Published: Thursday August 13, 2009 MYT 2:40:00 PM
Updated: Thursday August 13, 2009 MYT 2:41:14 PM

No immediate request for review of media laws: Rais

By MAZWIN NIK ANIS

mazwin@thestar.com.my

PUTRAJAYA: Despite criticisms against the “legal instruments related to media, publications and printing presses,” there has been no “immediate request for the laws to be reviewed or re-examined,” said Information, Communications, Culture and Arts Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim.

“However, there could be a possibility that some laws involving the press may be re-looked into later in the future since the Internal Security Act (ISA) is being reviewed.

“But as of now, my advice is for media practitioners to constantly remember their social responsibility and that they must operate within the law,” he told reporters on Thursday after launching the new look for Ahlan, the sole Arabic newspaper in the country.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, not long after assuming office in April, assured there would be greater press freedom on the condition that the media practised fair play and responsibility.

“I firmly believe that there is a vital place in that dialogue for a vibrant, free and informed media,” he said then in a speech to the Malaysian Press Institute, but without committing to a review of the laws that keep the Malaysian media in check.

However in May, the National Union of Journalists Malaysia (NUJ) urged the Government to scrap the Official Secrets Act (OSA) and instead have a Freedom of Information Act.

NUJ president Norila Daud, in a World Press Freedom Day statement, said the mainstream media suffered from a negative public perception as a result of being restricted by the OSA, the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA) and the ISA.

The Centre for Independent Journalism and the Writer Alliance for Media Independence asked for an immediate stop to any form of censorship of news, views and opinions, and to suspend the use of the licensing provision in the PPPA that gives the Government arbitrary powers in deciding the terms for publications.

According to the Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index, Malaysia has plummeted from 104th place in 2003 to 132nd (out of 173 countries) in 2008.

Viewpoint: Adapt and accept the reality