Like UMNO Vice President Joe Biden compared Republicans in Congress to people who excuse rapists by blaming their victims

What is the truth?
KDN answer: Whatever we say it is

• Evangelical Christians say KDN confiscated 3,000 copies of the Malay-language Bible
• Evangelicals say govt had agreed to release the Bibles
• KDN warns newspapers for publishing “false news”
KDN says Bibles were not confiscated, merely “not released”
• KDN says govt did not agree to release the Bibles
• Newspapers publish KDN statement as a “correction”
• Conclusion: “the truth” is anything the KDN says. If not editors and publishers go to jail (publishing “false news” is a criminal offence under the Printing Presses & Publications Act)

---

The home ministry has reprimanded newspapers that carried statements by the Evangelical Christian Fellowship that KDN had “confiscated” a shipment of Malay-language Bibles, causing editors to shrink into self-censorship mode.

Self-censorship is abhorrent to professional journalists who with to live up to their professional principles and report the truth as they see it.

But self-censorship is the mode preferred by KDN and ruling party officials, as it forces editors and reporters to “play safe” by not reporting events in full, and sticking only to the official line as given by bureaucrats and ruling party politicians.

In the past, warning letters have been issued by KDN, reminding editors and publishers that the ministry expects them to practise self-censorship.

In other words, “self-censorship” is official policy, imposed on editors and not something most professional editors wish upon themselves.

But the fact also remains that, over the years, self-censorship has been internalised by many editors and reporters who see their role as that of supporting the prevailing official view. These editors and reporters see that long-term career prospects and success up the corporate ladder comes from toeing the line.

Editors have been jailed before, as “communists” and as “subversive elements” and as “anti-national elements”. Most of the time, those labels only meant that those editors were the victims of political power plays at the very top.

Repeated threats are now made about “reporting false news” — when KDN or ruling party politicians say that, what they really mean is that you did not report what we want to see.

It shows yet again why government and political control of the press must end, and media control laws abolished. Reform is long overdue — because bureaucrats and politicians continue to use the law as a tool of intimidation, as a form of bullying.

You made me look bad — so now I’m going to shut you up. That’s what KDN is saying.

This is plainly evident from the MalaysiaKini report yesterday about the KDN reprimands:

1. “The Truth” lies is whatever the KDN says. It is “the only truth”
2. If someone says something not in line with the KDN view, the media is held liable for reporting “false news”
3. “The truth” about what the KDN does can only be found in what the KDN says it does
4. If what others say about KDN does not follow the KDN version, the media are reporting “false news”

KDN has now threatened editors and publishers with criminal action because what the Evangelical Christian Fellowship said about KDN — it was not what the newspapers said about KDN — did not jibe with what the KDN wanted the public to see and hear.

If the Evangelical Fellowship was factually wrong, it is up to KDN to state the facts and let the public judge. If the newspapers factually reported what the Evangelical Fellowship actually said, they newspapers did no wrong.

It is KDN which is wrong. Because, it plainly appears, KDN officials are using the law to bully editors. Because KDN did not like the word “confiscated” but prefers to say “not released”. Because KDN did not like the fact that the Evangelical Fellowship believed the prime minister’s word that the Bibles would be released, and took the prime minister’s words to mean government approval.

In other words, KDN also wants you to know that the prime minister is not the authority. They, the KDN, are in charge. Or so they say. And you editors better go along or go to jail.

True or not? Or is this also false news?

Vice President Joe Biden, speaking at a fundraiser in Philadelphia Friday, compared Republicans in Congress to people who excuse rapists by blaming their victims.



Back in 1994, the then chief minister of Malacca, Abdul Rahim Thamby Chik, was reported to have raped a 15-year-old schoolgirl (under Malaysian law, sex with a minor constitutes statutory rape). Lim Guan Eng, currently the chief minister of Penang and the then MP for Kota Melaka, spoke out against the rape of a minor after the girl’s grandmother-cum-guardian, who was also Lim’s constituent, turned to him for help.

