KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 1 — Malaysia still needs the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA) 1984 to keep the media in line and to avoid stirring racial strife, a veteran journalist has claimed.
Datuk Ahmad Rejal Arbee, recently named the 2014 National Journalism laureate, insisted that the Act was not archaic despite sustained calls for it to be repealed.
The former group editor for Malay daily Berita Harian argued that journalists cannot be given absolute media freedom due to prevailing racial sensitivities, and that the PPPA is the best mechanism to regulate the press industry.
“No, you see in certain aspects, there is a necessity for some rules and regulations and there is no such thing as absolute freedom. Everything that we do in life as humans, we are subject to rules and regulations... same thing in the press,” Ahmad Rejal told Malay Mail Online in a recent interview.
“You can't have free press in such a way that anything goes,” he added.
Ahmad Rejal dismissed complaints by the media industry of having their freedom stifled — especially after the suspension of two news publications under the Act in recent years — saying that they are still able to perform their duties within the ambit of the law.
The retired newsman claimed that there have been media outlets that have been irresponsible by running racially-tinged articles, which he said justified the continued use of the PPPA.
“Yes some are irresponsible, but there are those who are also quite responsible... but what I'm saying is that there are some very irresponsible people who sometimes question even till they affect race relations.
“I mean you know our country is made up of various races and the races are quite sensitive about their own stature. Once you start questioning sensitivities then there will be all sorts of problems,” he said.
In July this year, Putrajaya ordered the suspension of two publications under The Edge Media Group over their reporting of debt-laden state-owned firm 1 Malaysia Development Berhad.
The courts, however, overturned the suspension order on grounds that the home ministry had acted irrationally and illegally.
In 2013, the federal government also ordered the suspension of news weekly The Heat in 2013, ostensibly over its front page story claiming excessive spending by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, though it later announced in January this year that the suspension had been lifted.
Putrajaya amended the PPPA last year, removing a requirement for print media organisations to apply for printing permits annually. The law, however, still gives the home minister the power to suspend a publication.
