The government should make public its draft proposal for Internet censorship to allow for public discussion before making it into a law, said an opposition leader today.

DAP national chairperson Lim Kit Siang said the government should not present the country and Parliament with a fait accompli by virtually laying down a new law on Internet censorship before allowing for discussion and debate.

"This will be a clear violation of the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) Bill of Guarantee of no Internet censorship which Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had promised the world," said Lim, in a press statement.

"The government is in real political trouble, unable to win back public confidence and political legitimacy and it is prepared to go to such extremes as to throw overboard its MSC Bill of Guarantee," he added.

The Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Dr Rais Yatim had said over the weekend that the Attorney-General's Office was in the final stage of drafting laws to make website operators and writers accountable under the Printing Presses and Publication Act.

Press freedom

Lim said "dark clouds are gathering" for press freedom in the country as final discussions for the acquisition of Nanyang Press Holdings Bhd - publisher of two Chinese dailies, the Nanyang Siang Pau and the China Press - by the MCA-controlled Star Publications Bhd or was underway.

"One of the factors undermining a free, independent and responsible press is the political ownership of the media in the country, which has already become too rampant in all the different language media," he said.

"Advocates of a independent press should work for the dilution and dismantling of political ownership of the media in the country and not to see a further concentration of political ownership of the mass media," he added.

This would be the case, Lim said, if the MCA directly or indirectly acquires ownership of the two Chinese national dailies.

Lim called on the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) and all working journalists to take a strong stand against further concentration of media ownership and control by political parties to protect the professionalism, independence and credibility of journalists.

Direct influence

The veteran opposition leader also said added there should be full publicity, accountability and transparency of MCA's attempt to acquire ownership control of Nanyang .

This is necessary, he said, as the public interest for a responsible press is put at stake when there is a further concentration of political ownership of the two Chinese national newspapers.

The Edge reported yesterday that the purchase of Nanyang would ultimately give MCA control of two mass circulation Chinese dailies.

The business weekly said a takeover of Nanyang by the Star would also find favour with the government for another reason.

"The observers point that presently the government does not have any direct influence in any of the Chinese newspapers, which are generally owned by independent business groups, unlike the English and Bahasa Malaysia dailies, which are seen as linked to the government," said the weekly.