The health ministry today met editors-in-chief from newspapers o­n the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) outbreak.

This was the first of a series of briefings aimed at providing various "critical groups" with a "better picture" of the government's effort to combat the disease.

Recommendations accepted

Health Minister Chua Jui Meng said the two-hour briefing this morning was held after certain media had spread the notion that Malaysia was comparatively weaker than Singapore in handling Sars.

"The truth is far from this. We gave them explanations so that they can understand the reality, set the tone for newspapers and reflect the objective position (of what the government has been doing)," he said after the briefing.

"The meeting today was very good... It will pave the way for better understanding for some issues which are debated in the press."

Also present were Home Ministry secretary-general Aseh Che Mat and Health Ministry director-general Dr Mohd Taha Arif.

Chua said editors had asked questions regarding Sars and recommended ways to improve access to updates o­n the disease.

"There was the view that the cumulative number of suspected Sars cases was confusing. So from now o­n, we will talk about the number of probable Sars cases according to the World Health Organisation's guideline, people in isolation wards, and number of families quarantined at home," Chua said.

The minister said his ministry also adopted another recommendation to extend its daily press briefing to include weekends as well.

'Misleading reports'

Chua and Mohd Taha are scheduled to brief members of Parliament tomorrow afternoon, followed by another session for foreign diplomats o­n Friday.

"These briefings show transparency in the government. Equally important is transparency o­n the part of the media. They cannot ask the government to be transparent when they themselves are not," Chua said.

"Don't write and mislead and o­nly then ask the questions. It's too late, you have already created doubt in the minds of the community... What we want is objective, responsible and balanced reporting."

He noted that certain reports in the vernacular newspapers had caused great concern among foreigners in the country.

"Many embassies called the national operations centre to express their concern and we have had to correct any wrong or false information that has been advertently and inadvertently given by certain press," he said.

He said the Cabinet decided that the media should not report speculation because "speculation gives rise to rumours, and rumours give rise to panic".

When asked for examples of wrong information, the minister replied, " Siapa yang gatal, dia yang garu." (He who feels an itch will scratch it)

However, he said the newspapers have generally been "very co-operative" except a few which will "know exactly the position they are at".

"What is past is past... Let's see how we can tackle the problem from now o­n in an objective and responsible manner," he said.

Over the past week, several newspapers, especially the Chinese-language dailies, have criticised the health ministry for being ineffective in handling the Sars outbreak.