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KUALA LUMPUR: The future of Al Jazeera’s Asia Pacific headquarters here appears to be at stake following the Malaysian authorities’ refusal to renew the work permits of five of its television crew members.
All five were behind a controversial report on the suffering of migrant workers in Malaysia during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Several of the network’s high-profile producers, editors and writers who weren’t involved in the 101 East episode “Locked Up in Malaysia’s Lockdown” are now worried about their future here.
The show focused on allegations that Malaysian authorities were harsh on documented and undocumented migrant workers during special raids on places where foreign workers were staying.
The 25-minute episode triggered a firestorm in Malaysia when the government and its supporters accused Al Jazeera of misreporting to support allegations that authorities were pursuing migrants under the guise of containing the spread of the pandemic.
In April, a few days after the report was issued in Malaysia and around the world, seven Al Jazeera staff in Kuala Lumpur were interrogated for two days by the police under sedition laws. The police also raided the Al Jazeera office in Kuala Lumpur and took computers and documents.
Ultimately, neither the seven nor the network were charged in court, but five of the crew members who were directly linked to the production of the report were given 30 days to leave the country once their respective work permits expired. They have since returned home to Australia.
The future of 12 other Al Jazeera producers and writers who are citizens of Great Britain, the United States and Singapore with valid work visas is at stake. Many of them fear suffering the same fate as their Australian colleagues.
Malaysia’s action is understood to have resulted in station officials debating serious issues, including whether they should continue to operate out of Kuala Lumpur.
For more than 14 years, Al Jazeera Kuala Lumpur has been home to a significant English and Arabic editorial team, including web-based journalists. It also has a dozen or more Malaysian employees in the administration, accounting and engineering departments.
Before launching the station in 2006, then-Al Jazeera International managing director Nigel Parsons had told a local newspaper in an interview that Kuala Lumpur was chosen over Hong Kong and Singapore because Malaysia “was the perfect choice with a good English speaking population and excellent infrastructure in place. The atmosphere in Kuala Lumpur is vibrant and exciting. “
Now, the latest action by the Malaysian authorities may force the international broadcaster to review the scale of its operations in Kuala Lumpur or move to another country in the region.
“Al Jazeera faced enormous pressure from the Malaysian government after broadcasting the episode which was followed by serious attacks on social media by Malaysians and the investigation of seven of its producers, editors and cameramen for sedition.
“Many police reports were filed against the network to incite public anger against Al Jazeera over the episode.
“I am not sure whether it is sustainable for it to continue its operations here given the circumstances, unless there is a change of mind by the government in the treatment of the media,” said the source.
“Locked Up in Malaysia’s Lockdown” earned international accolades and has been shortlisted for the highly respected London-based One World Media 2020 coronavirus reporting awards.
Previous governments had freely touted the major Al Jazeera operation in Kuala Lumpur as testimony to the broad freedom of the press allowed in the country.
“The irony is that Al Jazeera had made a couple of stories about the controversial Altantuya assassination, linking then-Prime Minister Najib Razak and exposing alleged corruption in foreign worker contracts with a mention of then-Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamid his watch. And yet no action was taken, ”said the source.
When contacted by FMT, Al Jazeera Doha managing director Giles Trendle declined to comment.
The FMT has also attempted to contact the Director General of Immigration, Khairul Dzaimee Daud, for comment.
