MCA blames Guan Eng for fall in freedom ranking
Published: May 6, 2014 12:16 AM | Updated: May 6, 2014 2:26 AM
MCA has accused Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng of contributing to the fall of the country's Press Freedom Index.
MCA has accused Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng of contributing to the fall of the country's Press Freedom Index.
"Lim is known for his action in stopping reporters from reporting the (Penang) state assembly sitting, state government affairs and getting his assistant to ask the media to change news headlines.
"Malaysia's press freedom ranked 147th among 180 countries and Lim's oppression against the media is part of the major factor which contributed to the low ranking in press freedom," said MCA vice-president Chew Mei Fun in a statement.
She was responding to Lim, who last Sunday said press freedom was threatened not only by authoritarian regime, but also by media which abuses power and do not give the right of reply on their reports.
According to Chew, Lim had failed to "walk the talk" on press freedom.
"If he is serious and determined in defending press freedom, he should walk the talk and also apologise to the media practitioners whom he had bullied," she said.
She said that Lim had done so by among others, barring the New Straits Times from covering state government press conferences in 2012, threatening media with lawsuits and visiting Kwong Wah Yit Poh's office over a reader's letter.
“Other examples of Lim interfering in press freedom includes: Lim threatened a columnist from Sin Chew Daily that he would look for him in his office for a debate after a series of ‘commentary battles’ in the newspaper,” she said.
'No choice but to go to court'
In an immediate rebuttal, Lim's political secretary Wong Hon Wai accused certain media of abusing its power to favour the ruling coalition.
"To face such lies, we can only rely on the judicial system," he said in reference to a series of lawsuits which Lim had won against Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia and Umno-linked New Straits Times.
In a separate statement, he added that although the chief minister prefers that certain media do not to cover state functions, they are not banned and still have free access to such events.
Wong also blamed the restrictive press laws imposed by BN, which forced certain media to bow to the ruling coalition's will.
"Lim is known for his action in stopping reporters from reporting the (Penang) state assembly sitting, state government affairs and getting his assistant to ask the media to change news headlines.
"Malaysia's press freedom ranked 147th among 180 countries and Lim's oppression against the media is part of the major factor which contributed to the low ranking in press freedom," said MCA vice-president Chew Mei Fun in a statement.
She was responding to Lim, who last Sunday said press freedom was threatened not only by authoritarian regime, but also by media which abuses power and do not give the right of reply on their reports.According to Chew, Lim had failed to "walk the talk" on press freedom.
"If he is serious and determined in defending press freedom, he should walk the talk and also apologise to the media practitioners whom he had bullied," she said.
She said that Lim had done so by among others, barring the New Straits Times from covering state government press conferences in 2012, threatening media with lawsuits and visiting Kwong Wah Yit Poh's office over a reader's letter.
“Other examples of Lim interfering in press freedom includes: Lim threatened a columnist from Sin Chew Daily that he would look for him in his office for a debate after a series of ‘commentary battles’ in the newspaper,” she said.
'No choice but to go to court'
In an immediate rebuttal, Lim's political secretary Wong Hon Wai accused certain media of abusing its power to favour the ruling coalition.
"To face such lies, we can only rely on the judicial system," he said in reference to a series of lawsuits which Lim had won against Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia and Umno-linked New Straits Times.In a separate statement, he added that although the chief minister prefers that certain media do not to cover state functions, they are not banned and still have free access to such events.
Wong also blamed the restrictive press laws imposed by BN, which forced certain media to bow to the ruling coalition's will.
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