Was asked to deliver a little speech to some HELP college students, for a seminar they organised for their Media, Law and Ethics class, along with Brian Yap. The students wanted it posted up for reference for their soon to be graded paper, so here it is guys, I hope I didn’t bore you to tears:
*
Good morning Mr. Caroll and Mr. Kannan, and students of HELP College. I would like to thank you for inviting me here today to speak on our topic for today’s seminar, “Social Responsibility and Freedom of Speech and it’s Effects on Journalism and Malaysia.
Let me begin by getting the definitions out of the way. Social responsibility, I believe, is defined by an ethical and ideological responsibility of an individual, or government or group to society. This responsibility can either be refraining to act, or acting for the good of that particular society. Generally, in the Malaysian context we talk about positive social responsibility, which is to do something for the betterment of a society, or simply put, to be proactive.
However to me, what is most special about social responsibility is that is it very much voluntary, and goes beyond what is required by law. It usually means facing a problem head-on and being proactive, which means not being reactive, or just getting angry about the problem. The adage, being part of the solution, not the problem rings true in this case.
The main objective of social responsibility basically means eliminating corrupt, irresponsible or unethical behaviour that might bring harm to the community, its people, or the environment, preferably before the behaviour happens. I’ll address this aspect later in the context of Journalism, and the Malaysian press.
Now, to define freedom of speech – It is a term often thrown around in Malaysia, not to explain its bountiful appearance in our society but, more often that not used to talk about the lack of it in our country.
And I’m not even talking about freedom of speech that is unregulated, but as a viable platform for meaningful debate and discussion, subject to the rules of the law, whereby speech that causes undue harm to another should be deemed an offence.
Even countries like the US, or the UK, there are special laws that stop negative aspects of ‘free speech’ often called hate speech, which is to attack other sub-cultures or minority groups, often race based or religious based comments of the derogatory nature.
In Malaysia however, the restrictions against free speech with respect to Journalism are notorious, and go beyond just ‘hate speech’ or the non-discussion on ‘sensitive issues’ As a journalist myself I will tell you, that many of us, especially (poor) political writers such as myself place ourselves under a lot of scrutiny when we write pieces that are critical of the government or its policies.
We are subject to many repressive laws like the big, bad, ISA, the OSA which almost immediately places everything as a secret, which means you are unable to report on it, and the yearly submissions for your license is a nerve wrecking affair that plunges most of us in despair. I’m sorry if I sound overly dramatic, but it’s true, especially when you’re from an independent media group and not backed by people in power.
These licenses come under the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and your very livelihood each year hangs in the balance as it is determined by this one single person, who has every right to reject your application, and once rejected – you cannot bring it to the court of law for appeal, because as the law would have it, his (the Minister’s) decision is final.
This then leaves most of the mainstream press with higher readership to toe the proverbial line ALL THE TIME. And of course the ownership and control of the papers by the government ensure that they are almost never overly critical of persons in positions of power or policies that are unfair.
Despite free speech often said to be a practice in most democracies, guaranteed under international law notably under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, it’s obvious that its implementation remains lacking in many countries.
Why do we continue to lament on the lack of free speech? And you may find many journalists and those working in the media, and in perhaps the legal profession constantly going on and on about this like a broken record?
Well, one of the most importance aspects of free speech is its ability to encourage good governance. In any country, if a government is corrupt, or is using its power to abuse the people or to unfairly remove rights of an individual in society, free speech is there to ensure checks and balances of a government.
Open discussions of candidates in political parties are essential for voters to make informed decisions during elections. It is through speech, and debates and discussions through platforms provided by the media with forums and such – that people can influence their government’s choice of policies.
Freedom of speech also paves way for accountability in any section of society, most importantly in the government. Through this, public officials are held accountable through criticisms that can pave the way for their replacement through fair and due process like the elections.
Free speech also includes freedom of expression and assembly. Also lacking in the Malaysian context, as a gathering of more than 5 people in considered illegal assembly, and you need a police permit for this. Of course, to get one you apply to the police station in the area, if you are rejected, you appeal to a higher power the Chief Police Officer (CPO) and once you are rejected again, there is no appeal process to a court of law. His decision is final.
Let’s take a very recent example. Did any of you attend the BERSIH rally last week? I don’t know how many of you know what it was about, but it was about a coalition of 66 NGOs and 5 political parties, and just members of civil society not affiliated with any party, who wanted to go to our King and to hand over a memorandum demanding our rights as citizens of this democracy, for FREE and FAIR elections. And part of having free and fair elections includes having one of the most important things – Fair access to the media.
Unfortunately in Malaysia, despite being a democracy, the press is often faced with the huge burden of being answerable to their owners, the government, therefore you often see the Opposition, a VITAL part of a DEMOCRACY and competitive elections – being silenced, or being shown to be of ill-repute and played up as having outrageous and extremists views, content referring to them often left on page 6 or 8, and heavily manipulated.
I’m not a supporter of either of the Opposition, but freedom of speech in vital a democracy as ours, and I will support their right to being heard, even if I do not necessarily agree with them.
Naturally, being responsible for your actions by being accountable and responsible for putting your views out there in very important. However, in the Malaysian context, being responsible with free speech is often to me, a euphemism for – shut up.
Coming back to reporting without fear or favour – part of what is contained in the charter for journalists – goes awry when you have a government intent on silencing certain voices, namely those that are not of the same opinion as them, which curtails discussions and leaves problems festering with no solution.
To be fair, there have been cases where public outcry has stirred and shaken things up a little, but not to a large extent, perhaps due to the largely less informed citizenry.
