My Miscellaneous Page

Malaysians enjoying new climate of expression

• Parliament: Uncontrollable. Too aggressive. These are some of the words used to describe a Dewan Rakyat that has shown no fear of questioning and shaming Cabinet ministers or ripping government policies.

Johor Baru MP Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad: "Pak Lah advocates more dialogue and is more transparent in the decision-making process. If Dr Mahathir interprets this as a police state, then I think this ‘police state’ is not so bad."

• Government, political parties and the Cabinet: By all accounts, Abdullah believes in consensus-building. Ministers and politicians say their piece without worrying about being put in cold storage. If there is a criticism against this approach, it is that decision-making is sometimes cumbersome.

Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister Ng Lip Yong: "I wrote to the PM late last year over something I felt very strongly about. So far, no action has been taken against me."

• Judiciary: In the past few months, the government has suffered several reverses in courtrooms. Also, judges have been willing to step on legal minefields. For example, judge Hishamuddin Yunus noted that the Federal Court in the Ayer Molek case was illegally constituted because one of the judges sitting in the matter was a High Court judge.

Former Federal Court judge: "The accusation that no one else is able to criticise the PM is not true because the media has been printing balanced articles, including his (Mahathir’s) criticisms as well as those of the public."

• Media: Several newspapers have covered sensitive issues more thoroughly than ever before. The drawback: Some Cabinet ministers are uncomfortable with the new found freedom enjoyed by the mainstream Press. Also websites and bloggers have attacked the prime minister and his government at will.

Energy, Water and Communications Minister Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik: "There is no substance to this claim that Internet sites are electronically bugged so that action can be taken against anyone who criticises the PM. You can see websites like Malaysiakini and Malaysia Today, there is criticism of Pak Lah but we are not doing anything about it."

• Non-governmental organisations: Every other week, NGOs organise forums to criticise the police, government policies or the PM.

Dr Chandra Muzaffar, president of the International Movement for a Just World: "Tun Dr Mahathir’s allegations are utterly baseless. There was less space for democratic dissent under Dr Mahathir. I was one of those who was arrested under the ISA via Ops Lalang. He (Dr Mahathir) could not have picked a better date to tell the world that Malaysia is a police state. It was exactly 19 years ago (yesterday) that we were picked up."

Yeo Yang Poh, president of Bar Council: "There has been an opening up of some space for freedom of expression in recent months. But there is a need to promote greater freedom of speech."

• The opposition: As far as opposition politicians are concerned, there is not much change between the Mahathir years and Abdullah’s stewardship of the country. They are sidelined and feel threatened by the police.

Tan Seng Giaw, DAP MP for Kepong: "As far as we in the opposition are concerned, this has been going on for years. Abdullah has only been prime minister for a few years. Tun had more than 20 years. Making a comparison between the two would not be fair. But what I see now is that what we (opposition members) say comes out more in the Press."