However, far from deserving justice, both Lim and the schoolgirl received their “dues”. Lim was jailed for three years for speaking up against the rape while the girl was given three years “protective custody”. As for Rahim, because of the rape and pending corruption charges, he was forced to resign, after a 12-year stint as Malacca’s chief minister.

But the judiciary saw Rahim escape punishment for a crime committed; this came about after the public prosecutor withdrew the charge citing lack of evidence. The corruption charges against Rahim were also dropped.

The travesty of justice is such that on Feb 28, 1995, Lim was thrown into jail after he was charged under the Sedition Act for prompting “disaffection with the administration of Malaysia”.

On March 17 the same year, he was slapped with another charge under the Printing Presses and Publications Act for “maliciously printing” a pamphlet containing “false information”, specifically that Lim had used the term “imprisoned victim” to describe the schoolgirl who was raped.

As a result of his trying to seek justice for the rape survivor, Lim was barred from holding public office for five years, making him ineligible to contest in the 2004 general election.

As for the underage rape survivor, she was initially detained for 10 years without parental consent. She was subsequently sentenced to three years “protective custody” in a house for “wayward girls”. During Lim’s trial, the girl gave evidence that she had sex with a minister.

With such lecherous politicians in our midst, the safety of girls and women – be they our sisters, daughters, mothers and foreign female workers – is at risk. There is no telling which politician is waiting to sexually assault the girls and women in this country. What is annoying is the fact that the crime is easily dismissed by threatening and buying the silence of the victim.

In Rais’ case, if the rape had never taken place as he claimed, then what made his domestic helper of eight years to suddenly pack her bags and leave for home in Indonesia? If he has been such a kind and generous man as his former domestic helper claimed when retracting her allegation of rape, the question of her quitting her job would not arise. There is no doubt something is amiss here, no matter how much Rais denies it.

In the case of Rahim, he was never convicted and continues to enjoy life while Lim spent three years in jail and the the rape survivor was sentenced to three years in a house for “wayward girls”. What wrong did the girl do to end up in a house for wayward girls while the perpetrator, Rahim, walked a free man? Where was justice when it was desperately needed?

The vice president, known for speaking his mind and at times putting his foot in his mouth, said that Republicans who want to cut spending while at the same time cutting taxes for the wealthy are similar to rape apologists.


In setting up his comparison, the vice president explained to the audience that before the Violence Against Women Act that he championed was passed into law, “there was this attitude in our society of blaming the victim," according to a press pool account of the event.


“When a woman got raped, blame her because she was wearing a skirt too short, she looked the wrong way or she wasn't home in time to make the dinner,” Biden said.



