Stop making pre-announcements, petrol dealers tell media

Ever since the government began to announce weekly fuel price updates, certain media organizations have made frequently inaccurate pre-announcements.

This practice has upset the Petrol Dealers Association of Malaysia (PDAM), which has issued a letter to the media, asking them not to pre-empt the government's fuel price updates.

"Yes, there is an embargo, so the media have to respect it," said PDAM president Khairul Annuar Abdul Aziz when contacted.  

Two media outlets have received the letter so far, he revealed, but he declined to name them. 

Although PDAM would not currently take legal action against the outlets, Khairul said that the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism (KPDNKK) would be notified if the media persisted in breaking the government embargo. 

"The media are our friends. I am not going to take legal action. I am just reminding them.

"The embargo is by KPDNKK, maybe I will remind them," he said.

Malaysiakini understands that the PDAM letter signed by Khairul states that the media's early releases have created misperceptions on the ground, resulting in indirect losses for petrol dealers.

Khairul also lamented that the inaccuracies in the media announcements may cause public confusion.

Additionally, he was concerned about public uneasiness with regards to the media spreading inaccurate information based on the pre-emptive announcements. 

The government began announcing weekly fuel price caps every Wednesday around 6pm, effective 29 March.

Some Chinese dailies have been making their own announcements ahead of the government by quoting anonymous sources, even releasing reports as early as 2pm on the day. 

However, there have been discrepancies between media pre-announcements and official price set by KPDNKK. - Mkini