Inter Press Service: 16 July 1999
MEDIA: MALAYSIA'S NEW POLITICAL BATTLEFIELD
The media are becoming an earlybattlefield in the fight between Malaysia's ruling coalition and the opposition ahead of the country's looming general election. Already, the opposition realises it will have to contend not only with the powerful machinery of the government of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, but the might of state agencies in the run-up to the poll expected in the next three months.
By ANIL NETTO in Penang
THE MEDIA are becoming an early battlefield in the fight between Malaysia's ruling coalition andthe opposition ahead of the country's looming general election.
Already, the opposition realizes it will have to contend notonly with the powerful machinery of the government of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, but the might of state agencies in therun-up to the poll expected in the next three months.
The first salvo was fired on July 2, when newly appointedInformation Minister Khalil Yaacob announced that the politicalopposition would not be allowed to use state-run Radio Television Malaysia to air its agendas. Private television stations could decide for themselves, added Khalil.
In reality, the opposition stands little chance of gettingequal air time, because the private stations aremainly entertainment-based and owned by companies beholden to the government for their broadcasting licenses.
As in previous election campaigns, the ruling Barisan Nasionalcoalition - dominated by Mahathir's United Malays NationalOrganization (UMNO) - is likely to fully exploit the government's tight control of the various media to run down the opposition andretain its commanding majority in Parliament.
But unlike previous campaigns, when the opposition was giventoken campaign air time on radio, this time the blackout overthe electronic media is official and apparently total.
This may well reflect how crucial this election is in the view ofMahathir's coalition. The poll will be its toughest test, given public discontent over the premier's dismissal of his deputy, Anwar Ibrahim, last year.
Anwar is serving a six-year term for corruption, but the episode stoked a ''reformasi'' campaign for greater political freedoms in a country that has seen little open dissent
against the government in the last decade.
The announcement barring opposition access to state-run television stunned opposition politicians and activists for its sheer audacity. ''RTM is a government agency and only the government has the right to the air-time,'' Khalil said injustifying the move.
Critics, however, say there is a difference between the state character of RTM and control or ownership by the ruling coalition. Likewise, they say RTM is funded by television licence fees and taxes that ordinary Malaysians, including opposition supporters,pay to the government. RTM is public property and should serve the public interest, they say.
''There is this inability to distinguish between the property of the state and party property and this can lead to abuse ofpower,'' says media analyst Mustafa Anuar. ''Khalil's announcementis a classic example of this inability or refusal to make thisdistinction."
The announced restrictions are a severe handicap for theopposition, which is already denied meaningful space in the main newspapers, almost all of which are either controlled by Barisan Nasional component parties or firms linked to it.
The only lifeline for the opposition is Harakah, the Malay-English party organ of the opposition Islamic Party PAS,whose sales have soared since Mahathir's sacking of Anwar. Other new Malay language papers such as Eksklusif andsections of the Chinese Malaysian press also provide the opposition with some space.
But whatever space the opposition gets from print is insignificant compared with the wide
reach of television and radio.
The Barisan Nasional - along with its forerunner, the Alliance -has been in power since independence in 1957. To many, this hasled to a notion that state agencies are there to do
the coalition's bidding during campaign time.Indeed, the media often resemble party organs of theruling coalition during election campaigns.
''If there are any criticisms or comments made by oppositionleaders, we normally get only the response from governmentleaders. What is given prominence are the views of the leadership of the ruling coalition,'' says Mustafa.
He adds that opposition leaders are denied the opportunity torespond to government criticism. ''Given this scenario, would you blame the opposition leaders for getting an airing in the foreign media?'' he asks.
Come election time, the media also usually play up communal views to scare voters with the possibility of unrest or instability should the opposition do well. Another tactic that has been used by mainstream media to telling effect is to play up an insignificant incident portraying the opposition in an extremely bad light just a couple of days before polling, and to give it saturation coverage.
Given the little time left before polling, the opposition, denied access to the powerful electronic media and relying on public rallies, has little chance of rebutting such reports.
This happened during the 1990 election campaign, when then opposition politician Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah was depicted as selling out Muslim interests to Christians merely because he was photographed wearing ethnic Kadazan cultural headgear on which was a symbol resembling a cross. The photograph was splashed in the media and Razaleigh had little chance to counter the allegations. It cost his party, which has since been dissolved, dearly on polling day.
Today, however, the Internet has allowed government critics to put up a stronger fight against the Barisan Nasional's dominance of local media.
A host of ''reformasi'' and dissenting web sites has sprung up,with active and frank debates and discussions of political issues. Malaysia has close to one million Internet users in a population of 22 million, but its reach is limited to the computer-literate middle class.
In the months leading up to Malaysia's awaited election, voters will be watching how traditional media and pro-government newspapers and alternative media join the fray.