ANEXO II: Titulares de las noticias analizadas

In Malaysia, the first newspaper was published by the British, entitled The Prince of Wales Gazette, in 1806. This circulated stories in English related to British policies (Mohd Safar 1996). The first Chinese newspaper was Chinese Monthly Magazine, published by William Milne, who worked for the London Missionary Society to promote Western religious activities in mainland China. It was later in 1876 that Malay and Indian newspapers were first published. The first Malay newspaper was entitled Jawi Peranakan in Malay language, and Tangai Sinegan in Indian language (both published in 1876; Syed Arabi and Latiffah 1988).

Overall, these early newspapers are described as “heavily biased towards ethnic needs and concerns” (Syed Arabi and Latiffah 1988: 4).

Early Malay newspapers supported independence, while the Chinese and Indian press focussed on events in China and India (Mohd Azizuddin 2009, Syed Arabi 1988). In this period, it can be argued, there was no unity in publishing newspapers among the different ethnic groups. Instead, each pursued their own causes. Unlike the Malays, the Chinese and Indians focussed on the cultural proximity of their countries of origin, concentrating more on the development of business rather than political issues (Wang 1970).

Colonisation and multiracialisation have highly influenced the Malaysian press (Herbert 2001). Newspapers in Malaysia can be argued to be “product[s] of communal divisions” (Syed Arabi and Latiffah 1988: 19) published in four major languages that characterise the three main ethnics in Malaysia – Malay, Chinese and Indian, the fourth being

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English. Malay newspapers mainly enjoy the highest circulation because national schools teach in Malay (Syed Arabi and Latiffah 1988).

At present, there are 14 Malaysian newspapers being audited by the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC), four Malay newspapers, five English newspapers (including two free newspapers,), four Chinese newspapers and one Tamil newspaper. Besides the mainstream newspapers, MalaysiaKini²⁵ is the first online newspaper that offers mainly oppositional political news, and remains influential and prominent today. Other online newspapers include Malaysia Today (http://www.malaysia-today.net/), Malaysianinsider (http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/) and mynewshub (http://mynewshub.my/).

Regarding the circulation of the newspapers in this country, the current circulation figures show that, as of December 2011, the total newspaper circulation audited was 4,106, 115 copies daily. The Malay newspapers including Berita Harian (BH) and Berita Minggu (Sunday edition), Utusan Malaysia (UM) and Mingguan Malaysia (Sunday edition), Kosmo and Kosmo Ahad (Sunday edition), Harian Metro and Metro Ahad (Sunday edition) make up a total of 2,088,023 copies per day, while Chinese newspapers, led by Sin Chew Daily account for 805, 053 copies daily. The leading serious Malay newspaper is UM with 172, 859 daily circulation, slightly above its main rival the BH with a circulation of 126, 777. However, among Malay newspapers, only Harian Metro has increased its circulation, while others keep shrinking. English newspapers audited by ABC include the New Straits Times (the NST) and the Sunday Times (Sunday edition), The Star and Sunday Star and The Edge, that combined constitute 805,053 of newspapers daily. The increasingly popular free newspapers The Sun (TS) and Malaysia SME publish 350, 531 copies daily.

Chinese newspapers such as Sin Chew Daily have increased circulation from 324, 333 copies in 2006 to 388,223 as of December 2011. Among the Malay newspapers, the only paper that has increased is Harian Metro and its Sunday edition, from 249, 575 in 2005 to 386, 742 as of December 2011. TS also showed steady increase from 174, 179 in 2006 to 300,531 as of December 2011. English newspapers have experienced a reduction in circulation. The Star, for example, went from 310,008 in 2006 to 287,204 copies as of December 2011. Recent development in newspaper publishing saw the publication of a new newspaper in 2007 named Sinar Harian (SH), which it has been reported (but not yet listed in ABC circulation audit figures) reached 160,000 copies of circulation (Hong 2011). Further

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detail about the circulation figures of all Malaysian newspapers audited by ABC and the profiles of each newspaper examined in this study can be found in the Appendix section.

In terms of common issues pertaining to the press in Malaysia, it is characterised by academics as having close affiliation with the state (Brown 2005, Kenyon and Marjoribanks 2007) and concentration of ownership (Mustafa K Anuar 2005a, Wang 1998, Zaharom 2004).

There are main newspapers in all major languages, such as the NST, BH and Harian Metro (published by the New Straits Times Press Group: NSTP) and other Bahasa²⁶ mainstream newspapers; UM is produced by Utusan Group, which is also closely affiliated with the government in power. NSTP also published Shin Min Daily (now discontinued) in Chinese.

