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Rights Groups Decry Malaysia Probe of Al Jazeera

Zsombor Peter

   KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia's recent moves to arrest and deport a
   Bangladeshi man forcriticizingthe government's treatment of migrant
   workers on a news show underscore the country's backsliding on press
   freedom in recent months, rights groups say.

   Authorities arrested Mohamad Rayhan Kabir on July 24, weeks after
   revoking his work permit over an on-camera interview he gavethe
   Qatari-based news organizationAl-Jazeera's101 East news program. In the
   July 3 episode, "Locked Up in Malaysia's Lockdown," he accuses the
   government of racism for targeting fellow migrant workers for arrest in
   its response to the coronavirus pandemic.

   Kabir remains in custody without charge. Authorities have yet to
   explain what laws they suspect him of breaking, even while officials
   have threatened to deport Kabir and bar his return to Malaysia forever.

   Authorities have moved against Al-Jazeera, too, deposing the
   journalists who worked on the episode in a sedition probe and accusing
   the Qatari news outlet of filming without the requisite licensing.
   Police raided its offices in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's capital, on
   Tuesday, seizing two computers.

   Censorship redux

   Combined with the pressure on Al-Jazeera, Kabir's arrest "clearly shows
   that the current authorities in Malaysia don't tolerate any independent
   reporting and consequently have very little respect for press freedom,"
   said Daniel Bastard, Asia Pacific director for Reporters Without
   Borders (RSF).

   Rights groups agree that Malaysia's media climate took a sharp turn for
   the worse with the surprise collapse of a reformist government in
   February and the return to power of the corruption-mired United Malay
   National Organization. Since UMNO's revival, they say, more than a
   dozen people have been arrested, charged or questioned for comments
   deemed critical of the new regime, including clean-government
   advocates, journalists and opposition lawmakers.

   Bastard called it a "sad reminder" of the stifling press environment
   that mired much of UMNO's first stint in power, which ended with its
   defeat at the polls in 2018 to former party leader turned critic
   Mahathir Mohamad.

   "Several journalists told RSF they don't dare anymore to cover some
   subjects as they would feel enabled to do under Mahathir's government,"
   he said. "The environment has dramatically changed, and it seems
   self-censorship has become the new normal again."

   Fear of reprisal now has news outlets censoring their readers as well.

   Malaysia's attorney general dragged local online news outlet
   Malaysiakini into court last month over comments some readers left on
   its site chiding the judiciary. Taking heed, Al-Jazeera recently shut
   down the comments section to its 101 Eastepisodeon Malaysia's lockdown
   on YouTube.

   Both outlets have denied any wrongdoing and stood by their reporting.

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