1999
Malaysiakini went live 10 year ago on this day, Nov 20, which was nomination day of the 1999 General Election. It was done without much fanfare. Several of the top news covered in the final months of that year were:
1. The photo that lies
A doctored photograph in a Chinese newspaper showed the BN leadership altered to reflect the current political reality, replacing the face of former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim with the then deputy prime minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
2. Opposition wins 45 seats
Malaysiakini predicted a 15 percent swing among Malay voters against the government and the opposition to win 45 seats in Peninsular Malaysia. On polling day, the opposition grabbed 42 seats.
3. Terengganu falls to PAS
The Islamic party PAS picked up another state, Terengganu, to its existing Kelantan. Television kept the news silent until after the ruling party won its two-thirds majority.
2000
Reformasi was at its height following dramatic gains by the opposition in the 1999 General Election. Mahathir began a fight-back campaign the following year.
1. Eusoff, Lingam face new allegations
Seven years before the infamous Lingam tape, Malaysiakini produced proof of senior lawyer VK Lingam’s New Zealand holiday with then chief justice Eusoff Chin.
2. Kesas Highway: Police fire tear gas at BA leaders
They called the 100,000 people march - thousands were stopped near the Kemuning toll gate of Kesas Highway, the access point to Jalan Kebun in Shah Alam where reformasi supporters originally planned to meet.
3. Anwar’s trials and tribulations
Anwar Ibrahim’s corruption and sodomy trials gripped the nation. So too, did his slipped-disc problem and his frequent trips from prison to hospital.
4. Ex-police chief Rahim Noor goes to jail
He was sentenced by the Sessions Court to two months’ imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to assaulting Anwar in the infamous ‘black eye’ incident at about 10.45pm on Sept 20, 1998.
5. BN drown in Lunas by-election
Keadilan's Saifuddin Nasution Ismail won the BN stronghold of Lunas in Kedah in a hotly contested by-election. Mahathir blamed, among others, lobby group Suqiu for the swing in Chinese voters.
2001
On the global front, the Sept 11 terrorist attacks on the United States and the war against Afghanistan stood out. In Malaysia, the key local events that punctuated 2001 were:
1. MCA takes over Nanyang Press
MCA announced its intention to take over Nanyang Press Holdings, resulting in the resignation of 90 of Nanyang’s established columnists in protest.
2. Racial clashes mar Kampung Medan
Kampung Medan in Petaling Jaya Selatan was rocked by four days of racial clashes, with six people killed and more than 50 injured.
3. Post-911: The DAP-PAS split
Barisan Alternatif saw the end of the two parties at PAS’ insistence that it will set up an Islamic state if it comes to power.
4. Mahathir cracks down reformasi activists
In April, 10 pro-reform activists, mostly Keadilan leaders, were arrested under the ISA for allegedly trying to overthrow the government through street demonstrations and violent means. Four were released later but the others were sent to a two-year detention in Kamunting.
5. Sultan fathered illegitimate daughter
Sultan Ahmad Shah of Pahang has been accused of turning his back on his illegitimate daughter whom he fathered as a result of an alleged affair with a Filipino nurse in the early 1980s.
2002
At the start of the year, none could have predicted that certain events in Malaysia would make headlines around the world.
1. Mahathir resigns, Fadzil Noor dies
Two of the longest-running political careers were wound up, causing aftershocks for the second-rung hierarchy in Umno and opposition party PAS.
2. Terrorism trail linked to Malaysia
Malaysia was in the international spotlight on terrorism activity when Newsweek report claimed that the country was a launchpad for the Sept 11 attacks in the United States.
3. Educating Malaysians in English
A huge uproar erupted when Dr Mahathir proposed the revival of English Language education in primary schools. Even Umno rejected his plan.
4. Islamic state in the making
Terengganu’s PAS-led legislative assembly passed the Hudud and Qisas Enactment in July. Enforcement pended.
The infamous Internal Security Act (ISA) came under intense public scrutiny after the Federal Court ruled in favour of six reformasi activists in September.
2003
The war in Iraq and the outbreak of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) were the biggest events of 2003. On the domestic front, Dr Mahathir Mohamad resigned.
1. New prime minister
After 22 years, Malaysia witnessed the swearing in of its fifth prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
2. PAS Islamic state document
The PAS Islamic state blueprint released in November drew brickbats from every direction including from within the party as well as its ally Parti Keadilan Rakyat.
3. Umno Pahang logging scandal
Controversy fell on Umno Pahang when it was revealed that the party was awarded a 10,000-acre (approximately 40 sq km) plot of peat swampland by the state government in 1998.
4. ISA detainees: Some released, more held
The two-year Internal Security Act (ISA) detention orders for six reformasi activists, better known as the ‘ISA 6' expired. The six were Keadilan leaders Tian Chua, Mohd Ezam Mohd Noor, Dr Badrulamin Bahron, Saari Sungib, Lokman Adam and Malaysiakini columnist-cum-filmmaker Hishamuddin Rais.
