“Democracy Arrested
Several weeks of violence at Kg Baru and the start of Anwar’s trial has unmasked police tactics; beginning with the Special Task Force raid on Anwar’s residence to revelations of the “turning over” procedures. The government seems adamant to deal with the crisis as a security rather than a political issue. Serious questions also need to be raised about the leadership and programme of the Reformasi movement. Attacks on and scapegoating of the media from all sides are a cause of concern as journalists – working under a range of constraints – become easy targets. In this edition of Saksi we hope to open a dialogue about these issues.”
Many more anonymous or pseudonymous authors in this edition especially from journalists in the mainstream media then under tremendous pressure to conform to the Mahathir’s Administration’s view of the political unrest. Also letters to Saksi, some of which were critical. Our readership was increasing but measuring impact was perhaps not possible or not even a consideration though the site actually notes that we had “300,537 hits, 24,306 visitors since 15 October 1998”.
The photography – few of the thumbnails will now expand – was contributed by several people, one of whom was a foreign photo-journalist, MF, who requested to be anonymous then.