From The Melbourne Age, 4th May 2000

By MARK RILEY NEW YORK

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's increasing attempts to muzzle dissent in Malaysia by clamping down on the media have earned him a place in an international list of the "10 Worst Enemies of the Press".

The list, compiled in New York by the Committee to Protect Journalists, was released yesterday to mark World Press Freedom Day.Dr Mahathir joins a rogues gallery of world leaders that includes Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, Chinese President Jiang Zemin, Peru's Alberto Fujimori and Cuban President Fidel Castro.

"These enemies of the press use methods that range from outright torture and murder to more subtle techniques aimed at keeping uncomfortable truths from being told," CPJ executive director Ann Cooper said.

"In Yugoslavia and Iran, threats are so severe that independent media are in grave danger of becoming extinct. Elsewhere, in China and Cuba, opposition voices have used new technology to circumvent restrictions, prompting new reprisals from leaders determined to control information."

The list is headed by Sierra Leone rebel commander Foday Sankoh, who is held responsible for the executions of 10 journalists and their families in 1999.

The CPJ, an independent committee headed by some of America's leading journalists, said Dr Mahathir had a "stranglehold on the Malaysian mainstream press". He had made repeated assaults on the handful of opposition publications allowed to publish. "Mahathir has governed Malaysia for nearly two decades, owing his longevity in great measure to his control over the media," the CPJ said in a statement.