It is in the government's best interest to support an open and free media landscape as they had benefitted from independent journalism, said Malaysiakini CEO Premesh Chandran.
"Muhyiddin Yassin, Saifuddin Abdullah, Azmin Ali, all benefitted from having an open, aggressive media taking on issues like 1MDB, etc," Premesh said in a webinar hosted by the International Federation of Journalists today.
Muhyiddin, Saifuddin, and Azmin were previously part of the Pakatan Harapan government, which took power on the back of a wave of public resentment against BN and former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, due in part to the 1MDB scandal.
News of the 1MDB scandal had mostly been suppressed in local media during Najib's time in power, focusing only on the government's version of the story and denials to allegations made by international media and the US Department of Justice.
Those allegations are now evidence in court trials against Najib, of which he has already been convicted on seven charges in relation to former 1MDB subsidiary, SRC International.
Besides Perikatan Nasional leaders, Premesh said BN leaders too were "very happy" in the past when Malaysiakini asked tough questions to opposition leaders like Lim Guan Eng and Khalid Ibrahim when they were the heads of the Penang and Selangor governments respectively.
"So we are really trying to persuade the government that independent free media is essential for the country," he said.
The media are currently pushing to self-regulate themselves via an independent media council.
Premesh, who is the council's pro-tem chairperson, said the draft bill and proposal had been submitted to the government in August, and that they are scheduled to meet Saifuddin, who is communications and multimedia minister, this Friday.
Apart from being healthy for the political landscape, Premesh said an independent media can also play a crucial role in fighting against misinformation, which can spread unchecked if the media does not play its part.
Meanwhile, Gerakan Media Merdeka spokesperson Radzi Razak, said the media would welcome any efforts that would ensure press freedom and a better society.
"If one day Umno and PAS want to reform and try to push for press freedom, we would welcome it.
"Whoever is in power, as long as they have reform ideals, and want to make society better, we should welcome it," he said.
Other speakers at the webinar were journalist Tashny Sukumaran, and Kluang MP Wong Shu Qi, who is a former journalist. - Mkini
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.