The Malaysian media freedom committee of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) has urged Dewan Rakyat speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia to reverse his decision to ban media from the Parliament hallway, in a move that will further limit media access.

The committee said the Parliament House has thus far been fair in allowing access for all, in contrast to other official communications channels in Malaysia, including official press conferences, where media access is stringently controlled.

"(But) the ban that came into force on March 21 has placed a black mark on this record," said the group in a statement today.

"We stand in solidarity with the Malaysian media in their attempts to perform their duties and to keep government and elected representatives accountable,"

Pandikar was reported as saying that the March 21 ban has been imposed because reporters were harassing MPs with questions whenever the latter left the chambers.

He also reportedly took issue with journalists camping outside of the parliament chambers in order to doorstop MPs, and said no other parliament in the world allows journalists to do so.

The speaker also said he would withdraw access to Parliament for those who breach the ban.

"The media freedom committee views with concern his threat to withdraw access to media, and calls into question his rationale to ban reporters from directly accessing MPs," said the group.

"The committee is also concerned by reports of an offer by the prime minister’s press secretary, Tengku Sariffudin Tengku Ahmad, and deputy prime minister’s press secretary, Ibrahim Yahya, in an impromptu meeting with journalists on March 23.

"The pair, who represent members of the executive, were reportedly negotiating with journalists to accept a 'media liaison officer' through whom contact between journalists and MPs would be mediated," said the committee.

This calls into question the principle of separation of powers between Parliament and the executive, jeopardising democracy in Malaysia, they said.

Dodging scrutiny?

The proposal to introduce a “media liaison officer” would introduce yet another “gatekeeper” to control freedom of the press, allowing elected officials to avoid direct public scrutiny, added the WAN-IFRA committee.

"MPs and ministers serve the public and should be held to account, including through media questions - whether or not they enjoy it.

“It is worth noting that nothing in the (parliamentary) standing orders dictates that ministers or MPs cannot give statements to the media outside of parliamentary chambers.

"Restricting media access to only the media gallery, instead of directly meeting MPs, curtails reporters' ability to accurately report news in a timely and responsible manner," they said.

The WAN-IFRA committee said it "strongly urges the speaker to reverse his stand as the ban impinges on democracy - which Parliament House represents - placing further barriers between representatives and the public they were elected to serve."