Information, Communications and Culture Minister Rais Yatim has come out in defence of Radio Televisyen Malaysia's (RTM) Parliament live coverage against criticisms levelled at it by various politicians.

The minister said he was "taken aback" with the way several backbenchers and Opposition MPs had criticised the government-owned channel in the august House for 'censoring' some of its footages yesterday.

rais yatim pc 020709 01 "(I know) we have to look into the matter and we should improve but I was also taken aback by the way the MPs have lambasted RTM. I think they should practise their moral values," Rais (right) told reporters at De Palma Hotel, Ampang."

Yesterday, the Parliament proceedings had turned chaotic when BN backbencher from Sri Gading, Mohamad Aziz, alleged that the 30-minute live telecast aired over TV1 did not show all that transpired in the House.

He alleged that RTM "censored" whenever the MPs were bickering or exchanging words and it should have instead gone on air like before when people could watch the whole proceedings until 10.30am.

This exchange started after DAP parliamentarian M Kulasegaran claimed that he received a text message saying that the live coverage had ended as soon as his fellow DAP MP for Bandar Kuching Chong Chieng Jen had stood up to debate, and cut to a live interview outside the House.

Defamation and the internet

The House continued to be in chaos after several opposition MPs forced deputy speaker Ronald Kiandee to eject the RTM crew from the House for "misleading the people".

Rais further said that the MPs should not have reacted an unbecoming manner and that the ministry will look into the matter to improve the coverage.

He said that it is impossible to fulfill every MP's wish.

malaysia parliament parlimen "(But) within our power, we will try to portray what is best," he said, however adding that such a mechanism will not be palatable to some parties.

"I will be discussing the matter with the technicians and we should be putting back things that ought to take care of the interests of most members," Rais said.

"For those who are too adverse, we should remind the MPs that the public deserves the better side of our action and interaction in House," he said.

On an unrelated matter, Rais said that anyone, including political leaders and their wives who have been portrayed negatively on the Internet, should take legal action if information about them appeared to be lies or false.

This needs to be done as the ministry does not have the locus standi to take action against the websites used by the perpetrators such as Facebook, Twitter or Youtube because they are based overseas.

However, he said that those whose reputations have been tarnished by disinformation or videos on the net should seek legal recourse and file a defamation suit.

"But under Section 23 (3) the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Communications (MCMC) we could take action against those who owned a pornographic website or spread lies on the Internet,"he said.

Videos depicting leaders in a bad light is not new in the country as there are several videos on the online video portal YouTube depicting Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's wife Rosmah Mansor.