KUALA LUMPUR – Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil has lambasted Bersatu’s Datuk Wan Saiful Wan Jan over the latter’s claim that the nation is witnessing a “slow murder” of press freedom reforms under the minister’s leadership.
Fahmi, who is also the government’s spokesperson, indicated that Wan Saiful’s recent remarks rang hollow as the Bersatu supreme council member had previously been silent on matters relating to the curtailing of media freedom.
“When Al Jazeera reporters were expelled from Malaysia (in 2020), I didn’t hear Wan Saiful say anything then,” the minister said during a post-cabinet press conference in Putrajaya today.
“Where was he (Wan Saiful) when those reporters were taken in, investigated (and) subsequently their permits were withdrawn before they were unceremoniously expelled?
“Where was Wan Saiful when I was attacked in Parliament for my stance in defence of Al Jazeera reporters? He was nowhere.”
The minister said this in response to Wan Saiful’s claims yesterday, which took aim at Fahmi’s supposedly “slow murder” of media freedom-related reforms.
At the height of the global Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, police had mounted a raid on Al Jazeera’s Kuala Lumpur office, probing its personnel for sedition, defamation and violation of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.
The investigation was linked to a programme aired by the foreign news agency, highlighting the Malaysian government’s purportedly unfair and racist treatment of undocumented migrant workers amid the pandemic.
The agency had also claimed that its staff were subjected to abuse, death threats and the disclosure of their personal details online. One individual interviewed for the film, Md Rayhan Kabir, was deported about a month after the film’s release.
In response to the crackdown, Fahmi, who was an opposition lawmaker with PKR at that time, had called on the Perikatan Nasional-led administration to promptly take action and provide assurance that the government did not oppose media freedom and freedom of speech.
Comms Ministry holds inaugural meeting with Reporters Without Borders
Meanwhile, Fahmi also said that he and his deputy, Teo Nie Ching, had held a meeting with representatives from the international press freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF), following the latter expressing concern over the Malaysian Code of Ethics for Journalists.
“It was their (RSF’s) first visit to Malaysia and their first time holding discussions with a minister in charge of communications here. Our discussions touched on our explanation of the code of ethics for journalists and media accreditation cards.
“(The meeting) was a good opportunity to understand, from an NGO’s perspective, what the industry is trying to achieve,” Fahmi said, noting that the group was expected to issue their own statement on the meeting.
Yesterday, RSF Asia-Pacific bureau director Cedric Alviani said that Malaysia was at a crossroads, as while there have been apparent improvements to media freedom, the government taking an active role in monitoring the media is seen as a backwards move.
Alviani, who was quoted in a report by Malaysiakini, added that it would be “extremely negative” for Malaysia’s press freedom image. – March 8, 2024