In a three-part article, Malaysian journalist-turned-lawyer Stephen Tan Ban Cheng who likes to call himself an Anak Pulau Pinang (or Son of Penang) traces the role and development of the media and argues that its role as a safety vale should be preserved.
THE mass media have at least three important roles to play in any country - to inform, to educate and to make or at least influence opinion - while acting as the “safety valve” to release any pent-up emotions on any issue or combination of issues facing any country.
In the Malaysian context today, the traditional media comprising its print and broadcast components are being increasingly challenged by modern media in cyber space such as the internet, the blog, and the SMS, in the market of news, views and previews.
After Merdeka or Independence in 1957, the print media were owned by private sector companies. The United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) made a successful bid for the Utusan Melayu a few years afterwards, amidst a protracted protest mounted by the Malay language journalists who argued, even then, for Press freedom.
The radio broadcast media, Radio Malaysia, was owned and operated by the Federal Government while several urban centres enjoyed the services of the privately-owned Redifusion. Television broadcast media made its debut in the early 1960s, with our state-owned System Television Malaysia making feeble steps into the information arena in 1962 or 1963.
That was the scenario as we passed the first decade of Independence.
Soon after we entered the second decade of Independence, the May 13 incident erupted in 1969 - a watershed event that ushered in the New Economic Policy, a new philosophy of government in Malaysia as it marked the departure from the Government’s previously declared policy of laissez faire (let it be) and foreshadowed the Government’s active intervention in the economic affairs of the country.
The period which saw the baton of political leadership passed from our Bapa Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra, to his deputy, Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, also witnessed the establishment of government-owned economic agencies, such as Pernas and UDA (the Urban Development Authority) later to be called off-budget agencies and now called government-linked companies, to put right what were perceived to be the wrongs afflicting the country.
It also saw the birth of the State Economic Development Corporations in the different component states of Malaysia and their spinning off of many subsidiaries. Today, the process continues apace.
In 1975, the country’s main newspaper, The Straits Times (as it then was), was taken over by the trend-setting United Malays’ National Organisation (UMNO) of the ruling National Front. Then in 1976, our second Prime Minister, Tun Razak, succumbed to leukemia.
Helming Malaysia for the next six years until 1981 was our third Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri (later Tun) Hussein Onn.
The Straits Times subsequently underwent a name change in Malaysia to The New Straits Times when licensing requirements confined its operations to Malaysia, although it carried on as The Straits Times in its Singaporean operations.
The third decade of Merdeka began with The Star, then a fledging but promising operation, being bought over by the Malaysian Chinese Asscociation (MCA), the senior component of the ruling National Front, in 1977.
Amidst these changes in the English language print media scene, the Malay language print media comprising the three main newspapers called the Utusan Melayu, the Utusan Malaysia and the Berita Harian continued to be owned by the Umno or entities closely related to it while the Chinese language print media continued to be relatively free.
The period also saw the launch of TV2, the second television channel owned by the state.
Soon after entering the third decade of Merdeka, TV3, the third television channel owned partly by Fleet Communications, the flagship of the New Straits Times, and the Nanyang Siang Pau was launched.
The third decade spanning 1977 to 1986 saw the resignation of Tun Hussein in favour of Dato’ Seri (later Tun) Dr Mahathir Mohamad who was to head the Executive for the next 23 years. The period ushered in the broadcast bulletin boards which made an almost negligible dent on the media scene in Malaysia and the debut of the bulky handphone, ownership of which was confined to mostly corporate figures.
PART II: Information Explosion Reduces Control
The fourth decade starting from 1997 saw the evolution of the Chinese language print media, the main characteristics of which was the eclipse of the Nanyang Siang Pau, partly owned by Fleet Communications (later to be known as TV Tiga), by the Sin Chew Jit Pao as the market leader.
It also saw the ownership change of the Nanyang Siang Pau when the MCA led by then Dato Seri (now Tun) Ling Liong Sik successfully achieved majority control of the Nanyang, though the move was challenged by detractors within the MCA and led to the eventual resignation of Tun Ling as the MCA president.
The period also witnessed the increasingly popular use of the handphones and the cyber age coming into its own, with more and more people buying computers for their home use, although ownership of computers has yet to gain the popularity attached to the handphone, the ownership of which was facilitated as its cost dived exponentially.
Against this background of increasingly popular access to information, the wisdom of the MCA purchasing the Nanyang Siang Pau appeared to be in question since controlling the media no longer means controlling popular access to information on the news.
