The government should not waste taxpayers’ money by threatening to silence the media for exposing allegations of misconduct, and corruption, a loose coalition of journalists said today.

"The said cat is already out of the proverbial bag and it is no use to try to silence the tale by killing the storyteller, so to speak.

"Rather than waste energy to shoot the messenger, the government should look to its greater responsibility and accountability to the public, investigate the said allegations and punish perpetrators," Geramm said in a statement today.

It was responding to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, who claimed the media had twisted Mara chairperson Annuar Musa's ( photo ) statement that Najib had approved a dubious Australian real estate deal.

Geramm was also responding to Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi's threat to extradite media practitioners to Thailand, to facilitate investigations into allegedly tampered leaked information from 1MDB linked firm, PetroSaudi International.

Geramm said while protecting commercial data and business transactions are important, the government should not get in the way of exposing corruption.

"When the wider issue of public interest is at hand and if corruption and improprieties are involved, it is contingent upon the media to unearth such issues.

"It is important to note that in a democracy, the media, and as reminded by the Crown Prince of Johor, the government too, ultimately serve the public interest, not the ego, vanity and political or self-preservation agenda of politicians," Geramm added.

It warned that a dragnet on the media would only damage Malaysia's international reputation, and betray the people's trust.