for free speech, free expression, free assembly and any law or act which goes against the spirit of the Constitution is invalid. I had the opportunity to ask former Lord President Tun Salleh Abas if the requirement for a police permit for any assembly of five or more is valid.

His response was "it is dicey". He cited some amendments and some clause in the amended Constitution. Asked for Tun’s opinion: "The police have the right to regulate, but not to prevent."

Now, when Malaysians participate in a peaceful assembly, are they respecting or not respecting the law?

I hope to get some answers through your now highly respected newspaper. If not from the royalty, then hopefully from the Malaysian Bar or its members or any lawyer.

Malaysians have to resort to peaceful assemblies and protests because numerous attempts to change things and right wrongs have not met with the desired action.

by
Loyal but concerned Malaysian, PJ

BERSIH: Was an alternative site for Bersih November 10 rally offered?

Now it looks like there are 2 versions of what happened when BERSIH, a coalition of a huge list of NGOs and a few political parties, applied for a police to hold a
Rally for a clean and fair Election on November 10, 2007 (now fondly referred to as our version of the series of elevens. USA have their Seven-Eleven, 10/11 (the attack on the Twin Towers), and now Malaysia have our 10/11 too (11 November 2007), a significant event where a huge turn out of marchers turned out to participate in a march from 4 alternative gathering sites (the original assemble point, Dataran Merdeka, was expected to be inaccessible as the police had already issued stern warnings that anyone found within the vicinity of Dataran Merdeka on that day will be arrested. Despite many serious warnings by many people in authorities, including the Prime Minister of Malaysia himself (don't challenge me), and despite many road blocks set up days before the planned rally, the rally still ended successfully with a very satisfactory turn up.

According to a newspaper report I read some time ago, someone, either the IGP (Inspector General of Police) or the PM (Prime Minister) of Malaysia himself, was reported to have said that they offered Merdeka Stadium as an alternative place for the rally, but BERSIH, but BERSIH rejected it. I immediately emailed my contact at BERSIH to verify, but was told they are in the process of preparing a press statement regarding this so called offer. I now read in AWSJ (Asian Wall Street Journal) what seemed to be the press statement released by Sivarasa Rasiah of the Steering Committee Member of Bersih, Kuala Lumpur.

Sivarasa was reported to have said: "The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih) would like to respond to Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's recent op-ed ("Malaysia's Democracy is Strong," Dec. 7), in which the Prime Minister alleges that police
had offered us an alternative venue for our rally in Kuala Lumpur on November 10, 2007. I am unaware of any such offer. Upon the advice of the police, Bersih representatives met with the Chief Police Officer of Kuala Lumpur and 14 other senior officers on Nov. 1. No options for an alternative venue were discussed. We submitted an application for a permit on November 3. On Nov. 5, we met again with the police to discuss our program -- and again, no change of venue was offered. The next day, our
application to protest was denied. We filed a written appeal, as provided for under the law. On Nov. 9, a day before the rally, the appeal was turned down by letter."

Now we have two versions. One said an alternative site was offered. The other said no alternative site was offered. Both cannot be telling the truth. One must be lying. Who to believe? Well, I dare not offer a public opinion as I am do not have access to facts to venture a public opinon and have no wish to be sued for voicing an opinion which in the end proved to be wrong. Of course I have my own private opinion based on how the main stream media report events, but those are my own private thoughts not to be shared with others. You will have to judge for yourself. One must be lying. Who? It is your call.

Saffron Sunday, Light a Candle. Show that You Care

This post is in response to "Saffron Sunday: Light A Candle, Show You Care", a Facebook Event. It is an expression of love. It is an action of a loyal but concerned Malaysian. If you wish and is willing, you can also do your part from anywhere in the world.

More details:

Event Information

Name: Saffron Sunday
Tagline: Light A Candle, Show You Care
Host: Malaysia
Type: Other - Ceremony

Time and Place

Start Time: Sunday, December 2, 2007 at 8:30pm
End Time: Monday, December 3, 2007 at 12:00am
Location: Malaysia, or anywhere in the world.
City/Town: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

You can join the event by going to Facebook event: Saffron Sunday.

Purpose and objectives

A lighted candle represents the light of love, hope and solidarity of a people to stand together as ONE to express our solidarity to ALL underprivileged Malaysians by lighting candles, wherever we are.

