Party Organs should be saleable to all citizens

WAMI  Statement

2010-07-22

Writers Alliance for Media Independence (WAMI) strongly condemn the government for deliberately disapproving or delaying the renewal of publication permits for three opposition parties’ organs, namely Suara Keadilan, Harakah and The Rocket. To date, only Harakah’s permit is renewed.

WAMI holds that in democracy where citizens are free to choose their reading materials, party organs with narrow appeals cannot be sold beyond the circle of party loyalists even if they want to.

Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein’s assertion that the party organs must stick to the ministry’s guideline and restricting their sales to party members therefore only suggests that these party organs are actually popular beyond their membership.

And why would non-members spend their hard-earned money to buy overtly partisan views? The answer is simple: all mainstream media are now strictly controlled by the government through censorship and ownership made possible by restrictive laws like the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA).

党报应可销售给公众

维护媒体独立撰稿人联盟文告

2010年7月23日

维护媒体独立撰稿人联盟强烈谴责政府故意不批准，抑或拖延批准三份反对党党报 — 《公正之声》、《哈拉卡》和《火箭报》。至今，仅有《哈拉卡》的出版准证获得更新。

维护媒体独立撰稿人联盟认为，民主社会的公民有选择读物的自由。若党报的诉求狭隘，即使传播多广，也无法超出党忠诚支持者的范围。

内政部长希山慕丁胡先表示党报必须遵从内政部指南和只限党员购买，显示这些党报在非会员群众也广受欢迎。

为什么非会员会花费辛苦赚得的金钱购买内容偏颇的党报？答案很简单：所有主流媒体现在被严格控制，政府通过限制性法律如出版与印刷法令审查媒体及控制拥有权。

掙扎在威權政體與族群政治中的媒體改革——以馬來西亞「撰稿人聯盟」的實踐為例

黃國富   (刊登於台灣東南亞學刊，5 卷2 期，2008 年，頁89－118)

馬來西亞的威權體制與族群政治環境中，媒體一直受到許多限制，近年由民間組成的媒體改革團體要有所作為，除需衝撞體制，也要面 對糾結的族群問題，而這涉及了族群內部與不同族群間的各種因素，使媒改問題更形複雜。本文以「撰稿人聯盟」的實踐為例，試圖說明這個由華人所組成的媒改團 體，其出現與實踐過程，相當具體地展現了這樣的困境。本文認為要突破這困境，除要打破族群政治的框限，橫向連結其他公民團體，壯大改革力量，也需深耕言論 自由與新聞自由的理念，號召更多民眾加入媒改行列，共同改善媒體環境，協助馬來西亞邁向民主化。

關鍵字: 威權政體、族群政治、民主化、媒體改革、壟斷

點擊 4.pp89-118TJSEAS5_2_. 下載完整論文。

Lift ban on cartoons, repeal PPPA

Joint Press Statement by CIJ & WAMI
29 June 2010

Lift ban on cartoons, repeal PPPA

The Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) and Writers’ Alliance for Media Independence (WAMI) condemn the Ministry of Home Affair’s banning of “1Funny Malaysia”, “Perak Darul Kartun” dan “Isu Dalam Kartun”, all cartoon compilations by Zulkifli Anwar Ulhaque, better known as Zunar.

According to online daily “Malaysiakini”, whose subsidiary Kinibooks is the publisher of “1Funny Malaysia”, the Ministry’s secretary-general Mahmood Adam justified the ban thus: “All three publications have been banned for…contents that can influence the
people to revolt against the leaders and government policies. The contents are not suitable and [are] detrimental to public order.” The report did not state when the ban was imposed, merely quoting the official as saying so on 24 June.

CIJ and WAMI hold that no books should be banned to prevent the circulation of ideas, and that the people should be free to seek and receive them. However, we are particularly appalled by the rationale for the ban, which revealed flagrant partisanship of the civil service toward the government of the day. The civil service, by name and mandate, is supposed to be above politics and serve the public, which includes protecting the people’s right to express what they think of the elected government. The Ministry is being nonsensical to link criticism of the ruling government with public disorder, when the
former is a hallmark of a functioning democracy.

The Ministry also resorted to the undemocratic measure of confiscating the books for “study” in January this year and August last year, a move which has intimidated retailers from selling them.

We call for an immediate lift of the ban and the repeal of the Printing Presses and Publications Act under which the ban is being imposed. Once again, the law is being abused by the state as a political tool for hegemonic purposes rather than to maintain social order.

Issued by

Yip Wai Fong
Communication and Publications Officer, CIJ

Wong Chin Huat

President, WAMI

解禁漫画，废除出版与印刷法令

独立新闻中心与维护媒体独立撰稿人联盟联合文告

2010年6月29日

解禁漫画，废除出版与印刷法令

独立新闻中心（CIJ）与维护媒体独立撰稿人联盟（WAMI）谴责内政部查禁《一个滑稽大马》、《漫画霹雳》和《漫画时事》。祖基菲里安华是这些漫画的编辑，他以“祖纳”的名字著称。

根据网络媒体当今大马，《一个滑稽大马》的出版商是它的子公司。内政部秘书长玛末阿当指出：“这三本刊物被禁的原因是…内容能影响人民起义对抗领袖和政府政策。这些内容不适当及将破坏公共秩序”。报导没有说明禁令何时落实，只是引用6月24日的官方说法。

独立新闻中心（CIJ）与维护媒体独立撰稿人联盟（WAMI）认为，任何书籍都不应被禁止传播观念，人民应有自由寻找和获取书籍的权利。我们对查禁三本漫画的理由感到震惊，公共服务竟然盲目拥护今日之政府。公共服务正如其名，它获得人民的委托，本应超越政治和为公众服务，包括保障人民向民选政府自由表达意见的权利。内政部把批评政府和引起社会动荡相关联是荒谬的，前者是民主制度运行的重要特征。

内政部也以不民主手段，在今年一月和去年八月以“研究”为由没收这批书籍，这个行动已恐吓销售商不敢售卖这些书籍。

我们促请政府马上解禁三本漫画，废除被援引以查禁书籍的出版与印刷法令。这法令已被政府当作政治工具滥用以维持霸权，而非用于维护社会秩序。

发表联合文告单位

叶韦坊

通讯及宣传员，独立新闻中心

黄进发

维护媒体独立撰稿人联盟