掙扎在威權政體與族群政治中的媒體改革——以馬來西亞“撰稿人聯盟”的實踐為例

Struggling with State Authoritarianism and Ethnic Politics in Malaysia: A Case Study of the WAMI Media Reform Organization

馬來西亞的威權體制與族群政治環境中，媒體一直受到許多限制，近年由民間組成的媒體改革團體要有所作爲，除需衝撞體制，也要面對糾結的族群問題，而這涉及了族群內部與不同族群間的各種因素，使媒改問題更形複雜。本文以「撰稿人聯盟」的實踐爲例，試圖說明這個由華人所組成的媒改團體，其出現與實踐過程，相當具體地展現了這樣的困境。本文認爲要突破這困境，除要打破族群政治的框限，橫向連結其他公民團體，壯大改革力量，也需深耕言論自由與新聞自由的理念，號召更多民眾加入媒改行列，共同改善媒體環境，協助馬來西亞邁向民主化。

Malaysian media operate in an environment constrained and limited by state authoritarianism and ethnic politics. Recent grassroots media reform organizations must contend with the existing regime while simultaneously deal with the country's complex ethnic-relations. The latter involves both inter-ethnic and intra-ethnic group factors that then put the media reform project in an awkward and complicated position. This study on the emergence and practice of the Writer Alliance For Media Independence (WAMI), a media reform organization constituted exclusively of Malaysian Chinese, provides important insights on these issues. Specifically, this article argues that media reform organizations should link horizontally with other civil organizations to expand and broaden the power base of reform and also to deepen the ideological work concerning concepts of the freedom of speech and of the press. Additionally, it is necessary to mobilize more citizens to join the media reform project to improve the media environment thereby contribute to the continuing democratization of Malaysia.