'Don't hide behind licence, counter Al Jazeera through facts' - Kluang MP tells PN
The Perikatan Nasional (PN) government should not question Al Jazeera on the basis of its National Film Development Corporation (Finas) licence but instead address the alleged mistreatment of migrants in Malaysia, said Wong Shu Qi.
"Last week, after being heavily criticised by all parties, the Minister of Communications and Multimedia (Saifuddin Abdullah) had said the government will not use Section 22 (1) of the Finas Act against social media users for now," said the Kluang MP in the Dewan Rakyat today.
In fact, Wong (above) said, the cabinet promised to...
The Perikatan Nasional (PN) government should not question Al Jazeera on the basis of its National Film Development Corporation (Finas) licence but instead address the alleged mistreatment of migrants in Malaysia, said Wong Shu Qi.
"Last week, after being heavily criticised by all parties, the Minister of Communications and Multimedia (Saifuddin Abdullah) had said the government will not use Section 22 (1) of the Finas Act against social media users for now," said the Kluang MP in the Dewan Rakyat today.
In fact, Wong (above) said, the cabinet promised to amend the Act, which was admittedly outdated.
Because of that, she added, the government should not still be using the Finas Act against the international media company for its documentary on migrants in Malaysia called "Locked Up in Malaysia's Lockdown".
"I understand many are dissatisfied with the news published by Al Jazeera. Based on these sentiments, the PN government has used laws that have been recognized as outdated by the government itself to take action against Al Jazeera.
"If the Al Jazeera report is slanderous, then the government can use the Penal Code against the media company," said Wong.
She called for the content of the documentary to be judged rather than suppressed on the grounds of not having been licensed.
"We must have the courage to show the world that Malaysia is not what Al Jazeera claims. Or does the government not dare to expose slander with facts?" she asked.
At this point, Sepang MP Mohamed Hanipa Maidin (below) raised the issue of ministers in the PN government declining to respond to Al Jazeera requests for comments to be featured in the documentary.
The media company claimed to have sought the responses of Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, Home Minister Hamzah Zainuddin, and their deputies, prior to airing the report.
However, their requests were allegedly not entertained.
Police have opened investigation papers under Section 500 of the Penal Code and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 over the documentary.
Wong also called on the government to stop the application of the Finas Act 1981, in particular Section 22 (1), on materials other than those narrowly provided for in law specifically for the film industry.
"The cabinet should also immediately hold discussions with all stakeholders, to draft a new bill to amend the Finas Act 1981 taking into account the current context and needs," she added.
She said that the PN government needs to be committed to the principle of media freedom that was upheld by the previous government.
"I must remind all of us that Malaysia's position in the World Press Freedom Index increased from 145 among 180 countries to 101 under the Pakatan Harapan administration.
"For the first time, Malaysia became the champion of media freedom in Southeast Asia. If the PN administration continues to curb the media and hinder the work of journalists as it does now, I am worried that Malaysia's position will plummet to the lows of the BN era."
Wong accused the PN administration of launching a relentless assault on media practitioners and democracy activists, saying that within three months of the new government being formed, a journalist was questioned by the police solely for doing their job and a news company was being prosecuted.
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