Wherever you and your friends meet to light candles, or you alone, please take pictures and upload it to your own blog, then send the URL to to thepeoplesparliament@gmail.com. If you are not familiar with URL, perhaps What is URL and how you can get it can help throw some light on it. Haris has requested that you do not remain anonymous but identify yourself.

Starting a blog, if you want to do it, is very easy. If you know how to do email, you can start a blog. Dummies Guide to Google Blogger can help you get started very quickly. Use the CONTENT at the top of every page of the blog to find relevant post. You can get further help from Blogger Tips and Tricks and Blogger for Dummies.

The organizers are also appealing to anyone willing to help to tell 20 others about this initiative an urge them to tell 20 others. If your friends and family do not have access to the Internet or do not know how to upload photos to the web, tell them about Saffron Sunday, why the organizers are doing it and ask them to join in and to tell others.

Ask them to take photos and to send it to thepeoplesparliament@gmail.com and Haris can upload the photo for you or your contacts. Haris has undertaken to dedicate a post to put up all the pictures and write-ins from anyone who cares to send them to thepeoplesparliament@gmail.com. Please note that Haris have requested that you do not remain anonymous, but identify yourself.

You can get more information from The Peoples' Parliament Saffron Sunday.

Here is a contribution from an avid blogger Peter Chen, with a yellow T-shirt to show his loyalty to Malaysia and its Monarchy, a "March for Justice" baseball cap to express his hope for a Judiciary that can command the respect of the rest or the world. This made him a pretty comical figure, but that is the price one pay to contribute to a just cause:



And here is a big, big contribution from Mick Rogers of the Gold Coast, Australia, the happy country, with his
big, big lighted candle to shows how much he cares for others less fortunate:

HINDRAF gathering to hand in memorandum to Queen Elizabeth for help in appointing Queen Counsel to represent them in their class action suit

What is HINDRAF

HINDRAF is short for "Hindu Rights Action Force" which is formed by 30 Hindu NGOs seeking to preserve the Hindu community rights and heritage in secular Malaysia. The group has tried to stop the numerous demolition of Hindu temples by the Malaysian government.

Lawyers from HINDRAF had on 30th August 2007, filed a class action on behalf of Malaysian Indians at The Royal Courts of Justice in London to sue the United Kingdom Government for US$4 trillion to compensate Indians in Malaysia, which if successful, will mean every Malaysian Indians will get US$1 million the the British role in bringing in Indians as indentured laborers into Malaya who were exploited for 150 years and when they could no longer keep then Malaya as a colony, abandoned them, leaving them with a Constitution which they claimed failed to protect the Malaysian minority Indians rights on granting of independence. They hope to present a petition with 100,000 signatures to be delivered to her Royal Highness the Queen of England requesting the Queen to appoint a Queen Counsel to represent them in the class action.

Gathering on Sunday, 25 November 2007

They had planned to organise a gathering to presented the petition to the British High Commission in Malaysia on Sunday. 25 November 2007. The police asked them to apply for a police permit, which was duly done, and which as expected, was rejected. They appealed and it was rejected again for the same reasons. This was despite the agreement of the British High Commission to have some representative to accept the petition.

However, despite the obstacles, HINDRAF was determined to continue with the rally.

Many days before the planned rally, the police set up road blocks to try to prevent participants from getting to the gathering, causing massive traffic jams. They legal Representatives were arrested even before the day of the gathering. On 23 November, 2007, three HINDRAF leaders, P. Uthayakumar, Waythamoorthy, and V.S. Ganapathi Rao, were arrested and charged under the Sedition Act.

Am unprecedented court order was obtained to prevent people to participate in the gathering. Police issued an order to arrest participants on sight.

Many Indians complained of racial profiling, claiming may Indians were stopped at road blocks, their cars searched. I heard an directive were even given to the hotels not to offer rooms to Indians, but cannot confirm if it is true or not. Some HINDRAF legal representatives, organizers were arrested even before the day of the rally

HINDRAF actual on Sunday 25 November 2007

Despite heavy handed actions to try to stop the gathering by the police, huge number of Indians started gathering at various parts of Kuala Lumpur early Sunday morning, way before the planned gathering planned to start at 8.00 am. Many participants gathered at Jalan Ampang and Jalan Tun Razak from as early as 6am Sunday. They were dispersed by the police and Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) who used water cannons laced with stinging chemical water and teargas to disperse the gathering at the Jalan Ampang and Jalan Tun Razak intersection by about 7.20am when warnings to disperse met with no resonse. According to Wikipedia, on the morning of the rally, more than five thousands people gathered near the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur. Riot police dispatched to the scene used tear gas and water cannon to disperse the crowds. The participants just regrouped in another placed and continued their protest.

