MCMC chief shown exit as hardliners call him weak
Published: Jan 8, 2015 12:14 AM | Updated: Jan 8, 2015 7:15 AM
Refusing to have an iron grip on the internet tops the list of complaints against Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) CEO Mohamed Sharil Tarmizi, who was shown the door when his contract ended on Dec 31.
This is according to a comment by Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia editor Zulkifli Jalil on Sharil, whom Digital New Asia said returned from a recent vacation to find he would be out of a job by the end of 2014.
Refusing to have an iron grip on the internet tops the list of complaints against Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) CEO Mohamed Sharil Tarmizi, who was shown the door when his contract ended on Dec 31.
This is according to a comment by Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia editor Zulkifli Jalil on Sharil, whom Digital New Asia said returned from a recent vacation to find he would be out of a job by the end of 2014.
Zulkifli alleged under Sharil’s 11-year watch, MCMC gave free reign to those he claimed had incited racial hatred and the commission had failed in its role as regulator.
“It is widely known that MCMC is oft-criticised for among other ailing or being slow in taking action on sensitive issues, especially involving seditious material touching on race and religion.
“It also fails to curb various materials on the internet that insult the federal constitution,” Zulkifli wrote in his article yesterday.
He said MCMC needs a chief who will back prosecutions against those who commit sedition or who post insults on the internet, and not those who dissuade the attorney-general from doing so.
Umno eyes lucrative post
The person speculated to replace Sharil, Zulkifli said, is former BN's Permatang Pauh candidate Mazlan Ismail. Mazlan was also a former vice-president of Telekom Malaysia Bhd.
This comes as Digital News Asia reports speculation that the government intends to put an Umno member on the job.
“The prevailing view is that as head of the MCMC, Sharil had not do enough to curb dissenting voices against the government in the digital sphere,” it reported.
Sharil had publicly said he does not support unnecessary censorship on the internet, said Digital News Asia, but a “loud minority within Umno is having none of that”.
The MCMC CEO position is also much coveted due to its influence on the lucrative award for communication towers contracts that are to be built in rural areas, it reported.
The first 400 towers, it said, cost RM900 million while the next phase is expected to cost more than RM1.3 billion.
This is according to a comment by Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia editor Zulkifli Jalil on Sharil, whom Digital New Asia said returned from a recent vacation to find he would be out of a job by the end of 2014.
Zulkifli alleged under Sharil’s 11-year watch, MCMC gave free reign to those he claimed had incited racial hatred and the commission had failed in its role as regulator.“It is widely known that MCMC is oft-criticised for among other ailing or being slow in taking action on sensitive issues, especially involving seditious material touching on race and religion.
“It also fails to curb various materials on the internet that insult the federal constitution,” Zulkifli wrote in his article yesterday.
He said MCMC needs a chief who will back prosecutions against those who commit sedition or who post insults on the internet, and not those who dissuade the attorney-general from doing so.
Umno eyes lucrative post
The person speculated to replace Sharil, Zulkifli said, is former BN's Permatang Pauh candidate Mazlan Ismail. Mazlan was also a former vice-president of Telekom Malaysia Bhd.
This comes as Digital News Asia reports speculation that the government intends to put an Umno member on the job.
“The prevailing view is that as head of the MCMC, Sharil had not do enough to curb dissenting voices against the government in the digital sphere,” it reported.Sharil had publicly said he does not support unnecessary censorship on the internet, said Digital News Asia, but a “loud minority within Umno is having none of that”.
The MCMC CEO position is also much coveted due to its influence on the lucrative award for communication towers contracts that are to be built in rural areas, it reported.
The first 400 towers, it said, cost RM900 million while the next phase is expected to cost more than RM1.3 billion.
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