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Special Seminar by Amin Iskandar and Khoo Ying Hooi on October 6th

2016/10/06 @ 3:00 PM - 6:30 PM

Date and Time: 15:00-18:30, October 6th (Thurs.), 2016
Place: Tonan-tei (Room No. 201),CSEAS, Inamori Foundation Memorial Building, Kyoto University

Commentator: Ayame Suzuki, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law Department of Political Science, Doahiah University

Moderators: Tsukasa Iga and Masaaki Okamoto, CSEAS, Kyoto University

Amin Iskandar (Former News Editor of The Malaysian Insider)
Title: Practitioner View on Media Freedom under Najib’s Administration in Malaysia

Abstract:
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak came to power in 2009 and promised reform to Malaysia after replacing Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. He introduced the 1Malaysia slogan aiming to unite all Malaysians. The 13th General Election‎ in 2013 witnessed the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) narrowly win 133 seats compared to opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR) 89 seats, Najib’s administration has became more autocratic. When the state investment company 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal came to public knowledge from the news reports ‎and opposition, media is victimized. The‎ Malaysia Insider (TMI) is a popular online news portal formed in 2008 before the 12th General Election. It became popular among the Malaysian public because they published alternative news and views‎ compared to the mainstream media that controlled by the government. TMI covered all aspects of the 1MDB scandals and it irritated Najib’s administration. On July 2015, The Malaysian government has suspended the publishing permit of The Edge newspaper for three months for its coverage of the 1MDB, which the government claimed threatens public order and national security. On 26 February 2016, the Malaysian government blocked TMI‎ because of it “violated the national laws”. Multimedia Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) said that TMI had violated Section 233 of the MCMC Act, which deals with improper use of network facilities or network service. Subsequently on 15 March 2016, The Edge Media Group who owns TMI decided to close down the popular news portal. TMI remained blocked by the Najib administration until today.

About Amin Iskandar:
Amin Iskandar is a freelance writer and consultant based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He was the former News Editor at news portal The Malaysian Insider, which was shut down on 15 March, 2016. Today, he runs Amin and Associates, a research and consulting firm specialising in media, election and politics. Prior to this, Amin was an executive director at the National Institute for Electoral Integrity (NIEI). NIEI works with electoral stakeholders and aims to educate Malaysians on free and fair elections. He was also a former columnist at The Malaysian Insider between 2009 and 2016, and at the country’s first online news portal, Malaysiakini, between 2006 and 2012. His first compilation of essays, Ini Bukan Klise, was published in 2013 by Gerakbudaya Sdn Bhd. A second collection of essays, Ini Bukan Klise II, came out in 2015.

 

Khoo Ying Hooi (Senior Lecturer, University of Malaya)
Title: Southeast Asia National Human Rights Institutions: Extending ASEAN Norms

Abstract:
As a consequence of the adoption of the ASEAN Charter in 2008, the establishment of ASEAN Intergovernmental Human Rights Commission (AICHR) in 2009 and the adoption of ASEAN Human Rights Declaration (AHRD) in 2012, Southeast Asia region as a whole faces high expectations to deliver human rights commitments. Today, six national human rights institutions (NHRIs) in the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Timor-Leste and Myanmar are in place. The position of these NHRIs are peculiar one as they are established by the government, but at the same time, they are the “watchdog” on the government’s human rights performance. Hence, the question arises on whether these government-sponsored NHRIs could have significant roles in human rights protection in the region. To frame this discussion further, Southeast Asia NHRIs are put forward as human rights norm entrepreneur in pushing for change with the ASEAN human rights architecture on bridging the international norms and regional realities. The analysis shows that this normative change resulted in a different view of human rights, but “ASEAN norms” remains prevalent in promotion and protection of human rights in the region.

About Khoo Ying Hooi:
Ying Hooi is Senior Lecturer at the Department of International and Strategic Studies, University of Malaya. Her research interests include non-state actors, transnational activism, protest research, human rights and democratization with a regional focus on Southeast Asia, especially Malaysia. Thematically, she explores processes and patterns of political participation and mobilization, digital activism and the interaction between social movements and state. She has published a range of academic journals, commentaries and provide expert opinion on those mentioned areas. She is the author of “Seeds of Dissent” (2015), a compilation of her commentaries on academic freedom, human rights, protests and political change in Malaysia. She also edited Volume I and II of Ini Bukan Klise (2013 and 2015), a compilation of essays on political issues in Malaysia. She is the convener of the course on social movements and democratization, she also teaches on international development and governance, human rights in international politics and introduction to politics. Ying Hooi is the Deputy Editor of Malaysian Journal of International Relations (MJIR) and the Academic Advisor in the Democracy Academy of Malaysia. In the mean time, She is also a convener and trainer for the module “Issues in World Politics” for the Timor-Leste Institute of Diplomatic Studies (IDS). Formerly a columnist in The Malaysian Insider, Ying Hooi is also a former board member of the Amnesty International Malaysia. Prior to her academic career, Ying Hooi worked at several corporate sectors and the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM) as the Head of International Issues and Cooperation.

 

Details

Date:
2016/10/06
Time:
3:00 PM - 6:30 PM

Organizer

Masaaki Okamoto