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Independent Media Night

Speech by P Ramakrishnan at the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall, 24 August 2001

award It is indeed a great privilege to be associated with so many concerned and caring citizens and luminaries from the alternative media. I thank Perspektif Pedas for this privilege.

Perspektif Pedas, though new on the horizon, has not been a stranger to many. Comprising young and energetic individuals, motivated by idealism and inspired by a sense of justice, they have gone about organising talks and forums, mobilising the young, addressing the issues of the day through concert and discussions, publishing an alternative magazine and lauching a Chinese web-site. To have achieved so much in so short a period speaks well of their remarkable vim and vigour.

It is fitting that we are gathered here tonight to pay tribute to that unquenchable spirit of freedom that will not be easily cowed or simply broken.

People who stick out their necks and dare to stand up for a common cause in an hostile environment deserve to be recognised as brave men and women. And it is only proper that we honour them for their courage and commitment.

No society can progress without them.

For society to progress we not only need courageous and commited people, we also need a free press and honest journalists.

We despair when we look around and discover the hopeless situation the mainstream media is in. It is controlled and throttled and belittled by the powers that be.

We are outraged that the mainstream media is manipulated to dish out slanted news and at times even downright lies. There is no critical reporting or honest probing; there is no questioning of policies or demanding of accountability. It is not revolted by corruption or abuse of power in high places. It merely reports - humbly and piously - what the great leader says and does.

  • It is not appalled that issues of justice are decided on matters of technicalities rather than based on fairness and merit of the case.
  • It does not lash out against the absurdities of mega awards in defamation suits running into hundreds of millions. It is mindboggling that anybody’s reputation can be quantified in such colossal terms.
  • It is not disturbed that the PM is talking nonsense when he castigates Suhakam’s report. It does not tell him that he is talking rubbish and point out to him that Suhakam’s findings are based on evidence and its conclusions have nothing to do with Western thinking. A wrong is a wrong, no matter who commits it or where it is perpetrated.
  • It does not campaign against the ISA as a piece of immoral legislation. It is not perturbed that citizens are put away and robbed of their precious freedom on unproven allegations.
  • It does not condemn as insane the obscene obsession to get into the book of records as wasteful and unnecessary. Where have all these numerous records taken us to; what benefits have they brought to the poor and downtrodden? Who cares if we have the biggest erection in the world. Does it matter? But it matters to us that our wealth is squandered on wasteful spendings.
The monopolistic control of the press ensures that the powers that be are always portrayed in a positive light while differing and dissenting views are either distorted or throttled.

This is why the powers that be cannot tolerate any independent media. It must either be destroyed or acquired for their own security and well-being.

A free press on the other hand acts as a beacon that exposes all that is wrong in a society and demands accountability from its leaders. This is why corrupt leaders and dictators cannot tolerate a free press. A free press will, in all probability make monkeys of such corrupt leaders and mockery of their policies. This they cannot tolerate. This is why a leader who wants to stay in power forever will target the press, cripple it and take hold of it.

When that happens, truth is buried, justice is sacrificed, institutions are destroyed. There will be no accountability, corruption will be widespread, democracy will merely be a word, there will be no challenge whatsoever.

This is something that people of conscience must fight against to prevent the total collapse of avenues that provide access to information and truth.

Somebody said that freedom of conscience, of education, of speech, of assembly are among the very fundamentals of democracy and all of them would be nullified should freedom of the press ever be successfully challenged.

To safeguard this freedom, all of us must get together collectively and devise strategies. This must be done sooner than later.

Aliran has come out with a Charter to protect and promote this freedom. This is not the end-all or be-all document. Though it is initiated by Aliran, it need not be Aliran’s document. It can be our common cause. Let’s look at it and turn it around into a citizens’ media initiative for an accountable, responsible and independent media.

Let’s sit down and discuss and think of ways to get it moving.

From the alternative media group, KAMI and Malaysiakini have endorsed this. Let’s jointly seek a wider endorsement so that it will have the backing of a wider spectrum of the Malaysian society.

We need to mobilise. We need to reach out. We need to win over others to our cause. Numbers are important.

Authority does not yield anything on its own. It never has and it never will. It has to be demanded; it has to be extracted; it has to be fought for.

Freedom’s battles are never easy and demand heavy prices. But it is something worth fighting for.

But tonight we celebrate with other journalists. We celebrate with growing numbers of Malaysian journalists who have made a great start towards ending a charade in which people who are serious about good journalism are prevented from being good journalists.