Former international trade and industry minister Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz says today the media should not be penalised for reporting what some determine to be unsavoury. – Facebook screenshot, July 25, 2015.
In a Facebook post, the former international trade and industry minister and Wanita Umno head said that the word "ban" should be deleted from the Malaysian "political vocabulary".
She said while freedom of speech must have parameters determined by factors such as decency, respect for the religious beliefs of others and rights of the majority, it was important that the media was not unduly penalised, not for going beyond those parameters, but for reporting what some determine to be unsavoury.
"Surely we are not going the way of some countries where the media is directed what to write?"
She said that those responsible must start providing facts to the public regarding the debt-ridden state investment firm 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
"Again we are being side-tracked from the real issues at hand.
"We can ban some publications, but that will not solve anything, really. If at all, it is making people even more upset.
"Worse still, there is now another grouse against the government, for nothing," she said.
Rafidah said communication on social media would continue regardless of any ban, adding that such bans would only provide a new topic for the public to "discuss and condemn".
"Don't tell me we now must shut down the Internet? Too many cooks spoil the broth.”
The Home Ministry yesterday suspended the publishing permit of The Edge Weekly and The Edge Financial Daily for three months, beginning July 27.
A letter from the ministry stated that the publications' coverage of state investment firm 1MDB was "prejudicial or likely to be prejudicial to public order, security or likely to alarm public opinion or is likely to be prejudicial to public and national interests".
The media group, however, is challenging the suspensions in court and maintains that it has done nothing wrong.
Earlier this month, The Edge received a show-cause letter in which the ministry gave it seven days to explain why action should not be taken under the Printing Presses and Publication Act 1984.
The Edge was accused of publishing articles on the state fund which were said to have created confusion and doubt about the Malaysian government and financial institutions.
1MDB is particularly sensitive for the government, as Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is its advisory board chairman and also heads the Finance Ministry, which owns 1MDB. He has also been implicated, with allegations that money from 1MDB-linked entities went to his personal bank accounts.
He has not addressed this claim directly but only denied taking funds for "personal gain".
- TMI
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