Even if I fail and have to go to jail, I have no regrets. I have no regrets of going down fighting for the principles of truth and justice. And pursuit of human rights, especially women's rights. There can be no women's rights if women rape victims are considered equally responsible, and even detained, whilst the accused remain free. -- Lim Guan Eng
There are injustices in the law which are mind-boggling ... The lesson is clear - choose your rapist carefully ... As a woman, especially a Muslim woman, I am angry, disgusted and ashamed ... As a mother, I now have real fears for my daughter. What protection can we hope for our daughters if, in the interests of politics, a minor can so easily be sacrificed? -- Marina Mahathir, daughter of the Malaysian Prime Minister
Lim Guan Eng is a Malaysian opposition politician who spoke out against the rape of a schoolgirl by a government minister. For speaking out Lim Guan Eng was sentenced to three years imprisonment, the schoolgirl to three years 'protective custody', the minister has so far not been charged. [The Choice, Radio 4, BBC, May 1998]
No one familiar with the authoritarian regime that rules Malaysia with an iron rod will be surprised, though they may be shocked by the severity of the sentences.
Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Tamby Chik was Chief Minister of the State of Malacca. He raped a 15-year old schoolgirl. Because of the rape accusation and pending corruption charges he was forced to resign. To date, no charges have been brought against him for the rape, the corruption charges have been dropped.
The 15-year old schoolgirl was initially detained for 10 days without parental consent. She has subsequently been sentenced to 3 years 'protective custody' in a house for 'wayward girls'. At the subsequent trial of Lim Guan Eng the girl gave evidence that she had a sexual relationship with the minister (under Malaysian Law, under age sex constitutes Statutory Rape).
Lim Guan Eng raised the anomalies of the case, after the girl's grandmother (the girl's guardian), one of his constituents, brought the case to him and sought his help. On 28 February 1995, Lim Guan Eng was charged under the Sedition Act for prompting 'disaffection with the administration of justice in Malaysia'. On 17 March 1995, an additional charge was brought under the Printing Presses and Publications Act for 'maliciously printing' a pamphlet containing 'false information', specifically that he had used the term 'imprisoned victim' to describe the rape victim.
At his first trial in 1997, Lim Guan Eng was convicted on both counts and fined RM 15,000 (US $6,000). The State appealed to the Court of Appeal against the 'leniency' of the sentence. At a subsequent hearing before the Court of Appeal (1 April 1998), the sentence was increased to 3 years imprisonment. A consequence of the sentence is that Lim Guan Eng will be automatically barred as a member of parliament and is likely to be declared bankrupt.
The sentence is currently pending an appeal. Should the sentence on Lim Guan Eng be upheld and enforced by a higher court, Amnesty International will list him as a 'prisoner of conscience', for expressing his political views. If enforced, this will be the second time Lim Guan Eng has been imprisoned for expressing his political beliefs. In 1987, in a crackdown on government opponents and activists, he was imprisoned for 18 months without charge or trial.
The persecution of Lim Guan Eng is seen as not just an attempt by the government to silence a prominent critic, but also to serve as a warning to others. His constituents have been denied representation in parliament.
Freedom of expression and respect for democratic institutions and human rights does not exist in Malaysia. The Prime Minister justifies his iron rule as necessary to keep Malaysia on the path of economic success. The so called Malaysian economic miracle now lies in ruins. In a histrionic outburst, Mahathir bin Mohamad, desperate to blame others for his own shortcomings and failings, blamed foreign speculators and agents of foreign powers. In addition to the Draconian and repressive Sedition Act and Printing Presses and Publications Act, Malaysia also uses the Internal Security Act (which grants the power for indefinite detention without charge or trial) to silence critics.
December 1996, non-government organisations attempted to hold a forum to discuss abuses of police powers. The organisers of the forum were threatened with detention under the Internal Security Act, the forum has been suspended indefinitely.
Those concerned with the treatment of Lim Guan Eng and the lack of fundamental human rights within Malaysia should raise their concern with Malaysian diplomats in their own country, and also raise the matter with

 Mahathir bin Mohamad  Datuk Mohtar Abdullah
 Prime Minister   Attorney General
 Jalan Dato'Onn   Jabatan Peguam Negara Malaysia
 50502  Kuala Lumpur  Tingkat 20, Bangunan Bank Rakyat
 Malaysia   Jalan Tangsi
     50512  Kuala Lumpur
 fax +603 298 4172  Malaysia

     fax +603 293 2021
     fax +603 298 4989

Boycott of Malaysian goods should be considered. Governments should impose sanctions.
Malaysia is currently seeking funds from the West to bail out its failed economy. In addition to the usual economic strings, conditions on the reform of the democratic and judicial systems should be attached.
Amnesty International has adopted Lim Guan Eng as a Prisoner of Conscience.

