Malaysia's elder statesman, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, used a speech at a social media conference to advocate outright censorship of the Internet, a call that may worry investors as the country's economy falters.
"Eventually, you're going to scare away a lot of investors. People are going to wonder what this country is going to decline into," said Oh Ei Sun, a senior fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies and former political secretary to Malaysia's Prime Minister's Office from 2009-2011.
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In a sharp reversal from his tenure as prime minister, when he pledged no censorship to encourage investment in the tech sector, Mahathir used his speech, "Social Media and the Future," at the Malaysia Social Media Week conference on Thursday, to declare "there should be censorship" to block out "filth," particularly pornography.
Sedition Act
Mahathir's declaration comes as the country is stepping up its use of the Sedition Act, which was strengthened earlier this month to give the government the power to censor online media and impose harsher jail terms.
Last month, Malaysian police arrested the publisher of The Edge Media Group, Ho Kay Tat, and The Malaysian Insider news portal CEO, Jahabar Sadiq, and three editors for sedition after they published an article about a proposal to introduce hudud, or punishments under Islamic law, in Kelantan state.
While the government so far hasn't directly censored online media, various existing laws mean "they could fine or even jail those who express themselves quite vehemently on the Internet," Oh said.
Influential enough?
It isn't clear that Mahathir, who was prime minister from 1981-2003, still has enough influence to spur the government to step up its restrictions.
"People, of course, respect Mahathir, but with things like technology, I'm not necessarily sure they align with his views," said Tony Nash, global vice president at Delta Economics. "It's kind of like your great grandfather complaining about how you're using WhatsApp at the dinner table."
But Nash noted that politics in Malaysia are in a "huge flux."
It's a flux that can be partly laid at Mahathir's door after he called on the current prime minister and his hand-picked successor, Najib Razak, to resign to "save the country" and ensure the survival of the ruling political party, United Malays National Organization (UMNO). Both men are members of the party.