Media, Culture and Society in Malaysia

Yeoh Seng Guan

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2010
• eBook ISBN: 9781135169275
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Ethnic Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

This book presents a comprehensive, full-length analysis of the uses of media and communication technologies by different social actors in Malaysia. Unlike other studies of the media in Malaysia which concentrate on "political economy" or "freedom of the media" approaches, this book focuses on the ways in which different media forms have constituted cultural practices and power relations amongst particular audiences and publics. It also examines the ways in which technologies of varying scales and range have been appropriated for various subaltern purposes and counter-hegemonic agendas. Drawing upon recent case studies on the deployment of different media – including mainstream and independent films, television programming, black metal music, community rituals, political advertising, the internet, and artistic visual installations – it provides valuable insights into the complex, vibrant ways in which these different media forms have negotiated with the dominant cultural representations of Malaysian society. The book makes an important contribution to the emergent disciplines of media studies and cultural studies in Malaysia.

1
Consumers, citizens and copycat television in Malaysia

Wang Lay Kim

In the 1970s, the governments of many developing countries, including Malaysia, voiced their concerns and anxieties over the influence of transnational media on the cultural identities of their countries. There was a widely held perception that the contents of cross-border media would erode and weaken local cultural identities. These concerns resulted in a study carried out by a UNESCO commission, headed by Sean MacBride, to look into the problems of the asymmetrical flow of media texts from “the core” (developed nations) to “the periphery” (developing nations), and also to provide possible solutions to redress the inequities in the distribution and control of global communication resources. This commission produced the New World Information Communication Order report. However, with increasing trends in globalisation and the rapid development of communication technology since then, foreign programmes have become even more freely available both on terrestrial and satellite television. The Malaysian government has responded by stipulating different policies on the limits of foreign television programming.

While the Malaysian authorities are still grappling with this unbalanced flow of information, an additional aspect of this state of affairs is one that is not confined just to imported programmes but also to format adapted programmes that have proliferated on Malaysian television schedules. Programmes from the United States of America and United Kingdom, such as popular quiz shows like Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, Wheel of Fortune, Survivor, American Idol, have been copied and adapted, albeit with local casts, in Malaysian television programmes. It is in this new context that this essay is critically concerned about. First, I will explore the current traffic of format adapted programmes on Malaysian television before delving into the constraints of this traffic. This includes describing the guidelines and policies promulgated by the government as well as the economics of programme production, and their influences they bring to format adapted programmes in particular and to Malaysian television broadcasting in general.

Then, I will examine the perceptions of a selective range of audiences to format adapted programmes in order to speculate about what the future holds for the local broadcasting industry. There are different views on the approach that is best suited to move the broadcasting industry forward. The neo-liberal approach argues that a state regulated media is undesirable as it courts political censorship. It is assumed that with the proliferation of more channels and a decrease in controls, particularly by the state, the media that operates in a free market environment would ensure that all significant viewpoints be aired, thus providing diversity of choice for the audience. However, the radical market approach counter-argues that the market is imperfect and therefore needs intervention (Curran 1991). The concentration of ownership of the media apparent in Malaysia underscores the need for intervention to ensure that media systems provide a full range of economic, political and social interests and not lose their sensitivity to the needs and demands of the public. But what kinds of intervention?

Curran (1996) suggests that to move the broadcasting industry forward based on principles of democracy, an understanding of the public sphere in organising a media that allows diverse social groups to express their views and facilitate the participation of citizens in resolving conflict and defining collectively agreed aims is neccessary. Based on the Habermasian notion of public sphere, citizens must be able to participate openly, be allowed to speak as equals; be able to raise any issue, rationally and to critically debate them. The kind of intervention, Curran suggests, needs to ensure that proceedings be opened to public reasoning and diverse voices be heard. This raises the question of how space for debate and discussion can be allocated equitably given that the public arena is a site of contestation where private individuals and organised interests seek to influence the allocation of resources and regulate social relations. I deal with this issue in the last section of the chapter.

