KUALA LUMPUR – While the government has shown its support to journalists by celebrating National Journalists’ Day this year, media practitioners are urging Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s administration to refine existing laws that hinder the industry from reporting news freely.
Speaking to The Vibes, industry players agreed that media reform would only be successful if the laws are abolished – or at least amended – in favour of media freedom.
Gerakan Media Merdeka (Geramm) said it is important to ensure the government amends and repeals restrictive laws, which have been the bane of the free media movement in the nation.
This includes repealing the Official Secrets Act 1972 (OSA) to allow better information regulation through the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act.
Currently, the OSA prohibits disseminating information classified as official secrets, including documents, records of decisions and deliberations of the cabinet, as well as state executive councils.
“The OSA grants the executive unfettered discretion to classify any document or information as an official secret and criminalises not only primary but secondary disclosure of classified information,” Geramm spokesman Radzi Razak told The Vibes.
“(This) casts a wide web that has resulted in a large number of arrests since its passing, and has been used by the government to cover up scandals in the past.”
He said the FOI Act would provide adequate and genuine stakeholder consultations, so upcoming laws can be drafted in line with international standards, barring documents that fall under specific and targeted exemptions on security grounds.
Printing Press and Publications Act 1984: thorn in media council’s flesh?
Radzi, who is also a journalist, also called for the repeal of the Printing Press and Publications Act 1984 (PPPA), which he said had hindered the successful establishment of the Malaysian Media Council.
“Previous efforts to set up a media council started decades ago and mainly did not succeed because the government would not abolish the PPPA.
“To have both the PPPA and the media council exist simultaneously would defeat the purpose of having a self-regulatory body to regulate media standards.
It would be difficult for the public and the media industry to take the media council seriously if the Home Ministry still has the power to send show-cause letters to the media, summon editors, and threaten to revoke licences.”
The PPPA is a law that governs printing presses and publication agencies.
It grants the Home Ministry discretion to grant or revoke publishing licences and permits and restrict or ban publications that could endanger national security interests or create social unrest.
Protect, don’t prosecute whistle-blowers
Meanwhile, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman journalism lecturer Teh Boon Teck called for the abolishment of the OSA, PPPA, and Sedition Act 1948 – a law that criminalises speech deemed seditious or to incite feelings of hostility between different races.
“I cannot accept a situation where the government uses charges of sedition or violation of official secrets to prosecute whistle-blowers or the media when they expose corruption and abuse of power, especially when it involves government officials.”
Teh added that the unity government has not indicated any intention to revive the FOI Act, despite Pakatan Harapan having allegedly agreed to establish the bill when it was the government in 2018.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim stated that the media gives voice to the public’s concerns, but if a series of laws that restrict the media continue to exist, then he is not genuinely advocating for greater media freedom.
“If he really intends to grant more freedom to the media, then the laws that restrict the media should be abolished or amended,” said the former China Press journalist.
Teh also urged the government to establish laws preventing political parties from controlling the media to prevent it from becoming a propaganda tool.
Regarding media practitioners’ welfare, Teh said all employees working in government media should be officially recognised as civil servants and entitled to the benefits that come with it instead of being contracted employees without access to EPF and medical benefits.
This, he added, will encourage private media organisations to ameliorate the government’s effort to take care of journalists’ well-being. – The Vibes, June 2, 2023
