KUALA LUMPUR, March 24 ― The suggested intermediary between the press and federal lawmakers would still restrict media scrutiny, a group said when rejecting the proposed compromise to the Speakers crackdown on coverage at Parliament.
The Malaysian Media Freedom Committee of the World Association of Newspaper and News Publishers (Wan-Ifra) also questioned why the proposal came from aides of the prime minister and his deputy, when the issue was with the legislature.
“This calls into question the principles of separation of powers between Parliament and the executive, jeopardising democracy in Malaysia.
“The proposal to introduce a media liaison officer would introduce yet another ‘gatekeeper’ to control freedom of the press, allowing elected officials to avoid direct public scrutiny,” it said in a statement.
It also criticised the Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia’s decision to confine reporters to the media room, which is a floor removed from the Parliament lobby where lawmakers are informally available, saying this would prevent timely and accurate coverage of pressing matters.
Yesterday, Datuk Seri Tengku Sariffudin Tengku Ahmad and Ibrahim Yahya, respectively the press secretaries to the prime minister and the deputy prime minister, mooted the media liaison as a compromise to Pandikar’s apparent media ban.
Ibrahim also urged the press to consider the idea, after reporters questioned how such an additional layer between them and lawmakers would affect reporting.
The two earlier suggested that informally approaching MPs at the lobby was unfair to reporters who were not present, but journalists dismissed this by pointing to their practice of information-sharing.
Pandikar unexpectedly expelled reporters from the lobby of Parliament on Tuesday, citing “security concerns” to invoke the Standing Orders that allow him to determine press coverage within Parliament's compounds.
He later said he and other lawmakers were discomfited by reporters approaching them for comments in the lobby, and likened the media presence there to a “picnic”.
Reporters remain restricted to the media room. They are only able to seek clarification and further information from lawmakers who choose to visit the room, allowing those who do not to bypass the media.
