The police should learn to respect the role and profession of journalists and should assist them in carrying out their duty instead of obstructing them, a DAP leader stressed today.

Seputeh MP Teresa Kok said it was fair to question a journalist's 'agenda' in a report if it was done through proper channels, such as a letter to the editor, but to subject a journalist to police interrogation is outright wrong.

On Monday, TV3 reporter Fazli Ahmad was taken to the Kubang Pasu, Kedah, police station and questioned - for over an hour - on a report he filed and aired on Feb 27.

In a statement, Kok urged Inspector-General of Police Bakri Omar to reprimand the police officers involved in the incident for interfering with press freedom.

"It is wrong to threaten journalists when they discharge their role as the fourth estate in a democratic society", she added.

Fazli's prime time news report was on land and hill clearing activities in Kedah's Bukit Perangin forest reserve.

He was grilled over his 'agenda' in filing the news report and questioned on his 'sources' and asked why he had chosen to concentrate on environmental issues in Kedah.

Fazli said he had informed the police that he investigated the issue based on public concern and tip-offs.

Routine interview

Kedah Chief Police Officer Supian Amat has reportedly denied that the reporter was 'interrogated' by Bukit Aman Special Branch police officers and that the questioning was only "a routine interview".

DAP, however, wants urgent action to be taken to curb a precedent and further hassling of journalists.

"The Kubang Pasu district police chief and the officer-in-charge should be reprimanded. The police should have more important things to attend to, particularly to maintain law and order and to combat crime," Kok said.

The police have refused to disclose who ordered the 'routine interview'.