Public officials in Malaysia hate difficult questions, especially if they come from foreign journalists. They’ll do anything to avoid them, as two Australian journalists found out last Saturday.

Reporter Linton Besser and camera operator Louis Eroglu of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation were arrested and their passports were impounded when they tried to question Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi cited security reasons for their arrest. How convenient!
In Malaysia, a simple scenario is transformed into “a security risk” or “a national threat” whenever a minister wants to avoid being questioned, or a popular anti-government movement is being organised.

A few years ago, six members of Parti Sosialis Malaysia were arrested while they were on their way to a Bersih march. They were detained for security reasons. It was alleged that they had hatched a plan to overthrow the King. Of course, nearly every thinking Malaysian knew that this was just part of propaganda to create fear in the rakyat and dissuade them from joining the rally.

A few weeks ago, access to The Malaysia Insider was blocked because it was deemed a security threat. One article had allegedly upset those in power.

Zahid said the arrest of the two Australians should not be seen as a threat to press freedom.
He may make that claim, but news spread across the world that Malaysian officials were feeling the heat and that the arrest was a warning to foreign newsmen to back off or face the prospect of serving time in a dank, damp and overcrowded South East Asian prison.

Will the threat work? Of course not. The resolve, not just of journalists and the general Malaysian public, but also of foreign investigative agencies, to find the truth is as strong as ever.

There have been many unkind remarks about Malaysian journalists. Some say they are too timid to ask tough questions.

No. Most of them are not timid. Foreign journalists, on completion of an assignment, return to their home bases or go on to their next assignments. Local journalists are at the mercy of the local police and may face intimidation from people who are known government sympathisers.

Politicians in Malaysia have it easy. They have the instruments of state to intimidate newspapers and their reporters. They also select the newspapers they will allow into press conferences. Publications that carry critical commentaries are often barred. In one famous case, a reporter for an online newspaper was finger-wagged by the Home Minister and warned that he was being watched.

There are other tactics which those in authority employ to avoid question and answer sessions after a public appearance.

They arrive more than an hour late. At the end of their talk, they say they have to rush off for another engagement. Or they ask the audience to submit questions in writing for approval by a personal assistant. Only the tame questions are chosen, and a maximum of three are permitted.
Apparently, our politicians cannot think on their feet.

Mariam Mokhtar is an FMT columnist.