Deputy Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin threw a early damper o­n World Press Freedom Day celebrations tomorrow by pointing out that media freedom issues have become irrelevant after their Western proponents allegedly abandoned these values in the Iraq war coverage.

Zainuddin, invited to deliver the keynote address at a forum o­n media council issues organised by the NUJ, said World Press Freedom Day instead marks the end of media freedom at the hands of its strongest supporters, particularly the British and Americans.

"I am a cynic of press freedom values. The death of press freedom (has been) at the hands of the people who promote it. CNN and BBC have violated press freedom values which they promote," he said at the forum in Petaling Jaya today.

Guided press freedom

The deputy minister opined that the experiences of neighbouring countries have shown that media freedom is impractical in reality.

"In Indonesia, after Suharto, they said they will uphold principles of press freedom. But do you believe in this rhetoric? Do you believe that a country whose people can be bribed by a packet of food to demonstrate in the streets can (practise press freedom responsibly)?" he questioned.

Zainuddin, a proponent of Asian values concept, was equally scathing of Southeast Asian journalists who had called for governments in the region to abide by universal human rights values.

"We (Malaysians) have to establish our own press freedom concepts and values. It has been proven that we have the ability to be stable, to suppress extremism through guided press freedom," he said.

In addition, Zainuddin was resentful of journalists from other Southeast Asian countries who had spoken o­n media freedom and human rights issues in Malaysia.

"The Indonesians and Filipinos don't even have enough to fill their stomachs. Who are they to lecture us o­n press freedom? We are more qualified because we have full stomachs," he asserted.

Suhakam's role

On the proposed media council, Zainuddin assured journalists that the council will not be imposed o­n journalists should there be opposition to the idea.

"That's the government's guarantee. The government does not want to restrict the press so we will consider the views of all agencies," he said.

The deputy minister revealed that the Attorney-General's Chambers has suggested for media agencies to thoroughly study the proposed Media Council Act and Code of Conduct for Journalists before they are implemented so as to avoid any adverse implications o­n the government.

"The AG's Chambers has also said the media council appeared to be just another Suhakam except that it is concerned o­nly with freedom of expression issues. It might be a duplication of Suhakam's work since human rights also includes freedom of expression," he said, explaining another suggestion by the public prosecutor's office.

"So is it still necessary to set up a separate council or can Suhakam's responsibilities be increased to include regulation of the conduct of the media?"

Coloured news

At a press conference later, Zainuddin reiterated that the government does not intend to further restrict the press via the media council.

"From the beginning, the government has never proposed setting up a media council. The draft was not done by the government but by the Malaysian Press Institute (MPI) which comprises representatives from all newspapers and academicians. The draft is in the hands of the MPI and they will give us their responses," he said.

However, asked about the need for journalists to have access to information, Zainuddin refused to comment, saying o­nly that the issue was "very detailed".

On the progress of the Joint Media Team Malaysia (JMTM) in their reporting from the Middle East, Zainuddin said the first batch of journalists will be returning o­n May 5.

"The government is happy with what they have done although there were problems in the beginning because the equipment the journalists had were unsuitable," he said.

Zainuddin said the mission achieved its primary objective at providing Malaysians with news not "coloured" with Western interests and to expose local correspondents to war coverage.

Following this venture, the deputy minister said the government is considering how it could increase the presence of Malaysian journalists abroad so as to reduce reliance o­n foreign press agencies for international news.

"Before, all the newspapers had representatives abroad in the United Kingdom (but not Asian countries)."

He illustrated with the example of China where the absence of Malaysian correspondents in the country had left Malaysians reliant o­n reports by foreign journalists.

These journalists, he claimed, had o­nly presented the view that China was a danger to Southeast Asian countries as opposed to encouraging unity and cooperation.

Zainuddin said o­ne way would be for Chinese language newspapers to place correspondents in China and for the news to be translated and shared with other publications.