It is this rise in the use of computers and handphones that has whittled away the erstwhile monopoly of the media in their control of the coverage of national affairs.
Clearly, the days when the media used to hold sway in the reportage of national affairs are numbered as handphone users can now take part in the dissemination of news by simply phoning their relatives and friends on what they have been told.
This becomes more real than apparent when we recall how the naked ear-squats scandal broke. None of the print or broadcast media was aware of it - or if individual practitioners were aware, they never saw fit to use it - as the scandal involving the police force made its rounds among handphone users and denizens of the cyber space.
Do note that the relaying of such messages on the cellular phone were virtually on a hear-say basis, with most of the senders of the messages merely passing on the clip of the naked ear squats.
The rumour mill thus had its credibility more than enhanced when the Malaysian media confirmed the earlier “rumours” about the naked ear-squats by going to the country with the story which incensed many a law-abiding citizen.
Herein lies danger for the country. Rumour mills have been for far too long a period the source of what later becomes news for this country. What is dangerous is that almost always the source of these rumours cannot be traced.
Rumour mills have thus been given the credibility that the mass media appear to have lost somewhere along the way. An additional danger is that some of these rumours affect the political and economic system of this country.
This is a phenomenon that must be checked, arrested and redressed. One of the best ways of doing this is to allow the media to operate freely and for media practitioners to ensure that they do not abuse such a right in their daily operations.
A free media will also be able to operate as a check against corruption, that cancerous scourge that continues to haunt Malaysia as a nation. Corruption manifests itself in many forms, including the abuse of power by decision-makers at local council, state and national levels.
Corruption has had the unhealthy effect of distorting the economic system that we Malaysians used to operate so superbly in the first three decades of Merdeka.
A free media can also ensure that all three independent branches of government under the Separation of Powers principle - the Legislative, the Executive and the Judiciary - are not tempted to make decisions that go against the national interest.
This will lead to a culture of certainty that is implicit in our continuing ability to draw foreign direct investments into our country to fuel its rapid economic development. This argument assumes force when it is now known that both China and India are also competing and competing very strongly with Malaysia and the other Asean nations for the investment dollar.
PART III - Pattern of mass media ownership a worry
However, something must seriously be done about the pattern of mass media ownership in this country if we are to ensure a healthy socio-political environment. Right now, the ownership of the mass media in Malaysia is tilted towards the powers-that-be and/or parties with close links to the establishment.
This does not augur well for the democratisation that must precede if not attend the inevitable process of globalisation and its challenges that we Malaysians must be prepared to confront. Issues such as productivity and adding value to our natural resources where we must enjoy a comparative advantage must be addressed.
A free media will mean that voters in Malaysia will be empowered with the right information to make an informed decision when they exercise their democratic right at the ballot box. Such an informed decision can lead to a better society where individuals contribute positively toward our forward march as a nation.
The alternative is unhealthy: the continued operation of the rumour mills based on the handphones and the cyberspace generating hear-say speculations. Malaysians deserve better.
I leave you with this thought: Operation Lalang in 1987 preceded the Judicial Crisis in 1988. Operation Lalang saw the arrests of many opposition figures and luminaries associated with the non-government organizations. Another significant victim was media freedom when, among others, The Star, The Watan and The Sin Chew Jit Poh, a Chinese daily, saw their operations suspended indefinitely.
The journalists affected by the government’s decision in those days were never paid to survive the indefinite suspension. Worse was they never knew when they would be allowed to resume operation. This suspense in their suspension caused many to age before their time. I know. I was one of them, with a wife and two growing children to feed.
After the politics of fear was thus invoked to “tame” the media, the next target was the judiciary. It is not a wonder that when the judiciary was gelded, the process only met opposition mounted mainly by concerned postulated by professional bodies in the international media since the local one has been cowed into submissiveness.
Let me end by putting it to you that this is not the kind of country that our founding fathers envisaged. In their wisdom, they must have envisaged, even then, that the role of the media is to act as a safety valve to release any pent-up emotions on any issue or combination of issues facing our country.
Theirs was a quiet confidence that they would be able to salvage any situation and control any damage in the local media. And, in deed, they managed well.
NOTE: This three-part article is written exclusively for and celebrates the second year of operation of the Malaysian Bar website, one of the few that has been properly maintained to ensure that Malaysians, especially lawyers, can get access to information.