For the Indian readership there is Tamil Nesan and Malaysia Nanban, which also support the government in power (Mustafa 2005a).

Discussions related to ownership of the newspapers in Malaysia have raised an important debate (McChesney and Nichols 2003, Mustafa 2005a, Wang 1998). Many agree in describing Malaysia newspaper ownership as concentrated (Kenyon and Marjoribanks 2007, Wang 1998, Zaharom 2004). One example of this is the 80 percent acquisition by Perbadanan Nasional Berhad (Pernas or National Trading Corporation) of the Straits Times, which initially operated in Singapore. The Straits Times Press (NSTP) was renamed as New Straits Times press and published daily Malay, English and Chinese newspapers and magazines such as the NST, the New Sunday Times, the Malay Mail, the Sunday Mail, BH, Berita Minggu, Business Times, Shin Min Daily News, Her World, Malaysian Business, Jelita, Information Malaysia and more (Mohd Azizuddin 2009, Zaharom 2002b, Zaharom 2004).

Today, NSTP is owned by Media Prima, the biggest media conglomerate in Malaysia, which also owns several television channels, TV3, NTV7, 8TV and TV9, and the Malaysian pay-to view television, Astro. It also operates radio stations Fly FM and Hot FM. Since the implementation of NEP the state has had almost total control over media ownership in Malaysia (Mustafa 2002), and publishing stories is now under the blessings and “political endorsement” of the state (Mustafa 2002: 159).

The concentration of ownership goes further when it is not only associated with mainstream media but also privately-owned newspapers (Ramanathan 1995). TS, a widely-circulated newspaper in Malaysia, although published by a private company, is owned by

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Vincent Tan, the multimillionaire Malaysian Chinese who owns the Berjaya Group. Tan is said to have close personal ties with Malaysian former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, thus suggesting certain bias in news stories, similar to the mainstream newspapers. In this complex relationship, TS attempts to promote critical and non-partisan news, however, it has not escaped receiving several warning letters from the Ministry of Information (Hilley 2001).²⁷

The Ministry established itself from the Department of Publicity and Printing in September 1945. During the early years, the department’s role was clarifying rules and regulations, and also providing information to the British related to feedback on public opinion, together with information related to the economic and social conditions of places in various states. In summary, the early role of the department was “to nurture understanding of the people and maintain the stability of the nation”. After independence, the role of the department was “obtaining the support and participation of the people in ensuring the successful implementation of all government programmes. In the context of a plural society, the department has helped carry out various campaigns to instil harmony and unity between the races or ethnic groups”.²⁸

This is in line with the Rukun Negara or the national ideology that prescribes five beliefs (united nation, democratic society, just society, liberal society and progressive society) and five principles (belief in God, loyalty to king and country, upholding of the constitution, rule of law, and good behaviour and morality). All Malaysians should embrace these principles, and have also been applied to guide mass media as to what their contents should include (Lent 1979: 6). In the Rukun Negara, the emphasis is on religion, and so media content that includes pornographic or other illicit elements is banned (Mohd Azizuddin 2008). This is also the basis of the Malaysian version of ‘Asian values’.

1.4.1 The Notion of Asian Values

Through political affiliation and concentration of ownership, state control is often associated with the notion of Asian values introduced by Mahathir Mohammad, Malaysian ex-prime minister. The notion of Asian values suggests a generic value between Eastern people that is reflected in local cultures. Although these are all labelled “Asian values”, the

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champions of their implementation are mainly Malaysia (Petersen 1992, Stauth 2002) and Singapore (Xu 2005). Specifically, in the Malaysian context, the notion of Asian values

“stress(es) the role of culture, including religion in determining the identity and distinctiveness of the Asian peoples” (Mohd Azizuddin et al. 2009: 92).

The fundamental idea of ‘Asian values’ has been so powerful in Malaysia that it has been followed implicitly by Mahathir’s predecessors. Besides introducing Asian values, the ex-Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad also introduced the ‘Look East Policy’, modelled on the success of the Japanese, and campaigned to reject the Western route to modernity.

In terms of application, Asian values are however applied heterogeneously in Asia because of the diversity of the continent (Asad 1995, Massey and Chang 2002). For example, the root of Asian values from the Singaporean perspective is different from that of Malaysia.

