Here lies our right to democratic representation and a free press in a democracy. RIP.
Astro has been fined by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission(MCMC) for airing in 2015 an Al-Jazeera documentary on the controversial murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu.
Malaysiakini reported today that a notice was sent to Measat Broadcast Network Systems Bhd, the company which operates Astro, on July 7 2020 over the airing on September 11, 2015.
“In its letter to Measat, MCMC said the company was found guilty of airing the episode, which was indecent, with the intention to offend related parties.
“As such, the company was fined RM1,000 for each time the episode was aired, totalling RM4,000. The company has 30 days to appeal against the compound,” said the Malaysiakini report.
Al Jazeera has been in the spotlight in recent days over widespread and governmental criticism of its July 3 documentary Locked up in Malaysia’s Lockdown.
The 2015 documentary about Althantuya’s death was titled Murder in Malaysia and had aired as part of Al Jazeera’s network.
The documentary linked the October 2006 murder to former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak who is now facing charges of corruption and money laundering activities. Charges for a trial that has been repeatedly postponed I might add. Our former PM was so distraught over the documentary that he had its producer Mary Ann Jolley deported from Malaysia during its production.
“This allegation is intentionally misleading, and has been used to perpetuate baseless conspiracy theories,” the PMO had said then.
Al Jazeera is now facing increased pressure from all parts of the government as yesterday, the National Film Development Corporation (FINAS) said Al Jazeera did not have the necessary licences to film Locked Up in Malaysia’s Lockdown.
“Finas will give its full cooperation to the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) in carrying out investigations against Al Jazeera (M) Sdn Bhd under Section 22(1) of the Perbadanan Kemajuan Filem Nasional Malaysia Act 1981 (Amendment 2013) for carrying out filming activities, that is the activity of producing a documentary film without a valid licence from Finas,” it concluded.
On Sunday, Communications and Multimedia Minister reportedly said that its ministry is checking whether Al Jazeera had violated media accreditation conditions and if found to have done so, his department will cancel the accreditation, noting that the crew would not be free to go anywhere without the media cards issued by the department.
There has been widespread global criticism from human rights groups over the government’s handling of the Al Jazeera debacle. For one, The Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) has noted its alarm by the government’s probe into international news outlet Al Jazeera’s accreditation and license. The organization laments the government’s failure to begin a factual discourse which rebuts the points made in the documentary, instead reverting to employing its enforcement apparatus to silence dissent.
Tsk Tsk, RIP Democracy (31 August 1957 – 22 July 2020)
