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Media council: Nazri okay with PPPA abolition

Amidst fresh speculation that a media council will be set up parallel to the government's choke-hold on the media, the de facto law minister has unexpectedly agreed with pre-conditions set by the press freedom lobby.

"Personally and as a minister, I want to push for the media council because I feel the media should be responsible for what they write," said Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz, the minister in the Prime Minister's Department, told Malaysiakini .

"If it means we should accede to their request..., then why not? Let's move forward (to end the stalemate)."

NONE He was asked about the government's move to revive the plan without keeping its end of the bargain to repeal - for a start - the annual licensing provision of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 (PPPA) but to eventually remove all anti-press provisions in various laws within an agreed time-frame.

"When there is an aggrieved party, the solution is not all the time to take action in court because it is (a long drawn-out process) and costly," Nazri said.

Hence, there must be an avenue for the aggrieved party to lodge a complaint, especially those who are not seeking monetary damages, he said.

"We don't want other people to investigate the media, so they should have a body to investigate any complaints made against them."

However, Nazri denied that a Media Council Bill is to be tabled during the current Dewan Rakyat sitting which ends on June 28.

"So far, I have not seen it. If it is to be tabled soon, I would know," he said.

The move has again raised the ire of media-related groups, as there has not been meaningful consultation with industry players.

The Attorney-General's Chambers held meetings recently to re-float the proposal, but those present said full details were not provided.

On again, off again proposal

The idea of setting up a media council has been on and off the table since 1973.

This took a highly-secretive step forward in 2000 when the Malaysian Press Institute - a foundation that provides training to journalists - was instructed by the government to draw up a statutory self-regulatory mechanism to cover the print, broadcast and online media.

It collapsed in the face of opposition from journalists, who insisted that the government should first repeal restrictions on press freedom. Without this, the media council would only bring in another layer of control over the media.

anwar pc on judge fixing 190907 journalist The proposal remained "under discussion" in 2008, when the Home Ministry called a meeting of stakeholders to revisit the idea.

Last year, the ministry pressed on with its plan, with secretary-general Mahmood Adam saying that a committee would be formed to decide on guidelines for a media council.

In April this year, the PPPA was nominally amended to eliminate the need for the print media to renew the publishing permit on annual basis. Instead, existing permits will remain in force "until revoked".

The home minister's "absolute discretion" in granting, suspending or revoking the permit was tempered with a provision re-introducing judicial review of such decisions.

The scope of the Act was also tweaked and expanded to cover the broadcast and the Internet media.

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