The Malaysian television landscape

Malaysian television audiences have been getting a liberal dose of foreign programmes owing to the increasing globalisation of communication technology as well as Malaysia’s own policy to deregulate and open up the skies to satellite television. The globalisation process is usually lauded by developed nations, specifically the United States of America, for helping to bring about not only a heterogeneity and diversity in terms of cultural products but also a free flow of information through the operations of a free market. However, critics of this liberal stance are sceptical as to whether public interest, heterogeneity, and diversity are really uppermost in the minds of advocates of globalisation. Schiller (2001: 325), for instance, has pointed out that the insistence on a free flow of information is more to ensure that the developed world have easy access to sell their media products to a rapidly expanding television market in the developing world that has an estimated three billion viewers. This would account for developed nations, principally United States of America and United Kingdom, withdrawing their support in 1984 for UNESCO’s call for a New World Information Communication Order (NWICO) that would have benefited developing nations if it were wholeheartedly carried out.

While developing nations as a whole have called for a more balanced flow of information outside its boundaries in order to prevent further erosion of national sovereignties and cultural identities, within nation-states ruling elites have themselves also asserted their influence in almost every aspect of modern life, including the media. This is also true of television broadcasting in Malaysia that has been controlled through a combination of ownership and government legislation (see Zaharom 1991, 2002; Wang 2001). This control cannot, however, be construed as protecting cultural identities and public interest either, as critics have noted that a diversity of political voices and cultural choices for the people have been severely limited.

Malaysia’s first television stations were introduced in the 1960s through RTM1 and RTM2, both of which are state-owned stations. After more than 20 years later, the first commercial television, TV3, was introduced in 1984. TV3 was initially owned by Fleet Group, the investment arm of United Malay National Organisation (UMNO), the dominant partner in the ruling government coalition Later, the shareholding structure was changed in tandem with shifts in the political leadership. Malaysian Resources Corporation Bhd. (MRCB), a listed company controlled by businessmen with close links with the government, took over the station (Gomez 1994: 136). Ownership of TV3 was altered again in early 2003 when MRCB was restructured to resolve its financial malaise after the 1997 economic crisis which affected the Asian region (The Star, 11 January 2003). Media Prima took over 100 percent equity interest in TV3. Coincidentally or strategically, this restructuring took place just before Abdullah Badawi took over as premier of the country from Mahathir Mohamad. The Prime Minister’s former press secretary, Kamarulzaman, was appointed the Executive Director (Zaharom and Wang 2004). In November 2003, Media Prima acquired 80 percent stake in Metropolitan TV Sdn Bhd which was closed down during the 1997 economic crisis. With this acquisition, Metro TV was re-launched as 8TV. In essence, Media Prima now owns 100 percent of TV3, 80 percent interest in Metropolitan TV and has a 43 percent stake in New Straits Times Press (NSTP), making it Malaysia’s largest listed media company. In another move in 2005, Media Prima acquired both Channel 9 and Ntv7 Group which comprises Natseven TV Sdn Bhd that runs the private television station Ntv7 and Synchrosound Studio Sdn Bhd and Encorp Media Technology that ran the now defunct WaFM radio station.

This latest acquisition makes Media Prima the sole owner of all commercial free to air television in Malaysia. These television stations collectively account for at least 50 percent of all television viewers. This virtual monopoly does not augur well for a more democratic role of the media, as mentioned by Curran.

Ntv7, before the takeover by Media Prima, was launched in April 1997 with Mohd Effendi Norwawi as the chairman. Effendi had served as managing director in the Sarawak State Economic Development Corporation (SSEDC) and is a loyalist to the ruling coalition (Sally Cheong 1993: 57). He was also the Minister of Agriculture from 1999 up till 2004. Channel 9, on the other hand, which commenced telecasts on September 2003, was owned by Tan Sri Rashid Manaf through Anaza Sdn Bhd (51 percent) and Datuk Muhammad Mustafa (49 percent). Datuk Muhammad Mustafa was the former chairman of Medanmas Sdn Bhd, that had a 10 percent share in Metropolitan Television (Utusan Malaysia, 13 June 2004). With the acquisition by Media Prima in June 2005, the station was renamed and re-launched as TV9. Even before the takeover by Media Prima, private television stations have been owned by loyalists or groups linked closely to the ruling elites.