5. Police ‘brutality’: More deaths
At least 11 custodial deaths were reported and calls for compulsory inquest into the deaths were largely ignored.
2004
The unexpected release of former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim came in the wake of the best-ever election outing for the Barisan Nasional.
1. Anwar Ibrahim wins release
After six years in jail, former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim was finally freed when the Federal Court allowed his appeal to set aside his conviction and six-year jail sentence for a sodomy offence.
2. Landslide victory for BN
Barisan Nasional (BN) took four-fifths of the parliamentary seats and won back the PAS-held government of Terengganu.
3. Scomi’s nuclear fallout
Kamaluddin Abdullah Badawi, the prime minister’s son, was briefly implicated in the supply of nuclear parts to Libya by Scomi Precision Engineering Sdn Bhd, by virtue of his 53 percent interest in the company.
4. Mega-incinerator under fire
After two years of sustained campaigning against the proposed construction of the Broga mammoth incinerator - the biggest of its kind in the world - the Department of Environment (DOE) approved the project on June 17.
5. The year of inquests
Several judicial inquests were called into custodial deaths and fatalities caused by the police in the course of enforcement operations.
2005
Once the hushed horror and grief over the tragedy wreaked by the tsunami had worn off, Malaysians utilised their collective voice to keep politicians and policymakers on their toes.
1. ‘Aftershock’ in tsunami fund
Malaysians joined the global tide wave of humanitarian assistance with a collection of RM78.9 million.
2. Cops in ‘squat-gate’ scandal
The Royal Malaysian Police shot to ‘international stardom’ over an arresting video-clip revealing a nude woman being made to do ‘ear-squats’ in front of a policewoman.
3. The many faces of corruption
Umno found Federal Territories Minister Isa Samad guilty in June of buying votes ahead of the party election in September 2004.
4. Divisions over NEP revival
Umno Youth chief Hishammuddin Hussein waved a keris at the Umno general assembly, pledging to uphold Malay privileges as he called for a revival of the NEP.
5. Lane-change in language switch policy
The government steamrolled its policy to switch to the English Language in teaching Mathematics and Science in primary schools.
2006
From outright racism and religion-based tension to political machinations and probes into ‘private palaces’, a wide range of incidents kept the country enthralled.
1. Showdown in Putrajaya
Malaysians were stunned with the row between former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his handpicked successor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. Meanwhile, Umno delegates delivered sedition-laced speeches following the incident of raising of the keris.
2. Witch-hunt over ‘Prophet Cartoons’
Media organisations deemed to have crossed the line in covering the issue of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad felt the full weight of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 amidst an outcry over the ‘insult to Islam’.
Mongolian beauty Altantuya Shaariibuu, 28, was reportedly killed execution-style and her body blown up with explosives.
4. Going, going, gone...
Scores of ‘illegal’ places of worship were demolished nationwide, mostly Hindu temples that have existed since colonial days.
5. On the shady side of Selangor
The episode involving Zakaria Mat Deros and other councillors exposed in the intrigue of private mansion being built without planning approval and businesses being conducted in unapproved premises.
2007
This was the year that tens of thousands of Malaysians broke free of mental chains and collectively thumbed their noses at those in control.
A top story of the year on the explosive Lingam tape revealed in part on Sept 19 by PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim.
2. Hindraf emerges from the shadows
The relatively unknown Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) led by lawyers and brothers P Uthayakumar and Waythamoorthy highlighted issues that have plagued the grassroots of a downtrodden community.
3. Yearning for a ‘Bersih’ electoral system
All that the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih) wants is an election system that is free of taint and above suspicion. Five opposition parties and 67 NGOs actively canvassed voter support.
4. Subordinate brings down ACA head
Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) senior officer Mohamad Ramli Abdul Manan levelled several allegations against the then director-general Zulkipli Mat Noot ranging from corruption to a sexual assault.
5. Port Klang project in choppy waters
The Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) development project was embroiled in a tangle of political and corporate deals that followed.
2008
A year of new histories made in Malaysia.
1. Public whipping for BN
Barisan National lost 82 out of 222 parliamentary seats and was deprived of its two-third majority in the House.
2. Anwar completes comeback
The Permatang Pauh by-election was called after incumbent Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail of PKR vacated the parliamentary seat, making way for husband Anwar Ibrahim to return to active politics.
3. Clash of the titans
BN’s disastrous showing in the March General Election brought on the groundswell of discontent towards party president and premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
The ‘Sodomy 2.0’ version unfolded when PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim’s 23-year-old former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan lodged a police report, claiming to have been sodomised by Anwar.
5. Police ‘protection’ for the vocal
Sin Chew journalist Tan Hoon Cheng was detained for her protection after her report of an incendiary speech, alongside DAP’s Seputeh parliamentarian Teresa Kok and Malaysia Today editor, Raja Petra Kamarudin.
2009
The journey continues... For Malaysiakini's Top 10 Stories of the Year, wait for our year-end special next month.
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