Only a "fool and an idiot" would believe that there is a demand for absolute press freedom in Malaysia, said DAP national chairperson Lim Kit Siang ( photo ) today.

He was responding to New Straits Times Press Group editor-in-chief Abdullah Ahmad's remark yesterday that absolute media freedom does not exist anywhere in the world.

'Drop mantra'

Abdullah reportedly said that "only a naive and ignorant person or a fool and an idiot would believe that such freedom exists and that such freedom exists in the US and Britain".

He also said press freedom existed in Malaysia, though governed by laws, and this was why there has been wide coverage o­n ecological issues.

However, Lim described Abdullah's statement as "shocking and outrageous".

"He should have explained what the New Straits Times Press Group has done to campaign for the removal from the statute books the repressive laws inhibiting the emergence of a free, independent and responsible press," he said in a statement.

The DAP leader said government ministers and media censorship apologists should drop the "mantra and red herring" that there is no absolute media freedom to justify media censorship and other unfair practices.

"No o­ne is asking for absolute press freedom o­nly for a free, independent and responsible press," he said.

"Only a fool and an idiot would believe that there is anyone in Malaysia demanding absolute media freedom."

Malaysian malaise

Lim said such an argument was also trotted out to justify Malaysia's low ranking for press freedom in the world.

"(This kind of argument) is o­ne of the root causes for the 'First World infrastructure, Third World mentality' malaise as brilliantly diagnosed by (Deputy Prime Minister) Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in his first major speech as acting prime minister in early March," he said.

Lim urged government ministers, media barons and practitioners to stop wasting their time o­n meaningless mantras and instead focus o­n more important issues.

"They should address the genuine issues as to why Malaysia cannot have a free, independent and responsible press and why Malaysia should be blind to international criticism," he said.

Lim said it was shocking that Malaysia was ranked 110 out of 139 countries o­n the Reporters Without Borders' worldwide index of press freedom, released last October.

"What is even more shocking is that Malaysia has a lower rating when compared to a score of countries whose per capita Gross National Product is less than 10 percent of ours, such as Laos, Eritrea, Mozambique, Burundi, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania and others," he said.

He warned that Malaysia's ranking was likely to worsen this year, following the police raid o­n malaysiakini in January.

'Give immunity'

On a related matter, Lim questioned if the government would allow the 40 journalists who made up the Joint Media Team Malaysia to report freely and fairly here as they did in Iraq recently.

"Will the journalists do in Malaysia what they did in Iraq, to report about this country freely whether they like or dislike the Barisan Nasional?" he asked.

"What is more important than shopping for another country to (which to) send the JMTM is to allow (journalists) to report freely o­n developments in the country, so that Malaysians do not have to depend o­n foreign media or the Internet for information o­n what is happening here."

He urged Second Finance Minister Jamaludin Jarjis (photo ) to propose during the cabinet meeting tomorrow to grant a press freedom charter to the 40 journalists to allow them to freely report o­n Malaysian news and views with immunity from reprisal in all forms.

Jamaludin had yesterday praised the JMTM members for their work and said the ad hoc delegation should be made a permanent feature.