The Malaysian leadership does this every time they are under seige: Try to control the media, and hence what they think are the means of information to the rakyat.
In the past it’s worked before. Through legislation, intimidation, patronage and licensing laws the Malaysian leadership managed to control the media time and again whenever it is under threat. It succeeded then because the traditional media – newspaper, radio stations and TV stations — were centralized, capital intensive enterprises that could be easily held at ransom by such tactics.
This time the leadership, under threat from Mahathir’s incessant attacks, (which opens up all sorts of permutations for maneuvering among the Malay power elite) has begun to resort to the traditional knee jerk reaction.
With the traditional media already under their control, they are now focussing on legislating to tame the blogs and websites sites, which have become the mainstay of dissent and information for politically aware Malaysians. The government is now talking about amending the Printing and Publications Act so that they can assert control over the blogosphere and websites.
This time I don’t think they will succeed. Technology has moved so far ahead that it is now virtually impossible to control the means of information. One way out for bloggers, for example and as suggested already by Jeff Ooi in Screenshots, is for bloggers to move their hosting sites and domains overseas, beyond the reach of Malaysian Borg leaders.
But resorting to such means of control is just another form of denial. The Malaysian leaders, whether they be Mahathir or Badawi or the ministers and factotums clustered around them, are at heart very unskilled people in persuasion. They do not have the charm, skills and savoire faire to win over the hearts and minds of the people and theywon’t admit this to themselves.
It is time for the Malaysian leadership to realize that in the 21st Century, not only is the whole world watching, the whole world can upload what they see, hear and feel. The people in this new world are like the newspapers, TV and radio stations they would like to control, but can’t.
The only recourse is to enter into a discussion with these empowered lot of uploaders. Until they learn to do that they are bound to find control slipping from their hands fast. There is a saying that if all you have is a hammer, every problem begins to look like a nail.
Unspun 
Leave a comment