KUALA LUMPUR, April 26 — The Ministry of Education (MOE) will be offering scholarships especially for journalists who intend to pursue further studies in local public universities.

Its minister Maszlee Malik said the offer was in recognition of the contributions and role played by journalists in the implementation of a New Malaysia under Pakatan Harapan (PH) leadership.

“The details of the scholarship will be announced soon,” he said in his speech at the Malaysian Press Night (MWM) 2019 for the coveted MPI PETRONAS 2018 (HKM 2018) awards here tonight.

Also present were MWM 2019 chairman Datuk Chamil Wariya and media organisation leaders including Bernama chairman Datuk Seri Azman Ujang and editor-in-chief Datuk Zakaria Abdul Wahab.

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In addition he said the ministry is also working in collaboration with Al Jazeera to provide special training and guidance services to those wishing to sharpen their journalistic skills.

The agreement was made following Maszlee’s meeting with representatives of the media network in Doha, Qatar recently.

According to Maszlee, currently two public universities namely Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) and International Islamic University Malaysia (UIAM) have agreed to work with Al Jazeera for that purpose.

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“My intention is to see our journalists excel beyond Malaysia because I am confident that Malaysian journalists have the potential to go much further.

“I can see that one day or maybe half a decade from now, Malaysians would be among the journalists at Al Jazeera, BBC, CNN, New York Times and Wall Street Journal. This can be achieved if we have the right network and exposure and I’m confident our people can do it,” he said.

Recognising that the media plays an important role, Maszlee said the government is committed to further strengthening media freedom in the country and would be reviewing laws which seem to be restraining press freedom.

In fact, he said, the Communications and Multimedia Ministry is in the process of establishing the Malaysian Media Council which would act as a self-regulatory body. — Bernama