The Election Commission wants political parties or candidates to desist from making negative commentaries or belittle any of their opponents through the electronic media in the coming general election.

The commission also wants to prohibit all political parties from using the electronic media to promote their own candidates during election campaign periods.

These are some of the recommendations made by the EC in an 18-page code of ethics document which is being circulated for feedback to political parties.

The commission will be finalising its code after a discussion session with all political parties on Wednesday. It has invited two representatives from all parties to give feedback on the proposed code of ethics.

In the ethics code, in the section on use of public media, the commission proposed that no campaign materials by any political party be allowed to be broadcast on radio or television.

"All license holders under the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 are reminded to avoid using networks which it owns or are given to it in any acts which are considered offences under any law," said the document.

The EC's proposals have come as response to the regular complaints made by opposition parties regarding their lack of access to air time, both on radio and television.

PAS, in particular, has been unhappy over clips that have been continuously shown on RTM and TV3 channels in the lead up to recent by-elections which associated the party with Islamic extremism.

In a recent interview with malaysiakini , EC chairperson Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman said he had asked the information minister (Khalil Yaakob) to allow air time for opposition parties to talk about their economic, education, social or religious policies.

However, he said his powers were limited to making suggestions to the minister with regards to public channels while he had no authority over private stations.

Allow political debate

Meanwhile, in the section on political rallies, the commission proposed for all electoral candidates and their agents to be permitted to speak on issues relating to the nation's administrative affairs, particularly government policies.

"(The debate) on polices such as education, health, employment, housing, forestry, defence, land, economy, tax and others would give and reveal information which could be beneficial to the people and the country.

"Rallies or ceramah (lectures) can touch on political opinions and campaigns," the code noted, adding that permissible materials should include tapes, compact discs and others.

The commission said all candidates should also be allowed to organise open public assemblies or deliver any speeches or lectures to the public as long as he or she secures a permit or permission from police offices responsible for the area.

Stop trading insults

On campaign materials, the commission said all parties and candidates must abide by existing laws regulating display of political materials.

"Campaign items cannot include any logo, symbol or words which may be slanderous or libellous, personal insults which could ruin another's reputation or contain coarse and insulting language to one's background, race or religion."

The code also noted that all participants would be prohibited from destroying or defacing their opponents' materials.