Malaysian Media:
Ownership and Control
Rick Shriver
Ohio University
Electronic Media
Zanesville, Ohio
Malaysian Culture
Multi-racial society: (officially)
– Malays 61%
– Chinese 30%
– Indians 8%
– Orang Asli (Orignal Man), and diverse
indigenous people of Sabah and Sarawak
(Borneo) 1%
Malaysian Culture
• Islam the official religion, but
freedom of worship allows all
religions to coexist.
• Buddhists, Hindus, Christians,
Animists.
Malaysian Politics
• Constitutional Monarchy since 1957.
• Supreme Head of State is the Yang Di
Pertuan Agong - the King.
• Parliamentary government headed by
Prime Minister Dato Sri Doctor
Mahathir Mohammed, since 1981.
Malaysian Politics
• Parliament controlled by a multi-party
ruling coalition “Barisan National.”
• BN made up of parties representing the
three major ethnic groups.
• UMNO: Malay national party exerts
the most control, also includes MCA
(Chinese) and MIC (Indian).
Malaysian Politics
• Government characterized as “semiauthoritarian” to “authoritarian” by outside
observers.
• Elections subject to gerrymandering.
• Civil liberties are allowed as long as they do
not threaten the control of the BN.
Malaysian Politics
• BN has ruled the country since 1969, by
maintaining a 2/3 majority in Parliament.
• This has enabled the government to amend
the constitution at will.
• Power has become increasingly
concentrated in the executive branch and
the Prime Minister.
Malaysian Politics
• Mounting dissention resulting from the
conspicuous accumulation of wealth by the
PM and BN.
• The Putrajaya; PM’s residence referred to
as Mahathir’s Taj Mahal.
Malaysian Politics
• Primary opposition to UMNO comes from
PAS.
• PAS is conservative Muslim/Malay party.
• PAS advocates return to strict Muslim law,
more conservatism.
Malaysian Politics
• PAS-controlled state of Kelantan enforces
conservative Muslim law.
• Fines for women without cover.
• No mixing of genders.
Malaysian Politics
• PAS has combined forces with other parties
to form a weak opposition coalition.
• Nearly total lack of access to the media by
the opposition assures the continued power
of the BN.
Malaysian Politics
Self-perpetuating system as elections are
called only when Prime Minister is satisfied
that the BN has the majority support
required to sustain their control of the
government.
Most recently disenfranchising thousands of
newly registered young voters.
Malaysian Politics
• New Economic Policy announced in
1970.
• Aimed at eradicating “inequalities”
between ethnic Chinese and the
Islamic Malay Bumiputera.
• Viewed by many as “affirmative action
for the majority.”
New Economic Policy
• Redistribution of wealth; requiring
“majority ownership” by Bumiputera in
corporations.
• Other provisions: interest-free loans, free
university education, government jobs,
reserved land ownership.
New Economic Policy
Thus it is under the provisions of the NEP that
all corporate ownership is monitored and
controlled.
This obviously includes ownership of the
media.
Malaysian Television
• “Free-to-Air” (TV 1, TV 2, TV 3,
Metrovision, NTV7)
• MEGA TV (microwave distribution, 6 -7
western channels, 1 Chinese, 1 Indian)
• ASTRO (digital direct satellite, 12 - 15
western channels, 3 Chinese, 1 Indian)
Malaysian Free-to-Air Television
• TV 1 & TV 2 owned and operated by
State-run Radio-Television Malaysia.
• TV 3, Metrovision* and NTV7
privately owned.
*off-air for parts of 1999 & 2000.
MEGA TV
• Microwave subscription television service.
• “Wireless cable.”
• CNN (Asia), ESPN (Asia), Discovery
Channel, HBO (Asia), AXN (Action),
Taiwanese TV, TNT/Cartoon/Variety (dayparted).
• All channels subject to content controls.
ASTRO TV
• Digital direct broadcast satellite.
• 20+ channels.
• Including Disney, MTV (Asia), Bloomberg,
Showtime, Nickelodeon, CNBC, Star Movie,
and others including all MEGA channels.
• All subject to content controls, enforced by
a team of approximately 20 censors.
“Free-to-air” content
TV1
TV2
6:00pm
News
6:30pm
TV3
NTV7
METRO
West. Sitcom Chin. Drama
News
West. Doc.
Religious
News
Drama cont.
Malay. Serial
Malay. Serial
7:00pm
Malay. Serial
Chin. Serial
Malay. Serial
Serial cont.
Serial cont.
7:30pm
Interview
Serial cont.
Discussion
Game
West. Children’s
8:00pm
News
News
News
News
News
8:30pm
Discussion
Malay. Serial
News
West. Drama West. Comedy
9:00pm
Malay. Movie Serial cont.
Indian Movie
Drama cont.
9:30pm
Movie cont.
News
Movie cont.
Music videos West. Comedy
10:00pm
Movie cont.
West. Movie
Movie cont.
West. Comedy West. Serial
10:30pm
Movie cont.
Movie cont.
Movie cont.
West. Comedy Serial Cont.
11:00pm
News
Movie cont.
News
News
West. Comedy
News
Western “free-to-air” content
TV1
TV2
6:00pm
News
6:30pm
TV3
NTV7
METRO
West. Sitcom Chin. Drama
News
West. Doc.
Religious
News
Drama cont.
Malay. Serial
Malay. Serial
7:00pm
Malay. Serial
Chin. Serial
Malay. Serial
Serial cont.
Serial cont.
7:30pm
Interview
Serial cont.
