Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06KUALALUMPUR365
2006-03-03 06:47:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Kuala Lumpur
Cable title:  

CARTOON CONTROVERSY ENVELOPS MORE MEDIA SOURCES

Tags:  PHUM KDEM ASEC PREL PGOV KISL KPAO MY 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO6253
PP RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHKL #0365/01 0620647
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 030647Z MAR 06
FM AMEMBASSY KUALA LUMPUR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6060
INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS PRIORITY
RUEHCP/AMEMBASSY COPENHAGEN PRIORITY 0112
RUEHNY/AMEMBASSY OSLO PRIORITY 0162
RHHMUNA/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KUALA LUMPUR 000365 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/03/2016
TAGS: PHUM KDEM ASEC PREL PGOV KISL KPAO MY
SUBJECT: CARTOON CONTROVERSY ENVELOPS MORE MEDIA SOURCES

REF: A. KUALA LUMPUR 313


B. KUALA LUMPUR 193

C. KUALA LUMPUR 357

Classified By: PolCouns Thomas F. Daughton for reasons 1.4 b, d

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KUALA LUMPUR 000365

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/03/2016
TAGS: PHUM KDEM ASEC PREL PGOV KISL KPAO MY
SUBJECT: CARTOON CONTROVERSY ENVELOPS MORE MEDIA SOURCES

REF: A. KUALA LUMPUR 313


B. KUALA LUMPUR 193

C. KUALA LUMPUR 357

Classified By: PolCouns Thomas F. Daughton for reasons 1.4 b, d


1. (C) SUMMARY: For the third time in a month, the Malaysian
government has suspended publication of a daily newspaper
that printed an image of a Prophet Muhammad cartoon. The
government-controlled New Straits Times (NST) managed to
avoid punishment, however, after it issued an "unreserved
apology" for publishing a syndicated cartoon that poked fun
at the global Prophet Muhammad caricature controversy (ref
A). Meanwhile, two of Malaysia's four free-to-air television
channels issued apologies for inadvertently broadcasting
images of Muhammad cartoons in early February. The
opposition Islamic party PAS and several religious leaders
continue to fan the cartoon flames, despite efforts by the
government and mainstream media to put the controversy behind
them. PAS tried to organize cartoon protests on March 3 in
mosques in each of Malaysia's 13 state capitals, while the
northern state of Perak's government-funded religious council
website posted an on-line poll (later withdrawn) asking
readers whether Muslims should "hunt and kill, or launch war"
against those who "insult the Prophet Muhammad." Prime
Minister Abdullah has signaled that the government will
continue to monitor media coverage of racial and religious
issues to ensure that GOM-defined constraints are not
violated. At least in the near term, editors will likely
restrict their coverage to news that is "print to fit" within
the GOM's evolving boundaries of acceptability. End Summary.

A Third Newspaper Falls Through Thin Cartoon Ice...
-------------- --------------


2. (C) The internal security ministry suspended publication
of the Chinese-language Berita Petang Sarawak newspaper for
two weeks starting February 26 in response to its February 4
publication of a "seditious" photo of a man reading a

newspaper in which one of the Danish cartoons was clearly
visible. Berita Petang Sarawak became the third newspaper to
have its publishing permit suspended over publication of
Prophet Muhammad cartoons. Earlier in February, the
government suspended the Chinese-language Guang Ming Daily
for two weeks for an infraction similar to that committed by
Berita Petang Sarawak, and the prime minister, acting in his
dual role as internal security minister, indefinitely
suspended publication of the Sarawak Tribune for reprinting
one of the caricatures (ref B).

