I refer to your news report about tycoon Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary taking a major stake in Media Prima Berhad.

On the surface, this is just another ordinary corporate deal. But the truth is that Syed Mokhtar is no ordinary businessman.

The tycoon is a close associate of Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad. And a political elite controlling the largest Malaysian media conglomerate with print, broadcast and online presence, presents a chilling outlook based on our track record and lessons elsewhere.

The last thing New Malaysia needs is a major chunk of the country’s fourth estate to be directly under the control of someone who has to play ball with the powers-that-be.

This is more so since Syed Mokhtar, on top of being a long-time Mahathir loyalist, has extensive business interests ranging from rail to infrastructure, banks and automobile, just to name a few.

In fact, this is not the first time the publishers of New Straits Times (NST), Berita Harian (BH) and Harian Metro was owned by politically-connected conglomerates. It had previously been owned or controlled by Renong and Malaysian Resources Corporation Berhad (MRCB).

It was during these periods that the NST and BH started their decline, in terms of circulation, ad revenue, and worse of all, reputation.

Too eager to please their political bosses, the media moguls dispensed with fundamental journalistic principles for the sake of scoring brownie points.

The erosion of media freedom and integrity did not just happen during the first tenure of the Mahathir administration.

More recently, we saw how former prime minister Najib Razak wielded state apparatus to silence the press, especially when it came to reports regarding the shenanigans involving 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

He suspended the licence of business publication, The Edge over the latter’s reports involving 1MDB.

Popular news portal, The Malaysian Insider was also blocked at one time, leading to its eventual closure.

The Malaysian Insider publisher Ho Kay Tat and its CEO Jahabar Sadiq were arrested for sedition. Another website that was blocked was Sarawak Report.

It is against this backdrop that we have to see the recent acquisition by Syed Mokhtar.

Are we going back to the old days of propaganda being camouflaged as “news”?

If there’s a gay sex scandal involving a minister, will the press be muzzled if the prime minister says so?

It is inconceivable that Syed Mokhtar’s acquisition did not get the approval of the prime minister, whether tacitly or overtly.

That being the case, the least Dr Mahathir can do now is to direct Syed Mokhtar to sell off the latter’s stake to those in the business of journalism, not those using journalism to further their business or political interests. – July 11, 2019.

* James Ooi reads The Malaysian Insight.