---

Sources of informationThe Choice, Radio 4, BBC, May 1998
Malaysia: The trial of opposition parliamentarian Lim Guan Eng, Amnesty InternationalMalaysia: Opposition parliamentarian faces three-year prison sentence for speaking out for women's rights, Amnesty International

---

Malaysia is to introduce passports that will contain an embedded electronic ID chip and an antenna. This will enable tracking and identification of the passport holder.In the closing stages of one of the most disastrous ever Commonwealth Games, the recently fired deputy prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, was arrested (20 September 1998). The deputy prime minister had been fired a few weeks earlier (2 September 1998) after charges of corruption had been levelled at the Prime Minister. The PM retaliated by running a vicious smear campaign against the fired deputy alleging perverse homosexual practices. Following the arrest, thugs loyal to the PM brutally cleared protesters off the streets. Several days later (29 September 1998), the ex-deputy PM appeared in court badly beaten, according to his lawyer he had been beaten into unconsciousness, then left for five days without any medical attention. Amnesty International has adopted Anwar Ibrihim as a Prisoner of Conscience.
Women's rights activist Irene Fernandez has been charged with publishing 'false news' about the ill-treatment of detainees in camps for migrant workers.Opponents of the corrupt Prime Minister are making full use of the Internet to co-ordinate their opposition and to inform the world of the brutal regime. Malaysia is following the path of Indonesia, institutionalised brutality, lack of democracy, with the majority of the population wishing to see the downfall of a corrupt leader. The people are expected to take to the streets until the corrupt Prime Minister is removed from office.

---

More information on Lim Guan Eng may be obtained from:
Amnesty International, 1 Easton Street, LONDON WC1X 8DJ, England
tel +44-171-413-5500 / fax +44-171-956-1157
e-mail info@amnesty.org
Web http://www.amnesty.org

---

Alternatives ~ Anwar Ibrahim ~ Irene Fernandez

---

(c) Keith Parkins 1998-1999 -- January 1999 rev 7


“We've gotten by that,” he said. “But it's amazing how these Republicans, the right wing of this party – whose philosophy threw us into this God-awful hole we’re in, gave us the tremendous deficit we’ve inherited – that they’re  now using, now attempting to use, the very economic condition they have created to blame the victim – whether it’s organized labor or ordinary middle-class working men and women. It's bizarre. It's bizarre.”




After Biden's appearance at the fundraiser, his office tried to focus on the economic message.


"The vice president was obviously making the point that on any issue, we shouldn't blame the victim," Biden spokeswoman Elizabeth Alexander said. "Blaming workers or union members for states' fiscal crises – an argument made by some Republican governors – isn't the answer."


President Obama has tapped Biden to be his lead negotiator with congressional Republicans on the budget."As much as Vice President Biden should retract this specific statement, he should apologize for comparing our country’s dismal economic situation to such horrid acts as violence against women,” said Joanna Burgos, spokeswoman for the National Republican Campaign Committee (NRCC).


The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) raised about $400,000 from the fundraiser in Philadelphia. 

If you are an Arab journalist who happened to have worked at some point with an "Establishment" newspaper or television channel (a media outlet which is either owned or backed directly or indirectly by an autocratic regime), then you must have noticed the remarkable resemblance that these organizations have with the regimes that support them.

Common features between these media outlets and the regimes that support them include a high level of corruption, bullying and dishonesty.

Another common feature you would notice is that, like Arab dictators, editors-in-chief of "establishment" newspapers usually stay in their position for a significantly long period (sometimes 20 or even 30 years) and rarely let go except due to either a health reason (death or severe illness), or if they were deemed ineffective at doing their job (which is essentially praising the regime and criticizing its enemies).

This obviously paves the way for the next common feature: the absolute disconnection with the people this newspaper or news channel should represent and taking the liberty to ignore all professional guidelines and journalism ethics, which at some point in the past may have resulted in effective government propaganda, but has now certainly become obsolete.

The result? Scandals such as the infamous Al-Ahram's photo-doctoring incident which was immediately unveiled by bloggers and Facebook users, or Egyptian State TV not showing protestors in Cairo's Tahrir Square when millions of people could see what was really going on Al Jazeera on other international news channels.

Of course, such behavior is not surprising when a media outlet is a mouth-piece for a government, be it Egyptian, Lebanese, Saudi or that of any other nation; simply because as "Establishment Media," the organization's existence is tied to that of the establishment and not the demand by the people for its information services.

So the obvious question is this: what happens to the likes of Al-Ahram now that the Mubarak Regime has collapsed?

