Pemantau, the election observation arm of Bersih, has recommended that media outlets publicly declare their ownership as part of electoral reforms.

“(We recommend) making information on ownership and funding of media outlets publicly available, in particular funding from political parties or politically-linked individuals,” said Bersih executive director Yap Swee Seng.

He was speaking at the launch of Pemantau’s election observation report of the 14th general election (GE14) in Kuala Lumpur today. The report was co-authored by Pusat Komas and Suaram.

The report covered existing pre-election conditions, incidents throughout the campaigning period and on polling day itself as well as some recommendations to reform the election system.

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The report of the people’s tribunal on Malaysia’s 13th general election (GE13) found that in 2013, mainstream print and electronic media were clearly biased against opposition parties.

“Ownership of the media by political parties remained a factor in GE14,” the report said, pointing specifically to The Star and Utusan Malaysia, who remained in the control of BN component parties, MCA and Umno respectively.

“Government television and radio stations also remained under the tight control of the Home Ministry and gave overwhelmingly positive coverage to the ruling coalition between 2013 and 2018,” the report read.

Bersih also suggested for the licenses for broadcast and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to be allocated by an independent commission.

Licensing for print media should also be abolished to remove government controls on the media and prevent interference in political coverage, they said.