Islam in Singapore is Confucius-derived, while Malaysians stress community and family, respect for authority and emphasis on community rights over individual rights. There is also focus on the social responsibility of the press over press freedom (Xu 2005). Specifically, the implementation of ‘Asian values’ in the context of Malaysia, compared with Singaporean culture, could be summarised into three criteria:

1.4.1.1 Against Western imperialism and rejection of the universalism of Western human rights,

1.4.1.2 A strong government in terms of politics and economic stability,

1.4.1.3 Protecting the community’s culture, traditional customs and religious beliefs (Mohd Azizuddin et al. 2009) particularly from the Islamic perspective (Stauth 2002).

Islam has been seen as a tool for the state to propagate the notion of Asian values, to campaign that both religious teachings and the values advocated are supportive of each other (Stauth 2002).

This suggests that a particular concept associated with a culture (such as ‘Asian’ and its

‘values’) should not be easily labelled homogenously among all parts of the Asian region.

Similarly, specificity concerns how this thesis looks into understanding concepts and occurrences in newsworthiness construction. However, the concept of ‘Asian values’ is argued to be inconsistent with the values of modern democracy (Datta-Ray 1996, Lent 1979).

It has also been used to inform actions of a democratic government, which must be

“acceptable, viable and truly authentic in the Asian context,” and, therefore, “provides the necessary foundation of the assertion of a broad ‘Asian identity’, a political identity that

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facilitates the legitimisation of a particular form of ‘democracy’” (Mohd Azizuddin et al.

2009: 92) that rejects the Western style of democracy.

It has become a point that Asian values are linked to the myth of ‘triggering economic progress in the East by avoiding Western democracy and human rights’, when in reality, some argue, total ignorance of the latter is ineffective. Nevertheless, ‘Asian values’ should improve on the weaknesses of Western democracy and human rights, without rejecting them totally. This is because earlier governance, which advocated similar notions of belief such as the “African traditions”, opposing Western philosophies of modernity, had not been a success in terms of economic development (Thomson 2001).

Besides no guarantee of economic progress, Asian values are often related to the practice of authoritative regimes and, therefore, used to limit the rights of citizens to express themselves, including through the media. This creates a paradox in Malaysia that, at the same time, cannot be the root ideology in combating authoritarianism and establishing a civil society (Stauth 2002). State limitation of press freedom is implemented in the name of Asian values. Overall, the media are expected to report on developmental and positive news, while negative and hostile criticism of the state is almost prohibited, an important element highlighted in the philosophy of development journalism. Yet, the issue of freedom of the press in Malaysia is not taken as a serious matter by many Malaysians, due to the relative prosperity of the country (Mohd Safar 1996).

The tide changed significantly after the sacking of the former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in September 1998, and it is argued that this is the point when Malaysians started to question the freedom of the press practised in Malaysia (Zaharom 2002b). Biased reporting in the mainstream newspapers against Ibrahim encouraged his supporters to form

“Reformasi”. By establishing Reformasi, they did not only show full opposition to the sexual allegation against Anwar, but also formed Adil.²⁹ The effort paid off when Adil started to gain more support from various ethnic groups, including the significant majority of Chinese and Indians. The trend suggests that many Malaysians sympathised with Anwar and they at the same time questioned the way Anwar’s trial had been reported in the mainstream media (Chin 2003). These groups also questioned the lack of balance in news surrounding opposition parties during General Elections (Wang 2001). This incident was the catalyst for an issue that had fermented for so long, and which was further demonstrated in the 1999

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General Elections. The poor results of BN triggered the dismissal and imprisonment of Anwar, and subsequent division among the Malay voters (Cabarello-Antony 2005). This further revived the people’s voice.

Although there is no clear definition of ‘Asian Journalism’ (Masterton 2005), its fundamental ideology celebrates the differences in the way good journalism is defined.

Universal journalistic skills can be applied to local contexts (Xu 2005). However, Asad Latif (1995) argues that there is no particular fixed notion of ‘Asian values’ because this relies on the over-generalisation of ‘values’ practised in the diverse nations of the Asian continent.

Rather, the philosophy should be ‘the values of the Asian’ that emphasises the economic, politic, linguistic and cultural particularity of each Asian country in its implementation. This again suggests the need to understand a concept without homogenously universalising to understand the heterogeneous reality.

Nevertheless, among media observers, some argue against the implementation of

‘Asian values’ or ‘Asian journalism’. To date, in Malaysia, the application of a particular version of Asian values has been used to justify strict regulations on media that curb the freedom of the press in the country.

1.5 Restrictions on Publishing Newspapers in Malaysia and the Freedom of the Press