In a desperate attempt to regain a tiny bit of credibility, the paper shifted its position from defending the former President to criticizing him, his family and everything they stood for. Huffington Post blogger Madga Abu-Fadil talked extensively about this transformation in a recent blog.

However, the question remains whether it is too late to regain credibility now?

 Professor George Brock of City University

Professor George Brock , Head of Journalism and Publishing at London's City University, says: "Credibility and respect have to be earned and aren't acquired in a day. Particularly not Al Ahram and state TV in Egypt. If people at the top of state-controlled media want to rebuild, they have to know that one of the characteristics of an open system is that your mistakes are put on public view by your rivals."

Brock argues that even in state media there are people who can "tell good from bad", explaining that "Everything depends on the people at the top and their intentions. Are they ready to admit mistakes, promote genuine talent and abandon habits of distortion and suppression, no matter how many people are upset? If they are, then even loyalist outlets might truly transform... but don't bank on it". However, what happens when a new government is elected and sworn in? What prevents the likes of Al- Ahram and Egypt's state owned television who are both so used to the merits of practising advocacy journalism that they might just play the same game all over again?

 Dr Ramez Maalouf of the Lebanese American University

Dr. Ramez Maalouf, associate professor of Journalism at the Lebanese American University in Beirut, says: "They are very likely to become mouthpieces, albeit in a more nuanced manner than they have been to date. The alternative is for the government to create a mechanism similar to that operating in the UK, where an independent board of governors runs these institutions."

Yet, Dr. Maalouf doesn't rule out the rise of new 'media barons' as he argues that "control by the rich and powerful is inescapable in a capitalist system" while hoping that social networks and the Internet in general help attenuate the problem.

For his part, Ali Jaber, Dean of the Mohammad Bin Rashid School for Communications at the American University in Dubai, seems to be quite an optimist when it comes to the future of media in Egypt.

"In my opinion Egypt will emerge as a major media player in the Arab world at the expense of the expense of the Saudi and Gulf-funded media after being liberated," says Jaber.

 Ali Jaber of the MBR School of Communication

He elaborates: "Egyptians have unparalleled media industry in terms of size and audience (85 million people), also they have developed knowhow. What they lacked was freedom and they got it ... Tunis will also lead in the Maghreb for the same reasons."

There's no more scrupulous or versatile broadcast journalist than NPR's Daniel Zwerdling. He is one of those reporters who keeps his eye on the sparrow -- that is, on small details from individual lives that add up to significant issues of public policy. As he described in a special report this week how the United States Army is clarifying guidelines "that should make it easier for soldiers with traumatic brain injuries from explosions to receive the Purple Heart," it was mind-boggling to think that right-wingers in Congress were at that very moment voting to eliminate the modest federal funds that make such essential and authoritative reporting available to anyone in America who cares to tune in.

Zwerdling's collaborator on this report was ProPublica (the non-profit and equally independent newsroom that won the Pulitzer Prize last year for a harrowing account of deadly choices made by a New Orleans hospital during Hurricane Katrina). As a result of their reporting, the Army now intends to give special priority to reexamining the cases of soldiers who suffered battlefield concussions but who mistakenly may have been turned down for the Purple Heart, which historically has been awarded to soldiers injured by enemy action.

You may not think this such a big deal, but the symbolism of the announcement is potent. And it's part of a larger, ongoing investigation conducted by Zwerdling and ProPublica's T. Christian Miller into the military's widespread failure to diagnose and treat traumatic brain injuries, the "signature injury" among troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan as they fall to roadside bombs and other explosives.

It's also typical of the comprehensive and essential journalism that has been a hallmark of NPR since its creation in 1970. Once upon a time, in the early glory days of radio, corporate media took on the challenge of providing Americans with the kind of information critical to citizenship. No longer. Conglomerates long ago bought up the country's commercial radio stations, closed down the news departments, and auctioned off the airtime to partisan polemicists or pre-packaged content devoid of journalism. Serious news on radio -- "the news we need to keep our freedoms," as the historian and journalist Richard Reeves once put it -- has become the province of NPR (Full disclosure: We two have spent most of the last forty years toiling in the vineyards of public broadcasting, although never for NPR.)

