Press Freedom

The 2004 report on Malaysia from Reporters Without Borders says:

"The government sent some 30 Malaysian journalists to Iraq in April 2003 at its own expense to counter the 'western propaganda.'

"Malaysiakini.com editor Steven Gan said at a UN forum on press freedom in Kuala Lumpur in March: 'We must obtain the repeal of 20 laws that tend to control the media and replace them by a single freedom of information law.' But officials present said this would 'light an uncontrollable fire.' Press freedom activists at the forum criticised the spread of self-censorship on such subjects as government crackdowns and intercommunal tension. The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) failed a month later in its bid to have the 1960 Internal Security Act amended to protect political dissidents from being detained on a mere administrative decision."

The report goes on to describe various anti-free-press actions taken in the past year.