Here is an on site report by Al Jazeera with a video uploaded to Youtube:



Another video:



After 7 hours and finally given permission for the organisers to hand in the petition, they already decided they no longer want to hand in the memorandum here in Malaysia (I assume as a sign of protest at the way the Malaysian government tried to stop them from presenting the memorandum. They decided to fly to London to hand it directly to the Queen. Hopefully, they will not be stopped at the airports)

There must be quite widespread dissatisfaction that despite the heavy action to try to stop the gathering, still so many managed to get through the cracks and stage the gathering. How many exactly depend on your source. I think it is sufficient just to say that HINDRAF had succeeded to getting their message heard.

Rally for Clean and Fari Election November 10 2007: Report

The Rally for a Clean and Fair Election is a BIG SUCCESS!!! And this was despite repeated and very serious warnings from the police and the Prime Minister himself. This showed that a large population is fed-up with trying to bring changes via the formal channels but seeing no action. BERSIH did a fine job. When they failed to get a police permit and repeated very serious warnings about participants getting arrested were broadcasted via the main stream mass media, they figured that no one will likely be able to get into Dataran Merdeka (Independence Square) and provided 4 alternative assembly points.

I had hoped to put this up immediately after returning home from the highly successful rally despite repeated warnings and threats of arrests, police road blocks and forcing LRT coaches to bypass relevant stations. There were massive traffic jams and the authorities blamed it on the rally. But as an eye witness, I can report that the rally itself did not cause the traffic jam. BERSIH organized the rally really well, with volunteers plus uniformed security guards (I asked one if he is paid, but he replied it is voluntary) to make sure there is no violence and marchers kept to the side to the roads to avoid disrupting traffic flow.

I had to put this post off because there were too many things waiting for me to do, but some remarks by an editor of a mainstream media that he is very wary of opposition hijacking any gathering. He said politicians showed up to hand memo, then they disappeared. The poor fellas get tear-gassed. He related about one famous blogger was enjoying himself at Selangor Club, having his drinks and meals, posed for a pic, retreated to the comfort of the club and blogged from there. He said another blogger was at a TV station through out, projecting his image for the elections. He also said the marchers were tools of the opposition. I felt I had to respond to his remarks.

I took his remarks about the marchers being tools of the opposition as an insult and I think I will respond to his comments here. Most of the rally organizers had spend time in detention while we, including the editor himself, were ensconced comfortably in our home going on with our daily life. As organizers, they rather than us humble participants, were at highest risks of being arrested. They did not just appear to hand over the memorandum and disappeared, but were in the midst of the march (at least quite a number of them, I don't know about one). Just in case he thinks I am one of those who blogged from the comfort of the Selangor Club, this post will contain photographs which were taken by myself personally. They had been resized for the Internet for faster downloading, but I am keeping the original large format photos in my computer in case anyone says they were scrapped from other websites.

My eldest sister received a call from my niece who is a journalist saying there are lots of policemen crawling all over Kuala Lumpur and ordered me not to go. I am a Dato (to a small bundle of joy) now and am in no position to take orders from anyone when the future of my future generations are at stake. I promised my family to be cautious and proceed with care. I stopped at the Pasar Seni (former Central Market converted to "Art" Market) LRT station, a station further away from the focus of action. It is a good thing I went early for I heard passengers in the later coaches were not allowed to disembark. I proceeded carefully towards Pasar Seni, one of the 4 alternative assembly points announced after the organizers realised we most likely will not be able to assemble at Dataran Merdeka. On the way I saw the police trucks waiting:

Police trucks waiting in the car park of Pasar Seni

The last one is a "lock-up truck" designed to transport those arrested. There were policemen in front of the entrance nearest to the car park and the LRT station plus 2 reporters from Malaysiakini as well as policemen with revolvers inside Pasar Seni:

Policemen armed with revolvers inside Pasar Seni

Someone inside Pasar Seni were passing out leaflets instructing what one can do if arrested. Not long after that, I saw marchers in yellow T-shirts shouting slogans and marching towards Medan Pasar, I supposed, on their way to Dataran Merdeka. I went out the sidedoor and took some photographs:

Beginning of march from Pasar Seni

A policeman ordered us back into Pasar Seni. I went to the exit at the other end of Pasar Seni near the Annex. The door was locked, but we could see a crowd of marchers in the open space between Pasar Seni and the Annex:

