The proposed media council should seriously consider whether to include party organs under its purview as the reality is that a few of these publications have a wide reach, PAS' Harakah in particular, and therefore cannot be ignored.

Harakah currently has a circulation of almost 300,000 copies per fortnightly edition, providing stiff competition to the daily newspapers.

It was successfully published twice a week before being slashed down to twice a month by the Home Affairs Ministry under the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 (PPPA).

Earlier this week, Malaysian Press Institute (MPI) chairperson Mazlan Nordin indicated that the poser will be discussed among editors and journalists in a month's time.

Party organ in the dark

Harakah editor Zulkifli Sulong, when contacted, said no one from MPI had approached his office on the proposal.

"We have never been asked for any views on the setting up of this council. The only thing I remember is filling up a questionnaire a few years ago asking for my opinion about having such a council, its composition, and its powers and functions," he said.

"But I'm not sure what the draft proposal contains now and what to expect from this initiative."

Making his case to be consulted on it, Zulkifli said: "We are well-established with our own organisational hierarchy. We've been around for a long time. We have loyal readers and a staff of 60, which is more than those of other party organs like Suara PRM, Berita Keadilan and Rocket ."

As it stands now, the proposal will bind all Malaysian journalists in the print, broadcast and online media, as well as domestic news agencies, under a new and detailed code of professional conduct as and when a media council is established under a new law.

Agendadaily.com editor-in-chief Rosli Ismail, who has 20 years experience, 15 of them with Utusan Malaysia , said the idea was good as long as it can display fairness and justice in addressing complaints from both the public and the media.

Self-censorship is the issue

"Furthermore, press freedom is not really an issue. It is more of self-censorship among editors, journalists and the news organisations' political owners," Zulkifli said.

Expressing caution over the scope of the council, Rosli said: "When it comes to complaints, it is very subjective because sometimes the sources can also play dirty games with us by manipulating our access to information or the information itself."

He said the proposal is okay as long as it does not restrict media practitioners from publishing what "we feel is reasonable".

The Star deputy managing editor Chua Yew Kay said the proposed media council will only work when based on mutual understanding and agreement between media organisations.

Responding to a question on the council's lack of enforcement powers, he said: "Other media councils in the world also do not have enforcement powers, but whatever it is, the binding authority will come from this consensus."

Non-controversial code of conduct

On the kind of impact expected, Chua, who has been in journalism for 30 years, said the proposal was still in a draft form and therefore it would be difficult for him to gauge the immediate effect on the industry practice.

"As long as the members are comfortable with the notion of self-regulation, it should be okay."

Chua, who is a member of the working committee which drafted the proposal, also said that the code of conduct was quite standard as it was based on similar initiatives the world over, and contained nothing controversial or new.

On whether a clause specifically calling for the repeal of the PPPA or other restrictive laws should be added in the proposal, he said: "It is not our place to insert the clause in draft itself but maybe we can consider including it in a side note.

"All I want is for the council to be effective, for it to be able to raise the standards of journalism and to make all parties happy," he added.

Meanwhile, editors of Nanyang Siang Pau/China Press declined to comment on the draft.

Repeated attempts to reach editors of other news organisations also proved futile as a few were accompanying Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's entourage overseas while others were either too busy or simply ignorant of the media council proposal.