Media council elects 12 board members at inaugural meeting

The members of the Malaysian Media Council have elected 12 of its board members during its inaugural annual general meeting in Kuala Lumpur today.

The members comprise four members for each category - stipulated under Section 7(1) of the Malaysian Media Council Act 2024, and will each serve a two-year term in office.

The council’s former interim chairperson and Malaysiakini director Premesh Chandran was elected under the category for media companies, alongside Media Prima’s Farrah Naz Abd Karim, Star Media Group’s Esther Ng, and Borneo Post and Utusan Borneo’s Phyllis Wong.

Six candidates contested under the category.

Fauzi Ishak, Mariah Airens Doksil, Ishak Abdillah Ngah, and Adie Suri Zulkefli were voted in under the category for journalists and media associations, from a pool of 19 candidates.

Meanwhile, Content Forum chief executive officer Mediha Mahmood, Centre for Independent Journalism programme officer Cynthia Lorraine Silva, Wiki Impact co-founder Terence Ooi, and academic Zaharom Nain were voted in from a pool of 14 candidates comprising non-media personnel.

Electoral watchdog, Bersih acted as an observer for the election.

Self-regulation

The council was established to facilitate the self-regulation of the media industry, after decades of lobbying from civil society groups replace the repressive laws used to control the media.

Its functions include establishing standards and a code of conduct for all media practitioners, and regulating their ethics and professional conduct.

It can also recommend reforms to media-related laws and set up a grievance mechanism for complaints against members of the council.

Under the Malaysian Media Council Act, the council’s board will comprise 21 people, but only 12 of those positions are elected positions.

Another six members will be appointed by the elected members, while the communications minister will appoint two members to represent the government on the board.

The board will also appoint one person to join the board as chairperson.

Historic milestone

Deputy Communications Minister Teo Nie Ching reportedly hailed the meeting as a historic milestone in the efforts to strengthen Malaysia’s media institutions, and expressed pride in the composition of the board members.

“I see not only journalists from Johor but also from Sarawak and Sabah. As a woman leader, I am very proud because among those elected, 50 percent are women.

“This shows firstly, the strength of women in this media industry, and secondly, that our colleagues in the industry are progressive and have no issue providing equal opportunities to both genders,” Bernama quoted Teo as saying.

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