Marchers at the open space between Pasar Seni and the Anmex

I went out through the sidedoor and followed the marchers towards Medan Pasar. We were stopped by police at the Standard Chartered Bank just before Medan Pasar. The marchers were far ahead and were backed by the riot squad with shields, helments, rifles and batons:

Riot Squad behind marchers at Standard Chartered Bank, Medan Pasar

We were again asked to disperse by the policeman you see in front of the photo. I turned back to get to the other side of the block of shoplots at the other end of Standard Chartered Bank. Here we were again stopped from proceeding by policemen and we can see the Riot Squad (FRU or Federal Reserve Unit) near the Loke Yew Building. We are now very near Dataran Merdeka, the original assembly point.

Riot Squad with rifles, etc., behind marchers near Datarn Merdeka, in front of Loke Yew Building

Here is the policeman who asked us to disperse:

Policeman who asked us to disperse near Loke Yew Building almost reaching Dataran Merdeka

We did (I had promised my family I will), but turned back, went over the bridge behind Pasar Seni across the Klang River, went through Daya Bumi and joined other marchers there heading towards Masjid Negara (National Mosque). Masjid Negara was sealed off by the riot squad:

riot squad guarding Masjid Negara (National Mosque

We marched on towards the Istana (Palace). As we passed the KL Railway station and the KTM (Kereta Tanah Melayu), I could see riot squad with their vans plus police patrol cars parked in front of the railway station:

riot squad and police patrol cars waiting in front of the Kuala Lumpur railway station

Further on, I could see marchers on two levels as we approach the Chinese Assembly Hall roundabout with me at the top level:

BERSIH parcticipants marching towards the Chinese Assembly Hall roundabout

As we continue to march towrads the Istana (Palace), helicopters were flying menacingly over the sky:

One of the helicopters flying over the marchers

We had to walked over muddy ground as we approach the Istana"

We have to walk over muddy ground as we approach the Palace

When we arrived at the closes approach to the Istana (Palace), we were blocked by the riot squad plus their red trucks:

FRU and trucks blocking access to Iatana

A huge crowd had already converged there from the various alternative assembly points announced by BERSIH:

Huge crowd of BERSIH paricipants of BERSIH's Rally for clean and fair election

Some of BERSIH's marchers even brought along the Jalur Gemilang (Malaysian flag) to show their patriotism to the country, here seen unfurling the flags:

BERSIH marchers unfurling Jalur Gemilang (Malaysia flg) to demonstrate their patriotism to the country

We heard news that the representatives had succeeded in handing over the memorandum requesting the Yang di-Peruan Agong (Supreme Ruler) to intervene to ensure a clean and fair election. We later heard that the Agong had ordered that the gates be opened to receive the representatives to hand over the memorandum despite the police and the Prime Minister ruling the rally as illegal. After the handover, we dispersed to proceed back to Masjid Negara (National Mosque) for the final assembly. Here we are in front of the KTM headquater and the Kuala Lumpur central railway station:

Returning to Masjid Negara for final assembly

Notw the second line of marchers on the flyover which you can see faintly. To get a cleear look, click on the photo or the caption to enlarge the photo.

We had a final assembly at Masjid Negara (National Mosque) where a few leaders gave speeches and an announcement was made that another assembly will be at Taman Melewar, graced by Anwar Ibrahim who will be making a speech. We then dispersed.

On the way, this is what I saw, FRU (Federal Reserve Units holding sub-machine guns in front of Daya Bumi and the Central Post Office, looking very menacing:

After passing those menacing looking FRU, this time we could approach Dataran Merdeka, the original planned assembly point for the Rally for a Clean and Fair Election by BERSIH. We could see the riot squad still barricading Dataran Merdeka. As I got nearer, I saw a TV cameraman filming another man and took a photo:

Al Jazeera TV crew in front of FRU crew barricading Dataran Merdeka

This is a large format photo cropped from the original, so if you want to enlarge the photo to see things more clearly, click on the photo or the caption. Otherwise, here is a close-up of the AlJazeera TV crew:

Close-up of Al Jazeera TV crew in front of Dataran Merdeka

Here are some of the actions I missed. They are Youtube videos from Al Jazeera and Malaysiakini showing participants being tear gassed and water cannoned with chemical laced water:

Gathering in Kuala Lumpur 10 Nov 2007 - al Jazeera version

(Malaysiakini video no longer available. Don't know why)