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The lopsidedness of the ownership and control of the mainstream media injures the democratisation process in Malaysia, observes Mustafa K Anuar.

Aliran executive committee members at Dewan Sri Pinang to put forward their submissions on electoral reforms to the Parliamentary Select Committee

Introduction Media, society and democracy

Democracy entails the freedom of citizens to express their views in the public domain. It provides them the opportunity to exercise the right to engage in discussions or debates and to offer criticism that collectively contributes to the common good of a society. This public dialogue is crucial to the notion of citizens partaking of a decision-making process in a thriving democracy. It is in this context that the role of the mass media becomes prominent because they are expected to provide the necessary platform for public discourse. But in order for citizens to express themselves adequately, it is important that they all have easy and equal access to the supposedly free and responsible media.

The role of the mass media in society becomes all the more crucial and urgent when general elections emerge. This is because the media, if free and fair, would bring about a situation where the voters can make an informed choice about the contending candidates in the general elections. The electorate would be able to get sufficient information about the competing candidates and political parties particularly from a fair and independent media. However, as we all know, the mainstream media in Malaysia are not fair and independent to start with. This has got to do with the laws governing the media as well as the ownership and control of the media.

The state of the Malaysian mainstream media

The restrictive laws that govern the media are principally the Printing Presses and Publications Act (1984) and the Communications and Multimedia Act (1998). These are laws that help shape the print and electronic media in the country so that those who own the mainstream newspapers, television and radio stations are closely aligned to the ruling party, and in turn are inclined to be BN-friendly.

Although there are many newspapers, radio and TV stations in the country, they are however owned by a select few, namely Media Prima, Huaren Holdings and Utusan Melayu group, among others, all of which are BN-friendly.

The lopsidedness of the ownership and control of the mainstream media injures the democratisation process in Malaysia because the Opposition invariably gets little, if any, access to the mainstream media. Worse, the past general elections witnessed the demonisation of the Opposition by these media.

The media and general elections case studies of 1990, 1999 and 2004

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Free, fair and equal access to the media