Honeymoon's over, Zam warns media
Published: Jul 28, 2006 8:35 PM | Updated: Jan 29, 2008 6:21 PM
The government will no longer compromise with media organisations that stoke religious and racial sentiments, warned Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin today.
The government will no longer compromise with media organisations that stoke religious and racial sentiments, warned Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin today.
"The government means business in this issue," he said in a statement, which also touched on the role of newspapers in causing the May 13, 1969 racial riots.
Zainuddin said the media should not create, what he termed as "unnecessary contentious" issues in this peaceful country where the newspaper market is healthy and not threatened by the Sedition Act and Printing Presses and Publications Act.
He also explained that Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's call on the media to stop reporting on sensitive issues related to religion and race was not a gag order.
He said it was just a continuation of the government's policy which certain media organisations have been careless towards.
Two newspapers
Zainuddin also revealed that the government has identified two mainstream newspapers which have misused this freedom to the point that it has created a false impression among editors of other newspapers that the two have some special privilege.
"The government has never given special privileges or freedoms to any particular newspaper but has always acted fairly but if they (the newspapers) themselves feel that they have a special place, then it is their own impression," he said.
Although the minister did not disclose the names of the newspapers, industry sources claimed that Zainuddin was referring to the New Straits Times and the Sun.
Meanwhile, Zainuddin said the cabinet has been informed of certain newspapers that are inclined to focus on religious and racial topics, blow it up, and create unnecessary contentious issues.
Citing the recent controversy over the ethnic relations guidebook used by a local university, he said the reports were not based on facts and lopsided.
"Here, I must stress that if certain quarters assume that the prime minister has thus far been in a 'honeymoon period' on the policy of press freedom in Malaysia, that is their own assumption," he added.
The minister also revealed the government has collected evidence that what has been published by certain newspapers relating to questioning the status of Islam in Malaysia and the rights of the various races have angered the people.
"The government means business in this issue," he said in a statement, which also touched on the role of newspapers in causing the May 13, 1969 racial riots. Zainuddin said the media should not create, what he termed as "unnecessary contentious" issues in this peaceful country where the newspaper market is healthy and not threatened by the Sedition Act and Printing Presses and Publications Act.
He also explained that Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's call on the media to stop reporting on sensitive issues related to religion and race was not a gag order.
He said it was just a continuation of the government's policy which certain media organisations have been careless towards.
Two newspapers
Zainuddin also revealed that the government has identified two mainstream newspapers which have misused this freedom to the point that it has created a false impression among editors of other newspapers that the two have some special privilege.
"The government has never given special privileges or freedoms to any particular newspaper but has always acted fairly but if they (the newspapers) themselves feel that they have a special place, then it is their own impression," he said.
Although the minister did not disclose the names of the newspapers, industry sources claimed that Zainuddin was referring to the New Straits Times and the Sun.
Meanwhile, Zainuddin said the cabinet has been informed of certain newspapers that are inclined to focus on religious and racial topics, blow it up, and create unnecessary contentious issues.
Citing the recent controversy over the ethnic relations guidebook used by a local university, he said the reports were not based on facts and lopsided.
"Here, I must stress that if certain quarters assume that the prime minister has thus far been in a 'honeymoon period' on the policy of press freedom in Malaysia, that is their own assumption," he added.
The minister also revealed the government has collected evidence that what has been published by certain newspapers relating to questioning the status of Islam in Malaysia and the rights of the various races have angered the people.
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