AS activists and academics who have scrutinised developments on media freedom and media democratisation for over two decades, many of us welcome announcements of amendments to the Communications and Multimedia Act (CMA) 1998 by Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo – but we feel the scope of the review is too limited. The minister’s focus seems to be on Section 233, but not on Section 211 (on prohibition of offensive content), or Section 263 (website blocking).
There were no references in the announcement about reform of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, or media reforms as far as democratising licences to broadcasters. The CMA does not provide for an enabling environment for independent media, or guidance on how we can prevent dominance of large corporations or conglomerates in the media industry.
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