CYBERJAYA, Aug 2 — Media organisations in Malaysia should work together to show the true picture of Islam to the public, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

As such, he said the Islamic channels of the organisations should compete in a healthy manner in exploring the huge market for Islamic content and in disseminating the message that Islam promotes peace and harmony, and not violence.  

"The methods of presentation, content and approach to the target groups should not be confined to Muslims, but also to non-Muslims, not for them to convert to Islam, but to see the true picture of Islam.  "We want Islam to be respected by its true meaning. At the same time, we should also respect other religions as they respect ours. This is the kind of harmony promoted by Islam,” he said at TV AlHijrah’s Aidilfitri do at AlHijrah Big Studio, here today. 

At the event, the deputy prime minister also visited an exclusive exhibition of over 20 artefacts of Prophet Muhammad and His Companions. 

Meanwhile, Ahmad Zahid challenged TV AlHijrah not to depend on government’s grants, but instead to generate their own income.  Citing the examples of Media Prima and Astro, he said TV AlHijrah was also capable of being self-reliant through the support and sponsorship from its advertisers according to target audience profile. 

For that, he said as the Chairman of the Special Cabinet Committee on the Halal Industry Management and Development, he would discuss with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak before the tabling of 2017 Budget, to have companies with halal certified products be given tax exemption when they advertised or sponsored a programme on TV AlHijrah. 

"It (TV AlHijrah) is only six years old and has been using a walking stick (grants) all this years. Now I want it to grow and run as a media organisation with larger audience,” he said. — Bernama