Opposition parties will not be allowed to air their views on the state owned RTM television and radio stations because the country is not developed yet, said Information Ministry Parliamentary Secretary Zainuddin Maidin today.

He explained that issues related to race and religion are not raised during elections in developed countries

"Developed countries do not have the racial and religious composition that we have in Malaysia," he said in parliament during the question-and-answer session.

The senator was replying to a question from Mohd Nasir Che Daud (PAS-Kuala Krai) who asked whether the ministry intends to allow parties other than those from Barisan Nasional to air their messages on state-owned television and radio stations as practised in developed countries.

'Traitor's messages

Instead, Zainuddin said opposition parties can propagate their views through the commercial media, whether in print or the Internet.

"In fact they have been abusing the media to relay messages and writings by the former traitor of this land ( bekas penderhaka tanahair )," he added.

Although he did not name the 'traitor' — and most likely Zam was referring to jailed deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim — the remark elicited murmurs of disapproval from opposition MPs.

Following this, Mohd Nasir expressed shock over the senator's claim that Malaysia was not a developed nation.

"May be it is your mentality that is not developed. Many others have called us a developed nation, now that we have the multimedia super corridor and all," he said.

"Can you tell us when we will be developed so that the opposition can be accorded what it should be accorded?" added the PAS MP.

In reply, Zainuddin said "the definition of a developed country is not for us to determine". The title, he added, was conferred by international institutions like the World Bank.

"We are still a developing country. We will only be developed when orang kampung (villagers) do not buy the issues of race and religion raised by the opposition.

"We are only developed when their intellect is not influenced by the swears and curses of the opposition," he added in an obvious reference to the recent controversial remarks made by PAS leaders.

Gerhana documentary

Lending support to Zainuddin was Mohamed Aziz (BN-Sri Gading), who said the opposition should not be given air time on the state-owned stations because they had "incited" others not to listen to the mainstream media.

The MP said the station should instead air shows that will enhance the people's knowledge such as the documentary called Gerhana or eclipse.

The documentary aimed to highlight the poverty among the people in the PAS-controlled state of Kelantan.

Zainuddin agreed that more documentaries like Gerhana should be showcased.

He said that personally he would like to give the opposition an opportunity to appear on TV but added that the slot should not be used to malign each other.

The senator added however that the opposition will be provided with the opportunity at the next general election, as practised in the last election.