Ex-law minister says contractors, developers and concessionaires, however, have to operate within a closed system designed to hide the abuse of power.
Zaid Ibrahim said when journalists are confronted with what they believe to be unfair contracts or dubious projects, their instinct is to look for the fault of the contractor or developer, which he described as “soft targets”.
But he said contractors, developers and concessionaires have to operate within a closed system “designed to facilitate corruption and hide abuse of power by the decision makers”.
Zaid’s comments followed a lawsuit filed by Malaysian Resources Corporation Bhd (MRCB) and its executive vice-chairman Salim Fateh Din against veteran journalist P Gunasegaram over an article concerning the LRT3 Shah Alam line.
MRCB and Salim are seeking RM100 million in damages for alleged reputational harm, claiming the article implied that the company secured the project through cronyism, political patronage and political connections.
Zaid said that in a closed system, contract terms are classified as official secrets aimed at protecting decision makers.
He said journalists therefore would not have access to these facts.
“They cannot see the terms of the deal. They could not have known the reason for the delays or cost overruns.
“So when good journalists rely on circumstantial and secondary information, they became vulnerable to legal suits,” he said in a Facebook post.
Zaid said journalists should focus their energy on hard targets, namely the government or the approving authority.
“Good journalists are good people wanting to do good for the country. But make sure you are willing to expose the real culprits – the government that you are so fond of – before you expose the soft targets, the players in the system.” - FMT
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