KENYATAAN MEDIA/MEDIA STATEMENT RUSTAM A. SANI

KENYATAAN MEDIA

Rustam A. Sani
5 March 2001

[This statement is in Malay and English]

Tindakan Polis Berpilih-pilih Berasaskan Berita Akhbar dan Laopran Polis Tambah Mengaibkan Lagi Amalan Demokrasi di Malaysia

Penangkapan Ezam Mohd. Noor, Ketua Pemuda Parti Keadilan Nasional, sendirinya sudah cukup untuk sesiapa sahaja di seluruh dunia untuk menuduh demokrasi yang di amalkan di Malaysia sebagai demokrasi palsu. Tidak payahlah Dr Mahathir Mohamad bertegang leher membuat tuduhan terhadap media antarabangsa, kerana seluruh dunia tahu siapa yang sebenarnya memutarbelit berita dan memperlat media.

Apa yang lebih menjelekkan ialah sikap berpilih-pilih yang dilakukan oleh pihak berkuasa melalui pasukan polisnya yang sudah dikenali ganas dan tidak berperikemnusiaan itu. Rumah Ezam telah digeledah kira-kira dua jam setelah Pemuda UMNO mengemukakan laporan polis menuduh beliau membuat kenyataan bahawa beliau akan menganjurkan tunjuk perasaan setiap hari demi menjatuhkan kerajaan - sedangkan Ezam sudah menafikan kenyataan tersebut.

Dalam simpanan polis sekarang terdapat puluhan laporan tentang salah laku dan rasuah para menteri kabinet - sebahagian besarnya telah dikemuakakan oleh Ezam sendiri. Namun setelah berbulan-bulan berlalu tidak ada sebarang tindakan yang diambil oleh pihak polis. Sebaliknya, Ezam sendiri telah ditahan selepas beberapa jam sahaja Pemuda UMNO membuat laporannya.

Selain itu, tindakan polis tersebut dilakukan berasaskan laporan sebuah akhbar arus uatma yang diketahui umum memang telah diperalat oleh pemerintah. Beberapa bulan lalu akhbar yang sama telah melaporkan ancaman oleh Timbalan Ketua Pergerakan Pemuda UMNO untuk membakar Dewan Perhimpunan Cina Selangor. Namun tidak ada sebarang tindakan diambil terhadap ahli politik tersebut.

Nyatalah bahawa pihak pemerintah kini sudah menemui satu lagu kegunaan baru bagi media arus utama negara ini yang memang telah dipegunakan dan diperalatkannya selama ini. Media tersebut digunakan untuk memutarbelit berita dan membuat laporan palsu, dan kemudian berdasarkan laporan palsu tersebut penangkapan polis akan dilakukan. Demikianlah peranan media arus utama yang baru-baru ini beria-ia benar didakwa oleh Senator Datuk Zainuddin Maidin, Setiausaha Parlimen Kementerian Penerangan Malaysia, sebagai sudah dapat dipulihkan kredibilitinya.

PRM dan BA membantah sekeras-kerasnya penangakapan Saudara Ezam Mohd Noor, di samping mengecam sekuat-kuatnya penodaan institusi media bebas yang semakin berleluasa di negara ini. Kini media arus utama dan polis merupakan rakan kongsi yang erat dalam usaha pihak kerajaan menodai hak asasi rakyat negara ini.

Rustam A. Sani

Naib Presiden, Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) dan Pengerusi, Biro Media dan Penerangan, Barisan Alternatif (BA).

TRANSLATION

Selective Police Persecution Based on News and Police Reports Has Made the Already Farcical Democracy in Malaysia an Even Bigger Laughing Stock

The arrest of Ezam Mohd Noor, Youth Leader of the Parti Keadilan Nasional (KeADILan), is in itself adequate reason for anyone to characterise the democracy practiced in Malaysia as farcical. There is no need for Dr Mahathir Mohamad to point accusing fingers to the international media, for the world already knows who is actually capable of manipulating news and controlling the media.

What is even more disgusting is the selective persecution carried out by the authorities in Malaysia through its police force which is already known for its violence and total disregard of basic human rights. Ezam's house was ransacked about two hours after the UMNO Youth Movement filed a police report accusing him of saying that he would be organising daily demonstrations in order to topple the government - although he had already denied making such a statement.

The police must have received, in the last few months, tens of police reports concerning misdeeds and corruption committed by cabinet ministers - some of these reports were indeed filed by Ezam himself. Yet after months have passed, the police have not taken any action. Instead, it was Ezam who was arrested only hours after the UMNO Youth filed a report against him.

Besides, the police action was carried out on the basis of a report published in a 'mainstream' newspaper that everybody knows is a tool of the government. A few months ago the same newspaper reported the threat made by the Deputy Leader of the UMNO Youth that he would burn down the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall. No action was taken against the pro-government politician, however.

It is obvious that the government has now discovered yet another use for the 'mainstream media' which it controls and manipulates. The newspapers would be used to doctor news and to publish false reports - and based on such news reports police arrests would be carried out. Such is the role of the mainstream media in Malaysia today, although Senator Datuk Zainuddin Maidin, Parliamentary Secretry, Ministry of Information, claimed recently that the media has regained its credibility.

PRM (People?s Party of Malaysia) and BA (The Alternative Front) condemns in the strongest terms the arrest of Ezam Mohd Noor, and also protest vehemently the rape of independent media that is on the increase in Malaysia. With this arrest, it is obvious that the mainstream media and the police has become partners in supporting a government bent on establishing a farcical democracy.

Rustam A. Sani

Vice Presiden, Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) and Chairman, Bureau for Media and Information, Barisan Alternatif (BA).

Rustam A. Sani
7519 Jalan Bukit Lela, Gombak
53100 Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA

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