Work cut out for Media Council

LETTER | The establishment of the Malaysian Media Council by the Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo is highly laudable.

I wish to congratulate the 17-member pro-tem committee which was appointed to discuss the formation of the media council.

This is a historic milestone for the media fraternity in terms of promoting greater press freedom and for the country as a whole as the media council would boost the confidence of the people towards local media.

The media council was first mooted 47 years ago by then Prime Minister Abdul Razak Hussein. Whilst many countries including developing nations like Kenya and Maldives have already established their own media councils, Malaysia has been lagging for reasons only known to the former regime.

We also know that, although the then Home Ministry had commissioned the Malaysian Press Institute to look into the feasibility of establishing a self-regulating media council in 1999, nothing was done until yesterday.

Much has to be done to repair our press freedom. With greater freedom comes greater responsibility and I am sure the Media Council would be able to regulate its journalists to further enhance their professionalism in writing articles that seek to inform the public.

While the present government welcomes critical comments, it seeks not only criticisms but suggestions on how to solve some of the current issues. This, I trust, the Media Council would be able to steer the younger generation of journalists to write as professionals with solutions to offer to the government.

I also observe that the appointment of the pro-tem committee members clearly shows that the government is open to both ends of the political pendulum. 

There are some members of the pro-tem committee who are, in fact, ''not friendly'' to the Pakatan Harapan government. We seek their cooperation to help the government to bring the country to greater heights. 

Political differences should be set aside for the sake of rebuilding the nation for the good of all.

LIM LIP ENG is Kepong MP.

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