Take Zwerdling's investigations as just one example: Over the years, he has sorted out the complexities and secrets of the 1986 Challenger space shuttle disaster and the warnings that preceded it, dangers posed to humans by the plant pesticide Chlordane (it eventually was banned by the Environmental Protection Agency) and the failures of the Corps of Engineers to maintain safely the dikes and dams around New Orleans -- among many other stories.

Multiply his efforts by those of all the modestly-paid but dedicated journalists at NPR and you have a forty year history that has given listeners a deeper and richer portrait of America and the world than any other broadcast news organization in the country -- with or without offense, as Byron said, to friend or foe.

In just the last few weeks, NPR has provided unique coverage of the job crisis in the United States, upheavals in the Middle East, and anxiety over the safety of nuclear power in the wake of the Japanese earthquake -- as a matter of fact, many of the issues the House of Representatives should have been debating instead of posturing and pandering to its rightward political base.

Hear Steve Benen of Washington Monthly on the House Judiciary Committee's vote the other day reaffirming "In God We Trust" as our national motto:

For months the new House Republican majority has wasted time on health care bills they know they can't pass, abortion bills they know they can't pass, climate bills they know they can't pass, and budget bills they know they can't pass. They've invested considerable time and energy on defending the Defense of Marriage Act, recklessly accusing Muslim Americans of disloyalty, going after NPR, and pushing culture-war bills related to vouchers, English as the 'official' language, and now 'In God We Trust.'

And yes, on Thursday, following a number of missteps by NPR executives, including what has now been indisputably exposed as a disingenuous and dishonestly-edited video by a disreputable right-wing smear artist of the network's chief fundraiser expressing some personal opinions, the House passed a bill cutting off government funding for NPR -- all of this part of the "vanity project," as Benen calls it, that House Republicans have been running in order to feed red meat to Fox News and the partisan talk radio hosts who have turned the public airwaves -- remember, the airwaves above our fair and bountiful land belong to you, Mr. and Mrs. and Ms. America -- into a right-wing romper room.

Opposing the bill to strip public radio of funding, Democratic Congressman Lloyd Doggett of Texas said, "My constituents turn to [public radio] because they want fact-based, not Fox-based coverage." The attacks, he continued, are "an ideological crusade against balanced news and educational programs."

And even Georgia Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss told an interviewer:

You know, an awful lot of conservatives listen to NPR. It provides a very valuable service. Should we maybe think about a reduction in that? Again, I think the sacrifice is going to have to be shared by NPR as well as others. But I think total elimination of funding is probably not the wisest thing to do.

Good for you, Senator. Because without public radio, the reactionaries among us will hold a monopoly on the airwaves.

And while we're on the subject of wise things, let's not forget NPR's other programming: the arts and entertainment coverage that plays its own distinctive role trying to keep our democracy spirited, diverse and imaginative. Think Garrison Keillor. Krista Tippett. Ira Glass. Think Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!, Car Talk (yes, many of us are would-be grease monkeys). On the Media (the single best analysis and critique of media anywhere). And -- well, consult your local listings.

We're talking here about something essential to American life. President Kennedy touched on it in a speech at Amherst College less than a month before his assassination in 1963. Speaking in honor of the poet Robert Frost, who had recently died, the President's words were directed to the role of artists but can also embrace the importance of a public media whose obligation is not to a political or corporate paymaster but to the integrity of the work and the trust of the listener.

"The artist, however faithful to his personal vision of reality, becomes the last champion of the individual mind and sensibility against an intrusive society and an officious state," Kennedy said. "... In serving his vision of the truth, the artist best serves his nation. And the nation which disdains the mission of art invites the fate of Robert Frost's hired man, the fate of having 'nothing to look backward to with pride, and nothing to look forward to with hope.'"