Police marshals to accompany media covering rally

Media personnel covering the Saturday rally will be accompanied by 50 police marshals as part of new measures announced by Bukit Aman today.

According to Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) chief Abdul Hamid Mohd Ali, the upcoming opposition rally will serve as a trial for the new measures, which, should they prove practical, would be adopted as standard police operating procedure for rallies and disaster coverage in the future.

In a press briefing today, Abdul Hamid said the marshals on the ground will accompany media personnel to areas which are deemed safe to cover, and pull them out when things turn bad.

He said the media tag released by police would enable them to identify journalists better than the media accreditation tags issued by the Information, Communications and Culture Ministry.

However, for those who refuse to wear the tag and follow the marshals, Abdul Hamid said police will still recognise the media accreditation tag, as long as the media personnel do not interfere with police work.

"This (the new measures) is not to dictate and control you (media personnel). We just want to facilitate you," he said, adding that this was to also make the rally a more conducive place for the media to work.

"At the moment, this is the best arrangement we can think of.”

 “For the first time ever in Malaysian police history, we have created marshals from the police force to facilitate the media,” he said.
 
He said the marshals will direct the media to places best suited to the latter’s requirements, and at the same time ensure that police are able to carry out their duties.

Field media centre
 
He said the Tun HS Lee police station would be the field media centre, which would be equipped with facilities for the media to send stories.
 
“The passes we issued are for the purpose of identifying you (media), knowing you are in our group,” he said, adding that there is no hidden agenda at all but the best interests of journalists at heart.
 
He said if media personnel are not agreeable with the places they visit, they might advise against the marshal.
 
However, if there were incidents where police are going to take action or the participants might create some problems, the marshal might advise media personnel against going to certain places.
 
“The best is for you to be around here, with the technology. I would say you can zoom from here... I am sure your equipment is much better than that of the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM), our last purchase was in 1948,” he quipped.
 
He denied that the measures were to restrain the media from recording unpleasant incidents.

Avoid certain colours

As for the media who appeared elsewhere, he said the police can’t stop them, adding however that their safety was beyond the police’s control.
 
He advised media personnel against wearing the colours of the factions attending the event and carrying any weapons to prevent confusion.

“Just find one colour that does not match any of the participants’ colours, then you will be very safe,” he said.
 
When asked under what provision that PDRM was allowed to issue its own media tag, Abdul Hamid answered there is no such provision.
 
“This is not a legal requirement, this is sort of an arrangement between you and me,” he said.
 
When it was pointed out that there were media like Malaysiakini that refused to comply, he said, “If you do not want to be a party to the arrangement, it’s not an offence.”
 
“We wouldn’t kacau (interfere those media personnel without police media tag) as long as you don’t kacau us.
 
He further elaborated that the police will see the act of media staying in the line of fire and refusing to cooperate with police when directed to leave should the situation turn chaotic, as “interfering” with police work.

He said if the media came across excessive force being used, they can complain to senior officers on the ground and at the media centre.

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