KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 1 — Student groups urged today RTM’s management to remove all restrictions on the Mandarin news desk that were purportedly implemented as punishment for using an unflattering picture of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
University of Malaya Association of New Youth (UMANY) and New Era Students Union and Student Progressive Front UUM (SPFUUM) said the government-owned broadcaster was suppressing press freedom, stressing that the media should be free from government influence.
“[We] strongly oppose the action of the authority, which trampled on press freedom and abused media’s neutrality,” the groups said in a joint statement.
The student groups also cried foul over the purported replacement of Chinese headlines with Malay ones in RTM’s Mandarin news programme.
“... the use of mother tongue is fully protected by our constitution and all RTM’s instructions have clearly shown that RTM disregarded the constitution and disrespected the use of mother tongue of other ethnic [groups],” they said.
News portal Malaysiakini reported today that RTM’s Mandarin news bulletins have largely resumed back to normal, with the visuals and Chinese captions and headlines returning in the news programme at noon.
The setup of the news programme, however, has reportedly been revamped, with the news anchor now in the centre frame and the removal of slides of the news being read from the background.
Yesterday, Oriental Daily reported MCA deputy president Datuk Wee Ka Siong as saying that Communications and Multimedia Minister Salleh Said Keruak has issued the necessary instructions to the Mandarin news programme to be restored as before.
On Tuesday, RTM’s Mandarin news programme aired an unflattering photograph of Najib during its 8pm broadcast, reportedly by mistake.
The image, which was produced by Malaysiakini, showed Najib looking down solemnly, with a collage of other photographs related to 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) in the background, including a picture of Penang-born billionaire Jho Low.
