KUALA LUMPUR: April 21, 2008
The Malaysian Press Institute (MPI) has praised the intention of Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar to relax conditions for the publishing licence for newspapers which needs to be renewed annually.
Under the move, parties intending to publish newspapers need to apply for a licence only once and the permit issued under the Printing Presses and Publications Act need not be renewed every year as is the practice now.
Syed Hamid said he would table the proposal to the Cabinet soon.
MPI’s Board of Trustees chairman Datuk Azman Ujang told Bernama it was a wise move to strengthen the freedom of the mainstream media which had been regarded to be under the control of the Government or component parties of the ruling coalition.
He said the Government’s move would pave the way for the birth of more independently-owned newspapers.
Currently, the majority of mainstream newspapers are owned by political parties in the ruling coalition, leading to a negative perception that there was no press freedom in the country.
As a long-term measure, Azman said the Government should consider scrapping the newspaper publishing licence since the country had adequate regulations governing newspaper companies.
“Let market forces dictate the survival of a newspaper, not the licence. With this, the Government’s image in terms of transparency and integrity will improve,” said Azman.
Azman believes that with the relaxation of conditions the Government intends to give, mainstream newspapers, currently faced with a credibility crisis compared to the freedom enjoyed by bloggers, would be able to regain their credibility and reputation.
PKR’s information chief Tian Chua said in a statement yesterday that the decision to approve the party's application for a permit to publish a newspaper would provide more avenue for criticism and to propagate the party’s reformation ideas widely and effectively.
He said PKR also welcomed Syed Hamid’s announcement to review the Printing Presses and Publications Act as it was consistent with the demands of PKR and civil society organisations for the right of expression and for every political party to publish their own newspaper.
The Batu MP said the basis for a nation’s progress was press freedom to ensure a transparent government administration and the people could air their views on national policies on the government’s decisions on various issues.
Transparency International-Malaysia (TI-M) has also welcomed the government’s desire to create more press freedom. Its president Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam hoped the Home Minister would use his international experience to bring more transparency and integrity by giving more press freedom. – Bernama
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