Toning down satire, humour after amendments to Sedition Act

Fake Malaysia News makes it clear it is ‘a silly work of satire and fiction and should not be taken seriously by anyone’. – Screenshot of FMN website, April 23, 2015.Making jokes, poking fun and free speech through humour and satire will no longer be a laughing matter, after Putrajaya tightened its laws on sedition to clamp down on alternative views and online comments.

The amendments to the colonial-era Sedition Act have led to satirical news outlets toning down stories and becoming more cautious in poking fun at politicians and government bodies.

One website, Fake Malaysia News (FMN), admitted that even as laws on news portals and social media users became tighter, they have become "much more" careful in the way their satirical fake stories were written and presented now.

"We try not to put our words directly into a politician’s mouth now to do a comedy bit," FMN founder, who only wants to be known as Adam, told The Malaysian Insider.

"Instead, we now have more anonymous or fictional ‘spokesmen’ making comments and jokes to get the same point across which hopefully saves us from suits."

There was no doubt, he said, that everyone was treading lightly at the moment, highlighting the need for content publishers to be responsible for what they posted online.

"We can’t speak for others but in our case, we put disclaimers all over FMN which we hope will make authorities realise we have no agenda to do much more then make a few silly jokes," Adam added.

The amendments to the Sedition Act include empowering courts to prohibit the circulation of publications deemed seditious.

New provisions in the law forbid, among others, publications that are likely to lead to bodily injury or damage to property or appear to be promoting ill-will, hostility, hatred between different races on grounds of religion are seditious in tendency.

The court could also order an officer authorised under the Communications and Multimedia Act to remove online seditious materials put up by persons who could not be identified.

Critics, including lawyers and opposition politicians, have said that the amendments were a "serious attack" on free speech and expression in a democratic society.

"The threshold of what is seditious is low and this is sufficient for the court to allow applications by government lawyers," said civil rights lawyer Syahredzan Johan (pic, left).

Merdeka Center's Ibrahim Suffian warned Putrajaya of the dangers of clamping down on such sites, saying that it would ultimately lead people to believe the government was insecure and lacked the ability to argue its views.

"If they are shut or curtailed, it would limit the venues for people to vent their views and may lead to disinterest in the political process," he said.

"If such laws are used to shut or pressure them, it would ultimately convey the message that the government is insecure and lacks the ability to argue its position on issues intelligently. 

"In the long run, it may win such skirmishes but lose the war for the people's hearts and minds."

Adam said FMN had a few rules on subjects that were taboo, including race and religion.

"We have a few rules that we do our best not to break. We try to lampoon public figures based on absurd things they say and do and leave race and religion out of it.  

"Also, real tragedy is very hard to satirise in good taste, so we wrote only a little about last year’s air disasters."

FMN now receives about 1,000 to 5,000 hits on a daily basis while some of its best stories were shared on social media up to 40,000 times.

Mistaken for the truth

Most of the satirical news websites or articles are based on current events, political gaffes and eyebrow-raising statements that are more often than not, made by those in the government or agencies aligned to it.

The stories range from poking fun at Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's recent TV3 interview to Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's criticism of the former and issues that are the flavour of the day.

There were times, of course, when stories from the FMN website are mistaken for the truth but Adam insisted that there were enough red flags to tell readers otherwise.

"If we wanted to really trick readers, we would have called the site ‘The Malaysian News Bulletin’ or some other serious sounding name. We put 'Fake Malaysia News' on the URL and have stated that it’s satire on the website footer and ‘about us’ pages.  

"We sometimes run into problems when Facebook users share and comment on our fake news headlines without reading them, but most people who read stuff know it's too silly to be true.

"It is pure entertainment. It’s about finding humour in current affairs and headlines, so making people laugh is the only thing we really want to achieve," he added.

Despite the fun nature of satire, the stories on the website have come under criticism, the FMN editor-in-chief said, by hardliners from both sides of the political divide.

"Fiercely loyal supporters of certain public figures on either side of politics have complained their hero should never be joked about.

"FMN is driven mainly by headlines, so we could joke about the government’s GST (goods and services tax) or the opposition’s Kajang move if they are potentially funny. Fortunately, most Malaysians take us in good humour."

Adam and a few others were inspired to set up the satirical news website in Kuching and funnily enough, at a wedding.

"Between events, we found ourselves stuck in a hotel room with only a pile of newspapers to entertain us. We came up with a few funny ideas and wondered why there wasn't really a satirical website in Malaysia for Malaysians, so the idea of FMN came about," he said.

“Some have said FMN articles look like rubbish. Some idiot hacked us in 20 minutes during a lunch break, and that is because that’s often exactly what’s happening. We have real jobs that we should be spending more time doing, but we do this for fun."

He said while the satirical news were indeed fake, what made them so entertaining was some underlying truth, channelled by frustrations and helplessness about a certain issue.

"Satirical news is fake, but it needs to contain some underlying truth, and that is what tickles the brain and makes it entertaining.

"Like many, we sometimes feel a little helpless, and wish things would change. Channelling these frustrations into satire is a creative challenge as well as a form of stress relief for us."

Ibrahim (pic, right) concurred, saying that satirical sites simplified issues and attracted the people's attention through the use of humour and sarcasm.

"‎These sites serve an important purpose of simplifying issues and getting people to pay attention to them through the use of humour. They maybe irreverent but serve an important function as a pressure valve for dissatisfaction to be vented," the Merdeka Center director said.

"If they are getting popular, it is probably because there are a lot of issues and a lack of cogent answers that satisfy people. We also have a large collection of colourful people in our political arena who provide daily fodder for satirists to draw upon as material."

- TMI