| Popis: |
This chapter addresses the crucial period between Mahathir’s articulation of Vision 2020 in 1996, the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) opened in 1998 and, the loss in 2008 of its two-third majority in parliament by the long-standing government for the first time in history. Two facts amplified the extraordinary powers the state had to suppress dissent or criticism i.e. the lack of transparency surrounding media ownership and an unchanged government in power from 1957 to 2018. Malaysian authorities’ iron grip was relaxed in 1998 with the establishment of the MSC as a technology zone. The government’s promise not to censor the Internet proved to be the first in a long line of events that saw many Malaysians become active, critical and informed participants of digital media. The process whereby digital media in Malaysia went from an alternative to broadcast media and upstart challenger to become the de rigueur source of news, information and data for many is also the story of how Malaysia’s hybrid model of Internet governance came to be. |
