MALAYSIA
By Zainon Ahmad, Editor-in-Chief, The Sun
24 February 2003

The boom years of the last decade saw a dramatic growth in the Malaysian media industry. The nation's robust growth, averaging eight percent before the 1997 downturn, resulted in companies spending more on advertisements. Correspondingly, the earnings of the various media soared leading to some of them spending more on training and new techology.

A few more newspapers hit the streets and, remarkably, they have survived despite the print media's shrinking share of the advertisement revenue. More of the advertisement dollars are going to the electronic media such as radio and television, which saw several new stations. In 1999 two new tv stations --- one terrestial and one cable --- closed down. But one cable station, Astro, continues to thrive while there is talk that two more TV stations are in the pipeline. At present two channels, RTM1 and RTM2, are controlled by the government through the Information Ministry while two channels, TV3 and NTV7, are privately-owned. The government also controls the national news agency, Bernama.

The boom years also saw the establishment of the Multimedia Super Corridor, Malaysia's version of the Silicon Valley. Along with this development came several online newspapers, the most prominent being Malaysiakini --- an independent alternative news provider.

There are now 85 daily and weekly newspapers in Malaysia, 17 of which are published in the national language, Bahasa Malaysia, 14 in English, 23 in Chinese, three in Tamil and one in Punjabi.

Three largest ciculating newspapers are Utusan Malaysia and Berita Harian in Bahasa Malaysia and the Chinese language Sin Chew Daily News. Their average daily circulation is about 300,000. The English language newspaper market is dominated by The Star, The Sun and the country's oldest newspaper the New Straits Times.

There are also about 90 news magazines and journals published in the country. In addition, 22 foreign news and TV agencies are operating in Kuala Lumpur.

The Malaysian Press operates under certain constraints. The Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 provide licensing procedures for use of printing presses and mandatory permits for newspaper publishing. There are a host of other laws including the Official Secrets Act, the Internal Security Act and the Sedition Act which limits Press freedom.

Ownership of the newspapers and broadcasting stations is another constrain. Political parties, especially those in the ruling National Front coalition, have bought controlling interests in the major media corporations. The government often argues that the laws are necessary considering the multi-racial nature of the Malaysian society.

Many editors now think that a way of persuading the government to relax the laws and even repeal them is through self-regulation.