The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih) has responded to Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil, who had singled out the NGO grouping for its absence at a stakeholder engagement held by the ministry on 15 July.
For the record, Bersih is a coalition of 70 NGOs. While the Bersih leadership were in a solidarity walk with Teoh Beng Hock’s family on the day of the meeting, our member partners, such as the Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ), attended the session and provided extensive input and recommendations for:
- The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to consider alternative models to regulate scams, cyber-bullying, etc instead of social media licensing. There are policies to be studied from elsewhere, such as Australia, where efforts are made to compel banks to be responsible, including reimbursing scam victims
- More in-depth negotiation or consultation, especially with civil society organisations to be held, particularly in drafting a code of conduct for social media. The CIJ has also suggested that a committee be formed with civil society representatives, other experts and representatives of social media companies to study the code of conduct. This would avoid a ‘top-down’ approach that would ultimately fail in implementation
We are disappointed that the minister’s office has chosen to distract from this pertinent matter by ridiculing and discrediting the many NGOs and even government institutions that did not attend their engagement – the first time a ministry has done this in our years of engagement with any government.
We seek the professionalism and competence of the minister and his office to enhance engagement efforts by including many other stakeholders outside the invited list. They too have a stake in this issue and the right to question the government’s position.
We remind the minister that Malaysia made world news when the popular blogging website Medium.com was blocked in the country in 2016 due to a perceived “politically controversial” article published by Sarawak Report. The article allegedly exposed corruption, prompting the MCMC to issue a take-down notice to Medium.
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What are the safeguards under this new licensing proposition that can guarantee the prevention of a similar course of action under the watch of the minister or his office?
We are concerned about the further erosion of our already precarious state of freedom of expression. We also remind the government that Malaysia’s ranking dropped 34 places in the latest press freedom index. Regulation overreach on social media could worsen our ranking.
The “unity government” has not displayed any conviction or commitment to repeal or even amend the Sedition Act, the Printing Presses and Publications Act and the MCMC Act. Instead, the administration seems more keen on introducing legislation that further regulates speech and expression.
Citizens are rightfully alarmed in our view – and we have not forgotten manifesto promises to repeal such regressive laws.
Quoting the minister: “Banyak komen daripada mereka tapi apabila dijemput untuk berikan pandangan dan bertanyakan soalan, kelibat mereka langsung tidak kelihatan.”
We hereby invite the minister to a public forum organised by Bersih to open the space to the people for the matter to be discussed publicly, critically, and professionally. We look forward to hearing what dates work for the minister. – Bersih
AGENDA RAKYAT - Lima perkara utama
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