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 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
Rally will send a clear message to the powers that be on democratic right to free expression
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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