... While Another Skates Around It
--------------


3. (C) After coming under fire for its February 20
publication of a syndicated cartoon alluding to the Danish
caricature controversy (ref A),Malaysia's second-largest
English-language daily, the New Straits Times, issued a
front-page, "unreserved apology" on February 24. Within
hours of the paper's appearance, PM Abdullah stated that the
government would take no further action against the NST,
which is owned by the ruling UMNO party. The PM's decision
to forgo action against the NST did not deter about 500
protesters from holding a protest at NST's Kuala Lumpur
offices following Friday prayers on February 24. Supporters
of PAS and of Anwar Ibrahim's Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR)
waved signs and shouted slogans that referred to the NST
editors as "bastards" and agents of Israel and Singapore. In
a full-page analysis of its cartoon crisis, the NST's editors
wrote on February 25, "That is PAS. That is Keadilan. In
the name of Islam, they perform prayers and march from a holy
place carrying placards that call people bastards. What is
so Islamic about pre-judging others and slandering them
without any evidence?" PKR leaders later distanced
themselves from the demonstration, calling it "disgraceful"
and claiming they had no role in organizing it.

Offensive Cartoons Also Spotted on TV
--------------


4. (C) In its adroitly worded February 24 "apology," the NST
called the attention of the internal security ministry to
several television broadcasts that had aired images of the
banned Muhammad cartoons in early February. According to
media reports, all four of Malaysia's free-to-air television
channels (state-owned RTM1 and RTM2, and UMNO-controlled TV3
and NTV7) broadcast images of at least one Muhammad cartoon.
The NST's move was widely viewed as a shot at the information
minister, who led the charge against the paper's editorial
staff over its syndicated cartoon. The government is
currently reviewing the allegations and is expected to decide
soon whether any punishment of the stations is warranted.
For its part, TV3 tried to head off a reprimand by airing an
apology to its viewers on February 28 for "accidentally"
broadcasting a news segment that showed one of the
controversial images "for 13 seconds." The channel also sent
a written explanation of its actions to the energy, water and
communications ministry. NTV7 did likewise on March 1. The
two state-owned channels, RTM1 and RTM2, have not yet
acknowledged that they aired footage of a Prophet Muhammad
cartoon.

Other Cartoon-Related Developments
--------------


5. (C) The official, state-funded website of the religious
council of Perak (a large state in northern peninsular
Malaysia) recently posted an on-line, Malay-language poll
asking readers to choose the most appropriate action to be
taken against those who "insult the Prophet Muhammad." The
poll allowed readers to choose among six answers, including,
"hunt and kill them or launch war against them." The on-line
poll was pulled from the website March 2 after a disparaging
March 1 report about it by Internet-based news provider
Malaysiakini. The poll had attracted little public attention
and only about 175 "voters," 22% of whom supported the most
extreme response.


6. (C) PAS planned to organize further protests against the
Muhammad cartoons on March 3 at designated mosques in each of
Malaysia's 13 state capitals. An intervening decision by the
government to raise gasoline prices (ref C) changed the theme
of the protests, however, and PAS representatives told us
late March 2 that demonstrations would occur only in Kuala
Lumpur and three state capitals.

Comment
--------------


7. (C) Both the government and the mainstream media want to
see the end of the cartoon saga, which has absorbed
considerable time and attention here over the past month.
The "guilty" newspapers have been quickly punished and news
coverage has moved on to other issues. The TV broadcasts
that displayed the Muhammad cartoons are now more than three
weeks old; any punishment of the channels at this point will
likely be mild, swift and meted out with little fanfare. PAS
and a few Islamic religious leaders have tried to keep the
controversy on life support, mostly in a bid to rally
political support, but new issues arising daily are making
that increasingly difficult.


8. (C) The cartoon controversy has played out in the larger
context of a slow relaxation of press controls that began
after Abdullah Badawi took office in late 2003. In order to
build a general air of believability and be commercially
competitive -- both with each other and with the Internet --
the government-controlled media have attempted to provide
increasingly objective and complete reporting on national
stories. The public demand for higher quality news reporting
has become increasingly risky for government-controlled media
organizations to satisfy, however, since highly sensitive
racial and religious issues typically provide the subtext for
the most provocative and best-selling stories. The cartoon
controversy prompted Prime Minister Abdullah to wield one of
the government's most potent legal weapons for controlling
the media in order to signal that boundaries still exist on
press freedom when it comes to racial and religious issues.
For the near future, we expect news editors to respond by
restricting their coverage of such issues to news that's
"print to fit" within the GOM's slowly evolving notions of
acceptability.
LAFLEUR