Meanwhile in Malaysia, ‘soft authoritarianism‘ seems to get tougher. Elections are coming up and since the Malaysian people are not yet ready for open dialogue, voices have to be silenced. So what do you do? First you silence the blogs that cause ‘disharmony’. That should be enough since – as Marina Mahathir (yes, the outspoken daughter of…) shows – the government has nothing to fear from the regular Malaysian media.
But it was not enough. This news by rising politician Tony Pua should really worry Malaysians. Apparently, instructions were given by some government commission to the various TV stations in Malaysia to ban all footage of opposition leaders. Although this was denied by some TV stations, Malaysiakini published the proof, black on white.
Now…who isn’t ready for an open dialogue?