FCCT Statement on police raids of the Al-Jazeera office in Kuala Lumpur

The professional membership of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand remains very concerned over the continued police investigation of Al Jazeera journalists in Malaysia, and by the decision of the Malaysian Police to raid the Al Jazeera office and seize two of its computers. The raid follows a summons of six of the network’s journalists for questioning last month, over a documentary broadcast by the 101 East programme, which alleged mistreatment of migrant workers in Malaysia during the Covid-19 lockdown. The police have said they are pursuing the investigation for possible violations of the much-criticised Sedition Law, the Communications and Multimedia Act, and criminal defamation laws, a serious list of alleged offences which can carry heavy prison sentences.

The FCCT supports Al Jazeera’s stand, that this raid “is a troubling escalation in the authorities’ crackdown on media freedom and shows the lengths they are prepared to take to try to intimidate journalists.” If the government has issues with the content of the Al Jazeera documentary, the appropriate response is to disseminate the government’s own view of the matter through the considerable local media outlets available to it, and to discuss with Al Jazeera the possibility of a right of reply.

Reporting and investigations conducted in good faith by journalists should not be criminalised. Malaysia has made some praiseworthy improvements in the media environment over the past two years. It is worrying to see the authorities returning to the discredited practices of the past, and using the criminal justice system against unfavourable reporting.