In the last general election, the ruling coalition secured support from barely half the ethnic Malay voters but nevertheless clinched a two-thirds parliamentary majority in Malaysia's first-past-the-post electoral system.
But this time around, officials are taking no chances. From the reporting of the haze to the introduction of English as a medium of instruction for teaching mathematics and science to the voices of independent thinkers on Islam, public discourse has been limited by curbs in the largely government-linked media and official frowns. And that has left large sections of the population in the dark.
Take the haze that has blanketed large sections of Sarawak in northern Borneo in recent days as well as parts of the peninsula. The media in peninsular Malaysia have largely downplayed the effects of the haze, which reached unhealthy levels.
Pictures coming in from Sarawak last week reveal fog-like conditions with tall buildings a few hundred metres away barely discernible. The official silence has fed public anxieties, and when officials do speak, they place much of the blame elsewhere.
Hazy reports
Ever since the last scare in 1997-98, when the haze reached hazardous levels, Malaysia's exact readings of the Air Pollutant Index have not been made public.
Environmental academics, fearing disciplinary action, are reluctant to comment in the media about the adverse effects of the haze on public health.
Tucked away on page 8 of a national daily on Aug 22 was a report saying that "a few" hotspots were detected in Sarawak and nine of 10 monitoring stations registered poor air quality in the state.
There has been little discussion in the media here of the causes of these "hotspots" and how bad the situation actually is.
It has been reported that one million masks will be distributed by the relevant government agencies, with priority to be given to schoolchildren, institutions and people with health problems. A strange response for a crisis that is supposed to be under control.
Kuching, the capital of Sarawak, is close to an area in western Borneo identified as having slight to thick haze, according to a Smoke Haze/Hot Spots map from Singapore's National Environment Agency on Aug 21 evening. Although rains have brought some reprieve since then, it is unclear how long the haze will remain.
In recent studies, exposure to particulate pollution — either alone or with other air pollutants — has been linked with premature death, difficult breathing, aggravated asthma, increased hospital admissions and emergency-room visits, and increased respiratory symptoms in children.
The haze of 1997, the result of fires in Sumatra and Borneo and aggravated by the El Nino drought, is estimated to have cost the people of Southeast Asia some US$1.4 billion (RM5.22 billion), mostly in short-term health costs. The long-term impacts on health of exposed children and elderly are unknown and it was months before tourism returned to normal. That in part explains why officials fear greater publicity about the extent of the haze.
Sensitive issues
There are other areas where the media here are reluctant to tread. Twenty-seven civil-society groups are urging the county's highest judge, Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah, to call for a public inquest into the deaths of three youths who died while under police detention during the past three months. In a letter submitted to him on Aug 22, the groups said an inquest was vital as there were allegations of police brutality and misuse of power surrounding the deaths. It is a subject that few dare to broach.
Even something as innocuous as the government's proposal to teach Math and Science using English as a medium of instruction has been turned into something of a "sensitive issue", with public debate not encouraged. Educationists from all the language streams — Malay, Mandarin and Tamil — have expressed reservations about the proposal, arguing that it could be counterproductive and not lead to any improvement in the standard of English. The Chinese educationists also worry that it could lead to a change in the character of the country's Chinese-medium schools — something the government insists won't happen. Such concerns could sway Chinese electoral support for the ruling coalition.
But Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad cautioned that those using racial sentiments to instigate the people would face stern action. "If they continue to harp on the issue to create anxiety among the people or get involved in illegal activities, then we will not hesitate to take the necessary action." Enough said.
Curbs on free expression are felt in religious matters as well. Any attempt to raise public awareness about Mahathir's declaration last September that Malaysia is already an Islamic state can run into serious problems, as opposition politician Lim Kit Siang found out the hard way. Lim, chairperson of the multiethnic Chinese-based Democratic Action Party, has been repeatedly arrested over the past couple of months for distributing leaflets insisting that Malaysia's constitutional status as a secular, multireligious country with Islam as the religion of the federation remains unchanged.
But there are other groups that are upset about free expression of views pertaining to Islam. A few months ago, several independent scholars and writers on Islam have been chastised for expressing views that were deemed to have "insulted" the religion. The conservative and, some say, opposition-leaning Persatuan Ulama Malaysia (Malaysian Muslim Scholars Association), a body of religious scholars, has been in the forefront of these efforts to muzzle independent voices. The result: independent scholars now feel intimidated about expressing views that go beyond the permissible range of politicised discourse.
Media council
As if such curbs on free expression are not enough, plans are afoot to set up a Media Council and introduce a Code of Conduct for journalists to ensure self-regulation of the press in Malaysia.
Self-regulation in principle would have been fine in a more liberal context — after all, the principal objective of most media councils elsewhere, apart from self-regulation, is to defend and promote press freedom.
But what worries press freedom activists here when plans for the media council are discussed is that there has been little official talk of expanding press freedom. Thus, the fear is that a proposed media council would only add another layer of control over the media, in addition to repressive laws such as the Printing Presses and Publications Act, the Official Secrets Act, and the Internal Security Act. Activists and some journalists also fear that the media council will be used to shackle alternative, independent and opposition journalism including that over the Internet.
Behind the most pressing current issues of the day, it is the freedom of expression — or the lack thereof — that is proving to be the stumbling block in the way of a more informed citizenry, ready to face the challenges posed by globalisation and political Islam.
Despite its stronger position post-Sept 11, the Mahathir administration is obviously not taking any chances. By discouraging independent voices, it appears intent on stemming any further erosion in support ahead of what is expected to be a hotly contested general election soon. — GVNN/Asia Times Online