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About the Rat
Asian Business Strategy & Street Intelligence Ezine

Singapore ensured a compliant populace in those days by controlling what people could see or hear. If not banned outright, foreign publications reporting on politics had their circulation reduced in Singapore and regularly were the subject of lawsuits. The result... no pesky questions about policies and interfering in policy making by ordinary people. The Straits Times carried articles about the moral decline of the West, scaring the gazoompahs outta US expats who thought that the US was on the verge of the complete breakdown of law and order.

Such is the power of the fourth estate.

Malaysia on the other hand practiced a self censorship that opposition leader Lim says has been "culled into a fine art". The local press is largely controlled by UMNO, the dominant Malay based party of Barisan Nasional that rules Malaysia, though PAS, the radical rural-based Malay party and the Chinese dominated DAP do own some of the minor Bahasa Malaysia and Chinese language newspapers respectively.

One of Mahathir's first acts in the lead up to the removal of Anwar was to fire the editors of two of the UMNO papers who were Anwar supporters. With the majority of the local press now just another arm of government, the Malaysian elite were able to control the hearts and mind of a great many..

The Internet was a problem, due to problems in controlling information dissemination on this medium. And the foreign press, quite frankly,.. were a pain in Mahathir's posterior... Asiaweek consistently presents both sides of the story, giving the Anwar story much prominence. Newsweek, as we reported earlier named Anwar "Asian of the Year". Hong Kong based Far Eastern Economic Review also reports comments from Anwar supporters. Singapore based cable TV network CNBC also incurred the wrath of the government when they aired a videotaped statement from Anwar, CNN is regularly attacked as having unnamed "agendas". Subsequent to the Anwar demonstrations the BBC transmissions were intercepted and Journalists were told they could take pictures of the sporting events only. Australian journalists were banned from doing anything sensible at the Commonwealth Games, following a sympathetic Anwar interview and interviews with opponents of the Internal Security Act as part of veteran newsman's George Negus (affectionately known as George Fungus in Australia in honour of his bushy moustache) telly program "Foreign Correspondent". They interviewed Marina Mahathir as well but that didn't seem to count.

A latest report from the Singapore based Straits Times quotes unnamed Malaysian government sources as saying that Singapore-inspired controls were being considered for the foreign press.

According to an AFP report..

"We have said that all we want is objective reporting," an unidentified government official was quoted as saying. "But some have been very negative about the leadership without any basis. The articles were not supported by fact." The official said there was a growing feeling that some foreign publications had a hidden agenda, carrying quotes and comments only from critics of the Government.

In the past, the prevailing feeling was that reports would be more Malaysia-friendly if ministers and senior officials were more open and made themselves available for interviews, but it has not worked out as planned. (The foreign media obviously cant pick up on subtle suggestions in the Malaysian way.. Eds...)

The feeling now was that Malaysia should look at how Singapore has dealt with the foreign press.

With the local press a laughing stock amongst the profession and the foreign media stymied, it may be that the only way you can get all sides of a Malaysian news story is by crossing the border to Thailand for a Bangkok Post or going South to Singapore to pick up a Straits Times.. Heh did i really say that! Or stick to the Internet where you can get all sides of the story and make up your own mind.

There is one other alternative.

The major problem is that by controlling the local press to the extent that the Malaysian elite has done, nobody takes any notice of what they say anyway and turn to other sources. If the Internet is stymied, Malaysians will be reduced to the "teh" or "coffee stand" gossip that Mahathir also dislikes intensely, and where traditionally grassroots movements are born. This type of communication is often emotional, misinformed and thrives on rumours and exagerrations ...And apart from a law that prohibits public meetings of over 3 people, the government has absolutely no control over that... Fortress Malaysia marches inoxerably on....