The Prime Minister’s Office’s appointment of veteran journalist A Kadir Jasin as the media and communications adviser last month is to help the newly-minted Pakatan Harapan government to honour its pledge to unshackle the press. 

It is learnt that one of the key tasks for Kadir, who was group editor of the New Straits Times, is to ensure that the media will have “the freedom to act as a check and balance against the government”.

Other tasks are believed to include the setting up of a media council as well as helping the effort to heighten press freedom and professionalism in government-owned media such as Bernama and RTM.

The aim of the media council is to allow the media to self-regulate without government interference.

The proposal, which was mooted a number of times over the past decades, did not materialise as the previous government had refused to do away with laws restricting the media.

Among the functions of the media council are to ensure that the press abides by a formal code of ethics and to receive public complaints on media content.

Kadir will have to hit the ground running as his appointment is for one year. A member of Bersatu’s supreme council, he is widely believed to enjoy close ties with Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

In the early days of the Harapan administration, Kadir served as the spokesperson for the Council of Eminent Persons which was formed on May 12 – three days after the coalition won the general election.

However, he resigned less than a month later, after complaints were raised over his blog post which touched on the monarchy.

Kadir said that he stepped down to avoid causing embarrassment and confusion, as many had linked his personal views with the council.