Forget about Reformasi – The new name is Madani
Madani Press Freedom Difficult 1. We are living in the Madani Era. What Madani does will be judged. 2. When Madani came to power in late 2022, the expectation on press freedom was high. 3. Understandably so. For five decades, starting with his student rebellion in the early 1970's, the Madani leader, Anwar Ibrahim, has presented himself as freedom fighter and renaissance man. 4. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) was among world's ranking organizations that bought into the mantra. 5. So, for 2023, Anwar's first full year in office, RSF bumped up Malaysia's rating to 73 out of 180 - the best ever. 6. In the beginning, the taste of power was sweet and making promises was easy. The majority of the people were willing to dream along. 7. Alas, the honeymoon up the garden path didn't last very long. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and the Royal Malaysian Police started to knock on the doors of the over-excited journalists and netizens. ...