PARLIAMENT Malaysia's strict regulations for newspaper permits might not be the cause for the country's poor performance in the global press freedom ranking, the government says.

Communications and Multimedia Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek said countries like Indonesia and the Philippines have no such laws but their performance on the index is "nothing to be proud of".

"After the Marcos and Suharto regimes, they do not have permits. But still, the Philippines ranked 149 and Indonesia 132," he said while winding up the Budget 2015 debates for his ministry.

Malaysia currently sits at 147 in the ranking.

Shabery also said that the opposition must take as much blame as the government for Malaysia's press freedom state instead of finding faults with the government alone.

"In Penang, an Utusan reporter was barred from covering the state assembly for example. There are many such instances. Words like you ulang, I saman doesn't help increase our press freedom either," he said.

"The opposition must also be proactive, because they are always talking about press freedom," he added.

Meanwhile, Shabery also said that press freedom rankings cannot be related to foreign direct investment (FDI).

"Timor Leste for example has better press freedom but they still don't attract investments. There are always other factors," he said.