“The Star, uno dei giornali più letti del Paese, dovrebbe poter fornire ai suoi lettori tutte le informazioni e tutti i punti di vista sui diversi aspetti della vita sociale del Paese. Il governo sbaglia quando impone, con la minaccia, il silenzio per quanto riguarda dei legittimi dibattiti nazionali. Esortiamo il Primo ministro Najib Razak a tornare sui suoi passi, annullare questa decisione e a modificare al più presto la legge del 1984 sulle pubblicazioni e la stampa, una legge che mantiene i media nazionali in uno stato di continua insicurezza per via del sistema del rinnovo delle licenze”, ha dichiarato Reporters sans frontières.

The Star è stato costretto a pubblicare delle scuse pubbliche dopo aver subito le pressioni delle autorità e di alcuni gruppi musulmani. Il giornale ha inoltre eliminato dal suo sito internet (www.thestar.com.my) l’articolo “Persuasion, not Compulsion” scritto dal suo direttore di pubblicazione P. Gunasegaram.

In un articolo del 9 febbraio, il giornalista definisce “spropositata” la punizione (colpi di bastone) imposta lo scorso 9 febbraio a tre donne accusate di adulterio: la prima punizione di questo tipo avvenuta in Malesia da anni.

Dopo la lettera di avvertimento mandata dalle autorità, il quotidiano ha rifiutato di pubblicare un commento dell’editorialista Marina Mahathir nel quale dichiara che le leggi definite dalla Sharia sono state scritte solo da uomini e che possono, proprio per questo motivo, essere rimesse in questione. La giornalista ha così deciso di pubblicare questo articolo sul suo blog (http://rantingsbymm.blogspot.com/).

Secondo l’organizzazione malese, il Centro per il giornalismo indipendente, (CIJ,www.cijmalaysia.org): “Quando I contenuti censurati possono essere trovati su Internet questo conferma che i media tradizionali sono meno degni della fiducia dell’opinione pubblica di quanto non lo siano i media elettronici.”

Il CIJ esorta tutti i media ad assumere le loro responsabilità e il loro ruolo in quanto “quarto potere”.

Per far applicare queste decisioni, il governo dispone di un possente arsenale giuridico : la legge sulle pubblicazioni e la stampa del 1984 che viene applicata ai libri e ai giornali nazionali ma anche alle pubblicazioni straniere. Questa legge conferisce al Ministero dell’Interno il potere di concedere o revocare le licenze di pubblicazione ai vari organi di stampa.

Recentemente, numerose copie dei libri “Where is Justice?” e “1 Funny Malaysia”, pubblicati da Malaysiakini.com, sono stati confiscati in due stati. Contenenvano delle caricature del vignettista Zunar. Anche la diffusione di un libro scritto da un giornalista straniero su un ex capo del governo “Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times”, è stata bloccata.

Invece un tribunale ha autorizzato nello scorso mese di gennaio la diffusione di un libro pubblicato dall’organizzazione Sisters in Islam, prima bandito dal governo.

Questi atti di censura seguono le tensioni provocate dalla polemica sull’utilizzo della parola “Allah” in malese da parte del settimanale cattolico Herald. Lo scorso 14 gennaio, degli sconosciuti sono entrati nello studio degli avvocati del giornale e hanno sequestrato documenti e materiale. Il governo ha proibito alle pubblicazioni di stampo cristiano l’uso di questa parola ma sarebbe pronto a fare delle concessioni in alcuni Stati del Paese.

La Malesia è al 131esimo posto della classifica mondiale 2009 della libertà di stampa elaborata di RSF (su 175 Nazioni).

“We urge the interior ministry to reverse its ban on Gedung Kartun,” Reporters Without Borders said. “It is regrettable that the authorities reacted to its appearance by confiscating copies and threatening the publishers with prosecution. The government should allow cartoonists to express themselves freely on social and political issues. This ban is a grave act of censorship.”

Gedung Kartun’s publisher and editor, known as Zunar, told Reporters Without Borders: “I did not get a reply from the ministry about the licence. I want to continue publishing this cartoon magazine even if we have to change its name. I want to promote a cartoon culture, which is new in Malaysia.”

Zunar added: “People continue to come to me to buy the magazine. We printed 15,000 copies… [The authorities] are afraid of cartoons because they are independent and reach out to all generations. As we are not an opposition publication, it scares them.”

The interior ministry said Zunar’s company, Sepakat Efektif, would be prosecuted under section 5 (2) (b) of the Printing Presses and Publication Act 1984 for “publication without a licence.” As its owner, Zunar faces up to three years in prison and a fine of up to 20 million rupees.

After the first (and so far only) issue was published in late August, officials searched Sepakat Efektif’s office and seized all the copies they could find. The issue’s cover was a cartoon alluding to events of a political and criminal nature that are embarrassing for the prime minister.

Zunar told Reporters Without Borders he obtained verbal confirmation from the interior ministry in early August that he would be given a publication permit. The first issue, which had a print run of 10,000 copies, was such a success that another 5,000 copies were quick printed.

The government uses draconian conditions to make it very hard to obtain a publication permit. Malaysia was ranked 132nd out of 173 countries in the 2008 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.

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.

“The Nut Graph is one of the few news websites in Malaysia that is objective and impartial and checks its facts,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Committed to responsible journalism ever since its creation, it has become an indispensible source of information that can explain Malaysian politics. We are very worried by its possible disappearance, which would seriously weaken media diversity in Malaysia.”

Nowadays widely used by university academics and researchers, the site launched a fund-raising appeal on 1 August after its original investors said in May that they would not be able to continue funding it beyond next March (http://www.thenutgraph.com/the-nut-graph-needs-your-support).

In particular, Reporters Without Borders supports the requests for help that it has addressed to the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, the Global Fund for Women, the Asia Foundation, Free Voice, the National Endowment for Democracy and the Open Society Institute. Its closure would put several dozen journalists out of work.

Online free expression is a fraught and complex issue in Malaysia, where the authorities tend to regard the Internet as an opposition medium. The Internal Security Act, which allows the authorities to detain people for up to two years without trial, has been used to arrest two leading bloggers, Raja Petra “RPK” Kamaruddin and P. Uthayakumar.

Held from 12 September to 7 November last year, RPK still faces defamation and sedition charges in connection with articles posted on his Malaysia Today (http://mt.m2day.org/2008/) blog.