A Channel News Asia (CNA) documentary on racial tension following the notorious Sept 16 rally was pulled off the transmission by HyppTV as it was critical of the Malaysian government.

The 12-minute programme, entitled " A Fractured Nation " was initially scheduled for broadcast via HyppTV , an online paid TV owned by Telekom Malaysia (TM), on 8pm Thursday.

The programme featured Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak ( photo ) who it claimed had resorted to playing the racial card so that he can continue to be in power.

"Facing increasing pressure, Najib has turned to the segment of support he can count on - the ethnic Malays are resorting to racial card to stay on top of the political game," naratted the programme.

CNA interviewed pollster Merdeka Centre executive director Ibrahim Suffian, Universiti Islam Antarabangsa assistant professor Maszlee Malek, Iseas-Yusof Ishak Institute deputy director Ooi Kee Beng and Bersih chairperson Maria Chin Abdullah.

The decision to bar the programme was done after HyppTV contacted CNA, said a CNA producer, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"All I can confirm is that the Malaysian channel ( HyppTV ) contacted our programming (section) to determine whether our show is critical of the Malaysian government, at about 6pm, two hours before the show was supposed to go on air," she told Malaysiakini .

Supervision tightened after Al Jazeera incident

Another CNA producer revealed that HyppTV had tightened its supervision and guidelines against foreign programmes after Al Jazeera 's documentary on Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu.

The journalist behind the special feature on the murder of Altantuya ( photo ) was deported in the midst of making the documentary titled "Murder in Malaysia".

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has imposed restrictions on HyppTV when it comes to foreign programmes which carries anti-government elements, claimed the producer.

"The supervision was tightened especially after the Al Jazeera incident."

Besides the Sept 24 documentary, two news programmes, on Sept 16 rally and a MH 370 report, which was released on its anniversary, were barred too, according to the producer.

"We have done a fair and balance report," he said.

Meanwhile, Communications and Multimedia Minister Salleh Said Keruak yesterday described the CNA documentary as biased as it portrayed a bad image of Malaysia using only interviews from opposition sources.

He said the documentary did not reflect the real situation in the country, and that CNA should have come up with a balanced report by interviewing those who were members of the ruling party.

"The report is clearly one-sided because it highlights only negative things about Malaysia, and CNA interviews only those who are members of the opposition.

"CNA's report on Malaysia Day is unfair, biased and regrettable, and should be rectified," Salleh ( photo ) said as reported by Bernama .

"CNA should take into account the views of all parties as the report seems to portray our country is facing a lot of problems which is not all true. This report clearly shows that they have a point of view or an angle to hurt our country," he added.

The CNA report stated that Malaysia Day was supposed to be an occasion to strengthen unity of all Malaysians but was allegedly taken advantage of by certain parties to sow discord and disunity through protests with a racial overtone.

In rebuttal, Salleh said the foreign media was determined to spoil the good name of Malaysia with reports based on dubious sources.

He opined that the negative reports were initiated not only by the outsiders but also a certain group of people in the country.

Salleh said the majority of the people and leaders of the country had expressed their full support to the prime minister, adding that "such acts divulge the futile path".

Meanwhile, a member of the HyppTV 's management team refused to confirm whether the service provider barred the programmes.

When asked if the order came from MCMC or the ministry, he said the ministry will handle policy matters while the MCMC deals with operations.

"Contents aired will have to adhere to existing rules, guidelines and content code in which broadcasters are already aware on their own," he told Malaysiakini via text message.

He, however, did not reply if the order came from the government.

Malaysiakini also failed to contact MCMC chairperson Halim Shafie for his comment.

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