One such example was our little friend in Klang – Datuk Zakaria Mat Deros who used using land meant for low-cost housing to build his 16-room monstrosity, only paying a paltry sum of 150,000 for an expanse of land sure to be worth more. He ended up paying a ridiculous sum of 22,000 for this offence, and invited some orphans to his house for a nights stay, and that was the last we heard.
The writers at the Sun, because of their continuous efforts in exposing the flighty (criminal) fancies of these assemblymen and elected officials have been called by some government officials as an ‘alternative newspaper.’ Which is never a good thing to be called in Malaysia, as you get lumped into the category of a news source much like Malaysiakini, and we know how many times they’ve gotten their offices raided, have their computers taken away, right?
The news papers called the peaceful walk an illegal protest, that caused traffic jams and went on about how police officers were FORCED to use water cannons and tear gas on protestors… estimated the numbers at 4,000, when a clear look at the pictures deem it to be more like 40,000. A typo? I think not.
Human rights lawyer, and blogger Haris Ibrahim said it made it look like there were two rallies in KL that week, the one the mainstream press reported and the one featured in the blogs and international media. And that’s how something so simple can be so easily misrepresented when there is no freedom of speech in the press.
Now, when citizens are afraid to lend a voice to their discontent, it is usually because they fear retribution, making the government unresponsive to them, and thus the government becomes less accountable for its actions. A classic vicious cycle. This is often why many repressive governments withhold transparency about the nature of spending public funds, or systematically shutting up platforms for discussion so that they do not have to be held accountable.
The effective denying of these freedoms of speech and expression ultimately end up creating a society that is crippled, uninformed and unable to make socially responsible and socially aware decisions.
So, how is freedom of speech made tangible in our society? And how does it move from being vague concept? It is made tangible in circumstances where views from all sections of society, majority and minority are heard. This information is then disseminated through all forms of media in general, digital, print, and so forth.
In a situation like ours where a large urban population now has access to the Internet, we have seen a huge increase in blogging and utilization of new media (like the Internet) to promote social responsibility and freedom of speech. Many of you might have heard of bloggers like Jeff Ooi, and Rocky, who are largely political commentators on the Internet?
A perhaps, small, but growing number of disillusioned people who do not trust the mainstream press are now seeking out other news options – due to inaccuracies that have been reported time and again, about the issues of the abuse of power by our “benefactors.” But, even that has come under rap. Politicians are often found cursing at bloggers even in Parliament, when more time could be used discussing more pressing matters, like “Where is all our money going to? Oh, yes, the PKFZ!” (:P)
Southeast Asia Press Alliance (SEAPA) views the suit against two bloggers Jeff Ooi who writes the “Screenshots” blog and Ahirudin Attan of “Rocky’s Bru” by the NST– with concern because “It will impact on Malaysians’ access to diverse and independent news, commentary, and information, and will also adversely affect the Internet as a medium for free expression in a country where much of the mainstream press is owned and influenced by political parties and government itself,” it said.
Another blow for us came early this year when Reporters Without Borders, an international media watchdog which listed Malaysia 92nd out of 168 nations on its worldwide Press Freedom Index this year.
What Can We Do?
To make up an informed citizenry, it is important be a socially aware and responsible group of people, and citizens – to stop corrupt practices and to see that justice is served to all our fellow Malaysians.
It’s also important not to have fatalistic views in mind when approaching a topic like this. I often have my peers who are in their early and late twenties going on and on about how it sucks here, how their efforts for change are futile. When you continue to be defeatist in attitude, and wrap yourself in apathy and the simple safety of being apolitical – you have effectively given away your chance to be socially responsible, and have not exercised your right to speak your mind, for the chance to change.
I beg to differ though; I think there is always something we can do. Our parents, our lecturers have fought the fight for a long time, and some have fought hard and many have lost, but it’s now the time for us to continue to demand for a clean and accountable government.
Write to your papers incessantly, start a blog, find other ways to educate your friends and yourselves, write letters to your local council if you don’t find them working well enough for you, write letters to the PM, make a concentrated effort to not retreat however depressing and hard it seems, this is your country and it should work for you.
We elect these people every year to work for US. We don’t work for them, and it is a responsibility they have to fulfil in their capacity as elected representatives. If you are of voting age, I urge you to register as voters, and do your bit through this form of social responsibility. Get involved with your community and begin to understand the mechanisms that keep this country in place. You must always know what you’re up against before any change can take place. Reading is a good place to start.
One of the answers I always get from peers when I ask them to take concern over the matters looming ahead of our fairly young country is that politics do not affect their lives.
Oh how wrong they are. Politics affects every aspect of our lives, our very existence. Many of you may be here because you did not gain entry into a local university for whatever reason, many of your parents pay lots of taxes and monies to the government each year, only to have in the recent AG’s report find out that someone has been spending RM 500 on a screwdriver, or RM 200 on a car jack that costs RM 50. See, these are things that will ultimately end up touching you and your loved ones, and the only way to fend of these instances of corruption is to do your bit and to speak up.
I understand that is never easy to do this, I often get tired of it, and it is very physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausting, and yes, even dangerous at times. It’s not an easy struggle, but at any time, anger and sadness to me are often better than apathy.
Before I end, I will read you a poem that keeps me going, and helps me keep in focus my responsibilities as a journalist, and a citizen of the country – to continue exercising my rights to free speech and be socially responsible.
First they came for the Communists,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me,
and by that time there was no one
left to speak up for me.
by Rev. Martin Niemoller, 1945
1 Comment
May 14, 2008 at 6:09 am
I came to this blog as I searched for material on “Social responsibility of political parties.”
I think social responsibility of press needs more discussion based on the theme. Hope you will put more on that in your blog.