‘Nazri told us mainstream media govt tool’

According to European Muslim delegates, de facto law minister Nazri Aziz said it was normal for mainstream media to suppress the opposition’s voice.

KUALA LUMPUR: De facto law minister Nazri Aziz has dismissed allegations that the opposition’s voice has been suppressed in the mainstream media, saying it was something “normal”.

He also justified the opposition pact’s limited access to the mainstream media, stating that the latter was a “government tool”.

Members of the European Muslim Election Assessment Committee said this when briefing reporters on their two-day fact-finding mission here.

According to the delegates, who were here on Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim’s invitation, opposition members had expressed concerns that they were unable to reach out to Malaysians through the Barisan Nasional-controlled mainstream media.

But when the delegates relayed these concerns to Nazri, he allegedly pooh-poohed the suppression of the opposition’s voice in mainstream media as “normal.”

“We told the law minister that in Europe, all parties have the possibility to express their views to the mainstream media,” said Fadime Örgü (photo, right) who is former member of parliament in the Netherlands.

“But Nazri told us the structure of the media is different in Malaysia. That here, the mainstream media is a government tool,” Fadime said at a press conference.

But she said Nazri had assured her that opposition members would be allowed access to the mainstream media during the campaign period prior to the general election.

“He said this is normal in Malaysia, and if the opposition came into power, it would do the same,” added Fadime.

This prompted PKR member Fuziah Salleh, who was also present, to quickly interject: “That is not true. Nazri has no right to voice out what he thinks Pakatan will or will not do when it comes to power.”

The observers declined to comment outright on Nazri’s alleged remark, but they pointed out that freedom of the media was a cornerstone of democracy.

“We are not here to give our opinion, but just to relay what we noticed and observed,” said Zouhair Amri (photo, left) CEO of Oumma Media, which is the largest Muslim Media Company.

“But my point of view is that if all parties have more space in the mainstream media, this will be a great victory for everyone. The people will win, democracy will win.”

‘Everything moving in right direction’

The two delegates said they and fellow committee member Mudassar Ahmed had met with politicians from both sides of the divides as well as non-governmental organisations such as Bersih, the coalition for free and fair elections; human rights group Suaram and the Centre for Strategic Research.

They said they were impressed by the reception they received as everyone had welcomed them and answered their questions.

“We noticed there were complaints, but step by step everything is moving in a good direction,” said Fadime.

Chief among the complaints, said Fadime, was the dubious voters and dirty electoral roll, the abuse of media to suppress the opposition, and the bias of the Election Commission.

“The NGO also said that both the government and the opposition must define their position on human rights. They said this must be done immediately, as it is still not well defined,” said Fadime.

But she and Zouhair reserved their judgment on the issues that came up, pointing out that they personally had little time to go to the ground and investigate the validity of the claims.

They said all their findings and conclusion would be written and released to the public next month.