Satellite television in the shape of ASTRO (All Asia Television and Radio Company) was introduced in 1996 with the launch of MEASAT (Malaysian East Satellite System). MEASAT is owned by Binariang, who in turn is owned by Ananda Krishnan. Salazar (2004: 206) points out that Ananda Krishnan, like other beneficiaries of state patronage, have built bridges with powerful politicians (like the former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad) who were in the position to hand out licences and contracts. Although the idea of “open skies” was earlier rejected by the Ministry of Information, the push for the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) as well as deregulatory policies, have reversed this posture. ASTRO is a subscription-based service that currently provides 68 television, 17 radio and 5 pay per view channels and various interactive services featuring Western, Asian and local programmes.

Cultural policies and censorship guidelines

As elsewhere, the Malaysian government is instrumental in providing broadcasting policies for both state owned as well as private television stations. For instance, some of these policies stipulate that local programmes should reflect the multi-ethnic composition of the country, observe that Islam is the official religion, should not portray any ethnic group in a bad light, and should not air programmes that offend any religious sensitivities. However, in an interview with a RTM1 personnel in 2002, it was pointed out to me that some of these stipulations are sometimes arbitrarily interpreted at the discretion of the Minister of Information. To illustrate her point, she explained that a former Information Minister once insisted that all news readers don the baju Melayu (Malay shirt or blouse) attire in order to project a national cultural identity, much to the disapproval of commercial producers because it was seen to undermine the artistic purpose and integrity of the programme. However, this guideline was quickly changed when the Deputy Prime Minister’s wife commented at an official function on the inappropriateness of the attire for RTM1 news readers.

Other guidelines provided by the Ministry of Information relate to the restrictions on programmes that depict violence, horror, sex and counter-culture (VHSC) on television. To execute these guidelines, all programmes aired on television have to be reviewed by a Censorship Board. Occasionally, censorship exercises can be carried to extremes. For instance, the same personnel whom I interviewed revealed that once the Board decided that programmes like Ghostbusters and Superman had to be taken off the air because they were perceived to carry elements of “horror”. Another children’s action programme, The Morphin Power Rangers, was also ordered off the screen because the Board understood the word “morphin” to mean drugs and therefore promoting “counter cultural” sentiments.

Under the same extensive powers, supposedly to protect the young and vulnerable, all television programmes and films need to be reviewed and mandatorily classified before airing or screening them to the public. Moreover, TV programmes which are classified as suitable for those over 18 years of age can only be aired after 10 pm. Liberal critics see the paternalistic and conservative policies of the Ministry of Information as essentially curbing the right of citizens to full membership of social and cultural formation and gratification. This is especially exacerbated by private television stations who not only toe the government line but also at the same time converge to middle ground to maximize audience numbers in order to deliver them to advertisers. This in turn dictates the kinds of programmes that can be aired. As noted by Golding and Murdock (1991: 20):

The economics of commercial broadcasting revolves around the exchange of audiences for advertising revenue. The price that corporations pay for advertising spots on particular programmes is determined by the size and social composition of the audience it attracts. And in prime time, the premium prices are commanded by shows that can attract and hold the greatest number of viewers and provide a symbolic environment in tune with consumption. The needs inevitably tilt programming towards familiar and well tested formulae and formats and away from risk and innovation, and anchor it in commonsense rather than alternative viewpoints.

To maximise profit taking many television stations prefer to air cheaper imported programmes and develop separate “belts” to attract the right audience for the advertisers. TV3, for example, was the first to introduce the “Chinese Belt” that screened Chinese dramas series imported from Hong Kong and Taiwan every evening to its large Chinese-speaking audience. This was quickly followed by other television stations in order to increase their audience share.

Locally produced or format adapted?

Karthigesu (1994: 75–6) has pointed out that Malaysian television programmes consist mainly of well-tested entertainment progr...

Table of contents

• Routledge Malaysian Studies Series
• Contents
• List of illustrations
• Contributors
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1 Consumers, citizens and copycat television in Malaysia
• 2 Packaging the PM
• 3 The Dayak Festival as a media ritual of nation building
• 4 Civil society use of media and ICT
• 5 Running cyburbia
• 6 Shame and the Fourth Wall
• 7 Through our own eyes
• 8 Reclaiming history
• 9 Facing the music
• 10 Malaysiatropia
• Index