Friday, August 07, 2015

Rally for press freedom on Saturday August 8 from 11 am, beginning from the Bar Council Headquarters to Pasar Seni

Walk in ‘black and blue’ with the press, media coalition urges public


Wednesday August 5, 2015
10:37 AM GMT+8
The Home Ministry has suspended the printing permits of The Edge Financial Daily and The Edge Weekly for three months. ― File picThe Home Ministry has suspended the printing permits of The Edge Financial Daily and The Edge Weekly for three months. ― File pic 


KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 5 ― A coalition of media groups has asked the public to join its “#808” march this Saturday, and called for the end to the suspension of two newspapers and restrictions on whistleblower site Sarawak Report.

The Coalition for Press Freedom (CPF) also urged the public wear blue and black to represent the impact of alleged “attacks” on press freedom, freedom of expression and freedom of information in the walk from Pasar Seni to the Bar Council headquarters.

“If people are not made to live in fear of speaking their thoughts, and if those in authority are more transparent with their work, then we will all be working towards a society where open, respectful and constructive debate can take place,” CPF said in a statement.

The coalition also suggested Putrajaya to make public the drafts of new Internet laws being proposed, in addition to holding dialogues and having willingness to accept recommendations.

“Then there will be no room for anyone to declare the government ‘guilty before trial’,” it added.

The CPF is a loose coalition made of the Movement of Angry Media, Center for Independent Journalism, Foreign Correspondents Club of Malaysia and Reporters San Frontieres.

The Home Ministry had suspended the printing permits of The Edge Financial Daily and The Edge Weekly for three months, claiming its reports of 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) were “prejudicial or likely to be prejudicial to public order, security or likely to alarm public opinion or is likely to be prejudicial to public and national interest”.

Citing “national stability,” the MCMC had last month ordered all Internet service providers in Malaysia to block access to Sarawak Report’s website, pending a multi-agency taskforce’s investigation on corruption claims involving the controversial 1MDB.


Media to rally on August 8 for right to free speech

FMT Reporters
 | July 31, 2015 
 
Rally will send a clear message to the powers that be on democratic right to free expression
Media-rally

KUALA LUMPUR: The media would rally for press freedom on August 8 from 11 am, beginning from the Bar Council Headquarters to Pasar Seni in the federal capital. Besides the 808 rally, the media would continue with the #AtTheEdge social media campaign every Tuesday night for two hours from 8.30pm to 10.30pm.

Media practitioners around the country are urged to stand united in demanding that the government allow the media to exercise their democratic right to free expression.

Coalition for Press Freedom (CPF) spokesperson, Shannon Teoh, said the rally would stand by The Edge Financial Daily and The Edge Weekly which have been suspended by the Home Ministry for three months beginning July 27. “We call upon the Home Ministry to immediately rescind the suspension,” said Teoh at a press conference attended by 100 media representatives in front of The Edge building. “We urge the media fraternity to march with us and send a clear message to the powers that be on press freedom.”

Teoh, in a statement, also called on the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to end the blocking of The Sarawak Report website.

The Edge Financial Daily and The Edge Weekly, according to a letter from the Home Ministry, were suspended for its coverage of the scandal-ridden 1MDB. The coverage, according to the Home Ministry, was “prejudicial or likely to be prejudicial to public order, security or likely to alarm public opinion or is likely to be prejudicial to public and national interest”.

It was not immediately clear why The Sarawak Report has been blocked when the Wall Street Journal also ran the same report on Friday 3 July 2015 that nearly USD700 million entered Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s personal banking accounts with AmBank Islamic private banking services.

Najib has yet to give a simple “Yes” or “No” answer on the USD700 million in his personals accounts. He has repeatedly stated ad nauseam that he never took any monies for personal uses or gain, that he would never betray the people, and that if he stole government monies, he would not be so stupid as to keep them in his personal accounts in the country.

A video, apparently secretly recorded and which has gone viral in the social media, has sacked Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin telling visitors that Najib admitted receiving USD700 million in his personal accounts from the “Middle East”. When asked by Muhyiddin why the funds were in his personal banking accounts, Najib didn’t answer.

Among the visitors who heard Muhyiddin in the video were Kedah Menteri Besar Mukhriz Mahathir and former Federal Minister Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir. - Free Malaysia Today, 31/7/2015

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