KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 8 —  De facto law minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said should take action against Berita Harian (BH) for publishing a purportedly misleading report on car prices, an MP has said.

Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua said that the Malay daily had reported that car prices had dropped 13.1 per cent as a result of government’s automotive policies, coupled with strengthening value of the ringgit.

Pua said the full-page reports also showed an infographic comparing prices for the various local, Japanese and European cars which had decreased significantly between 2.25 per cent to 20.77 per cent since 2013.

He said Malaysia’s popular specialist automotive blog paultan.org, in response, had pointed out that BH compared different variants for the same model and used inaccurate pricing information.

"For example, the BH article had compared the 2013 Perodua Alza’s 1.6 SE Manual model with the 2018 Standard model to show a 14.18 per cent reduction in price.

"For the Proton Exora, the newspaper had even used an inflated price for its 2013 comparison to further exaggerate the decrease. Instead of using the original price at 2013, it used the 2016 price, which came after price increase across the range.

"Worse, the report even included insurance for its ‘2013’ price whereas the current price stated does not include insurance,” he said in a statement.

Pua said if Azalina, the Minister tasked with tabling the anti-fake news Bill in the next parliamentary sitting, refused to take action against BH, it shows that the government is not sincere in ensuring the upcoming Bill will be used to root out fake news.