BY: AKMAL AZIZ

In hindsight, and upon reflection, the arrests and charge-sheeting of Australian national, Murray Hunter, and ex-Free Malaysia Today reporter, Rex Tan, has now very obviously given way to pose troubling questions to Malaysians of all walks of life.

While untainted journalism is still a very noble profession in this country and worldwide, the question that really looms is how much freedom of expression is allocated to journalists as Anwar Ibrahim assured everyone there will be freedom of the press.

While this assurance by Anwar is only superficial, and on the surface, in reality the high handed and abusive way in which Murray Hunter and Rex Tan were dealt with goes to show that the occupational hazards faced by journalists in this country is very real.

The duo, Murray and Rex, were set upon by barking law enforcement agencies upon them with a “shoot first, ask questions later” objective that very obviously indicates that the freedom of expression and the freedom of the press only exists in name .

The Polis DiRaja Malaysia is the forerunner in wanting to clampdown on any reporting that is perceived as dissent and anti-establishment, among the law enforcement agencies in the country, that uproots the belief in constructive criticism.

Pity those who are journalists, as any counter reports or any contrarian view is met with a “sledgehammer swatting a fly” approach by the authorities and this certainly does not augur well for the case of freedom of expression and a healthy democracy.

-THE MALAYSIA VOICE

** The views expressed on this opinion is of the writer and not the publisher