(SEAPA/IFEX) – A Tamil-language daily, “Makkal Osai”, has received phone calls from individuals threatening to burn down its offices and legal notice of defamation suits after publishing reports revealing “controversial” comments allegedly made by a cabinet minister. S.M. Periasamy, group general manager of Makkal Osai Group, said he received anonymous telephone calls on 18 and […]
(SEAPA/IFEX) – A Tamil-language daily, “Makkal Osai”, has received phone calls from individuals threatening to burn down its offices and legal notice of defamation suits after publishing reports revealing “controversial” comments allegedly made by a cabinet minister.
S.M. Periasamy, group general manager of Makkal Osai Group, said he received anonymous telephone calls on 18 and 23 May 2006, as well as two legal notices of defamation suits, according to a press statement released by Malaysia’s media advocacy group, the Center for Independent Journalism (CIJ), on 26 May.
The statement quoted Periasamy as saying that the caller linked the threat to the newspaper’s 17 May story on comments made by Works Minister S. Samy Vellu that Malaysia’s former Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad was to be blamed for the Malaysian Indians’ lack of “development”.
The caller also threatened to burn copies of the newspaper to prevent its circulation, the manager said.
On 20 May, a group of presumed members of the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), one of the main political parties in the ruling coalition Barisan Nasional, publicly torched copies of the newspaper. MIC denied that its members were involved.
Vellu, who is also MIC president, is also suing “Makkal Osai” for defamation, despite the latter’s claims it has tapes to prove that the minister made the comments that the newspaper attributed to him, CIJ said.
“This development is an assault on press freedom and freedom of expression,” declared CIJ. The media advocacy group urges the police to initiate investigations and prosecute those responsible for these threats.
It also calls for MIC to investigate whether its members were involved in torching the paper and to take public action against them if they were.
Defamation in Malaysia is a criminal offence, with courts awarding extremely large sums for damages to powerful figures, including awards of over US$1 million. Legal precedents have made it more difficult for defendants in defamation cases to argue that they were serving the public interest by publishing controversial information.
