This brings us to Khairy Jamaluddin’s call for the repulsion of the existing printing and press laws. The MP is surely of the beliefs that Malaysia will gain more than lose if the government opens up the media space. The opposition is truly confused with the unexpected support from the son in law of the Prime Minister and this shows that the young Malay politician still has some kicks in his repertoire.

 

 

Malaysia’s elite politicians are not in tune with the realities of today and they will not allow a complete freedom of the media. They are too frightened of the ‘devil’ they do not know and are almost right about the professionalism of local journalists. However, the best speech, to the surprise of many, on the local press came from the Umno deputy youth leader, Khairy Jamaluddin.

Should Malaysia open up its media space and allow the necessary changes that could spark a new age in the local press and audio visual landscape? The debate is on but few have offered real ideas on how to address the necessary changes that are needed in this vital sector of the democratic institution in Malaysia. Taken at face value, the speech of the youth leader and Parliamentarian Khairy Jamaluddin is the most important one delivered so far on the sticky issue of press freedom.

It is one which defines the beliefs of the MP from Rembau, far too often belittled and made the unnecessary scapegoat for all the problems that the country faces. KJ as he is popularly known is obviously of a different opinion on press freedom and departed from his party’s and the government’s line of conduct on the issue. It is certain that he will vote for changes in the printing and publishing enactments that rule the media and it would be a comfort if he is allowed to bring such amendments to the press laws in parliament.

 

 

He made the point when he commented that he think that it may be difficult for the ‘so-called mainstream media to keep pace in terms of news value - regardless of the veracity of the reporting - under current circumstances,’ and he is absolutely right about it. The mainstream media, kowtowing to the current administration and bowing to the press laws that are in force will not be able to beat the alternative media.

Yet it is another Malaysian journalist turned movie director, Mansur Puteh, who raised the right questions about the professionalism of the local journalists and the need to train and have better reporters in Malaysia. Mansur Puteh, in his own verbose, exposed the current lack of quality in the local press, a situation that existed since the 1990’s and beyond and is continuing in the new dawn of this nation.

Malaysia, claiming to become the first Muslim or Islamic country to be recognized as a developed nation, cannot afford mediocrity in its local press. The constant balkanization of the local media – printed or audio-visual – is a sad situation for a nation that is going through many changes and is trying to adapt to a brave new world.

It is the presence of blogs and online media’s like Malaysia-Today, Harakah online and Malaysiakini that has transformed the Malaysian media landscape. These online media’s offers the all in one cross-platform media of the modern age to a population that is craving for the truth and for massive changes in the way their lives are being run by a group of people.

They have videos that beats the local television – which tend to show only pro-governmental clips – and they have columnists that dares the regime and the leaders of the various factions of the ruling Barisan National (BN) on issues that would otherwise be unseen in the local press, tightly controlled by the government.

Malaysia-Today is a semi-blog, semi-online newspaper that has transformed many Malaysians from their beliefs that the BN was the only true representative of the people and has given a new breath to the recently formed Pakatan Rakyat (PR). It was behind Anwar Ibrahim when he was crushing it in jail. It is the true media representation of the large portion of Malaysians who voted against the BN in March 2008. The people believe almost anything that is published on this particular website and this is of great credit to the owner-editor Raja Petra Kamaruddin.

Malaysia-Today has an incredible readership that spans all over the world but is firmly entrenched in Malaysia as it is the number one blog-media format that exist today. Malaysia-Today would have been the prey to investors who would have bought chunks of its ‘shares’ if it was an American online media. This is because of the number of hits the website generates every day of the year. It will take more than a sedition case to destroy the might of Malaysia-Today and the government altogether with Khairy Jamaluddin in the forefront is pretty aware of that.

Instead, the authorities will do well to open up the media space by loosening the control they are keeping (for the wrong reasons) and allow the local journalists to show their capacity to deal with issues that are so often dealt with in online alternative Medias. It would be incredible if the local press would be allowed to dig deeper in the various ‘affairs’ that make headway and generate millions of clicks in online blogs and Medias.

To achieve this, the famous laws that prevent the journalists to do their jobs should be repelled and this would include the Internal Security Act (ISA) and the amendment of the Official Secrets Act (OSA) and surely the obsolete printing and presses act. The authorities must come to grip with the realities on the ground and the face the facts that matters – that is a freer press will only be good to Malaysia and to the current government.

It will also show that the government is willing to listen to the masses and that the time has come for Malaysia to be more matured, to trust its journalistic circles and to serve the nation with quality news and interventions rather than the usual bore and mediocre local news and television that the people are so used to scoff at.

As for the claims by Mansur Puteh that the local press must enroll more professional journalists, this will only depend on what quality of journalism the country want to have. It is however certain that Malaysians in general are not ready for the type of journalism that exists in India – the largest democracy on earth – in Indonesia today which is a vibrant, free and no holds barred press that rides rough shod even on the Prime Minister or President.

While Malaysia-Today is undoubtedly the most popular blog-media type in the country, it is not necessary that all the stories published on the site is absolutely true. The printed media will never equal the online media for the simple reason that printed news is more sensitive than ‘internet’ news. It is more accessible to the people on the streets than the online media which is the mainstay of those behind their laptops or computer screens.

Hence the need to regulate the printed press to follow the rules of journalism remains while the citizen journalists like Raja Petra and other bloggers in Malaysia do not have to follow these rules. This is what will differentiate the printed and audio-visual media with the online alternatives.

 

Responsible journalism will take shape in the country thanks to the freeing of the press and not otherwise and this will impact on the online alternative medias which will be forced to take up the challenges of the old media formats. That is to say, Malaysia-Today for example will have to become another Malaysiakini (which is a very professional online media) but is still very aggressive in its news and features as well as in its analysis of the local political and social situation.

This brings us to Khairy Jamaluddin’s call for the repulsion of the existing printing and press laws. The MP is surely of the beliefs that Malaysia will gain more than lose if the government opens up the media space. The opposition is truly confused with the unexpected support from the son in law of the Prime Minister and this shows that the young Malay politician still has some kicks in his repertoire.

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