Discussion
Game
West. Children’s
8:00pm
News
News
News
News
News
8:30pm
Discussion
Malay. Serial
News
West. Drama West. Comedy
9:00pm
Malay. Movie Serial cont.
Indian Movie
Drama cont.
9:30pm
Movie cont.
News
Movie cont.
Music videos West. Comedy
10:00pm
Movie cont.
West. Movie
Movie cont.
West. Comedy West. Serial
10:30pm
Movie cont.
Movie cont.
Movie cont.
West. Comedy Serial Cont.
11:00pm
News
Movie cont.
News
News
West. Comedy
News
Content by type
• 31%
Western entertainment
• 25%
Malaysian news/public affairs
• 23.5%
Malaysian entertainment
• 18%
Asian Entertainment
• 2.5%
Cultural content *
*including religious programming
Malaysian Television Content
Western
News
Non-local
Local ent.
Cultural
Television content controls
• U = “suitable for all levels of society.”
• 18SG = 18+ with non-excessive
violent/horrifying scenes.
• 18SX = 18+ with non-excessive sex scenes.
• 18PA = with political/religious/counterculture elements.
• 18PL = 18+ with a combination of two or
more elements.
Television content controls
•
•
•
•
V
H
S
C
=
=
=
=
Violent content.
Horror content.
Sexual content.
Counter-culture content.
Television content controls
Zero tolerance. Scenes that are deemed
“excessive” are excised completely.
Often at the expense of continuity and
story-line.
Radio
• Approximately 10 state-run stations
operated by Radio-Television Malaysia.
• “Free-to-air” FM signals broadcast in
English, Malay, Chinese, Tamil, Orang Asli
dialect.
• Repeated throughout peninsula, Sabah,
Sarawak.
• Western and ethnic music.
Radio
• 7 privately-owned free-to-air FM
stations.
• HITZ-FM, MIX-FM, BEST-FM, Light
and Easy FM, etc.
• 4 DBS satellite radio services,
distributed by ASTRO.
Privatization
• Begun in 1983, with the privatization of
TV3.
• Licensed to Sistem Televisyen (M) Berhad.
• 40% of STM stock held by Fleet Group.
• Fleet Group is UMNO’s holding company.
• UMNO the party of PM Mahathir.
• Fleet Group control allowed to select
remaining partners.
Privatization
• 1994 - license issued for Metrovision.
• Licensed to Melewar Corp. and Utusan
Melayu (M) Berhad.
• Melewar Corp. is controlled by Tunku
Abdullah, close associate of PM Mahathir.
Privatization
•
•
•
•
ASTRO subscriber base nearing 500,000.
Owned by MEASAT (licensed in 1995).
MEASAT owned by Ananda Krishnan
Krishnan reportedly a close friend of PM
Mahathir, and long-time board member of
Bank Negara, estimated worth over $250million U.S.
Print Media
Ownership
U.S. State Department Report on Human
Rights and Practices:
“…leading political figures in the ruling
coalition, or companies controlled by them,
own most major newspapers.”
Print Media
Government Controls
•
•
•
•
Sedition Act.
Official Secrets Act.
Internal Security Act.
Printing Presses and Publications Act.
All are used to suppress publication of
government criticisms.
Sedition Act
• Prohibits public comment on issues which
are defined as sensitive, such as racial or
religious matters. Often used to restrict
dissenting political speech.
Official Secrets Act
• Also restricts freedom of expression.
Opposition leaders have often accused the
government of using the OSA to cover up
corruption.
Printing Presses and
Publications Act
• Requires annual licensing of domestic and
foreign publications.
• Makes publishing “malicious news” a
punishable offense.
• Results in extensive self-censorship by the
press.
Criminal Defamation Laws
• The Center for Independent Journalism
cited self-censorship as the biggest obstacle
to press freedom in Malaysia.
• Fear of lawsuits was identified as a primary
cause of self-censorship.
Motion Pictures
• Government censorship board censors films
for profanity, nudity, sex, violence, and
certain religious and political content.
• Last Malaysian major film studio closed in
1980.
Internet
• Communications and Multimedia Act (April
1, 1999).
• Requires licensing for Internet providers.
• Provides for “legal action against those who
post defamatory and false information on
the Internet.”
Internet
• Police have detained people under the ISA
for “cyber rumor-mongering.”
• Other laws are being drafted to allow legal
action against those spreading “misleading
information” and pornography.
Politics and the Media
• Most recent elections held in November
1999.
• Government strictly prohibited any
reporting on the opposition by state-run
radio and television.
• Private television stations carried no
impartial reporting on the opposition.
Politics and the Media
• Newspapers denied nearly all opposition
advertising, leading up to the election.
• The few ads that appeared were edited by
the newspapers.
• UMNO placed full-page ads on every-otherpage of major newspapers in the weeks
before the election.
Conclusions
• Media nearly all owned by
members of UMNO, members of
the Barisan National, or “cronies”
of the Prime Minister and his
deputies.
Conclusions
• Print media are further heavily
controlled by government through
selective enforcement of federal
laws, fear of criminal lawsuits, and
licensing.
Conclusions
• Privately-owned electronic media are
owned by member of the Barisan National,
or associates of the Prime Minister and his
deputies.
• All electronic media content is tightly
controlled by government censorship and
content restrictions.
Conclusions
• The Malaysian press is not free.
• The resultant effect on political
speech is a chilling one.
Conclusions
• Racial tensions have been created,
perpetuated and exacerbated by the NEP,
with no likelihood of change.
• Opposition voices are silenced.