By Melissa Chi The Malaysian Insider May 15, 2011
SUNGAI BESAR, May 15 — Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said today that newspapers should be given leeway despite stringent laws under the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA).
“The law is very clear but everybody, every paper has crossed that line one time or another. This is probably Utusan’s time. Before this there was China Press, Nan Yang, I know, because it happened under my watch.
“But in such situations, we give them a little space. We find which is really news that can benefit us as one race, 1 Malaysia but they shouldn’t go past the boundaries which touches on sensitive issues such as religion and race,” he told reporters after launching the Sungai Besar Umno division meeting here at Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina Sin Min.
The latest controversy to rile the country’s dominant majority was the “Christian Malaysia” report first published by the Umno newspaper Utusan Malaysia on May 7.
The Umno daily carried a front-page article headlined “Kristian agama rasmi?” (Christianity the official religion?), claiming the DAP was conspiring with Christian leaders to take over Putrajaya and abolish Islam as the religion of the federation.
Utusan Malaysia’s report had been based entirely on unsubstantiated blog postings by two pro-Umno bloggers, alleging that the leaders had taken a pledge during the gathering promising to take over Putrajaya, abolish Islam as the religion of the federation and install a Christian prime minister.
The paper also published a grainy photograph showing what it described as a secret pact between the DAP and pastors at a hotel in Penang last Wednesday.
DAP and Christian leaders have since voiced their rage over the allegations and vehemently denied taking any part in such a pledge.
Hishammuddin said he wants to call the chief editors of every newspaper for a discussion.
“There are times when the Malay community is not happy with the reporting of the Chinese papers. And now the Chinese community are not happy with the reporting at Utusan.
“I think it is time now for us to get together and get the chief editors to tell me this change that is happening in the world that we cannot stop information from going across borders if it doesn’t go through the main papers, it will go through Facebook, it will go through the multimedia context and it will go through SMSes,” he said.
Hishammuddin said that he had met with chief editors individually but now, he wants “them as a whole to be responsible for their actions”.
“So this new landscape will require some internal soul-searching of the mainstream papers and this I will talk to all the papers across the board.
Hishammuddin to meet chief editors of newspapers Malaysiakini May 15, 11
Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein plans to meet chief editiors of newspapers on the reporting of sensitive issues.
He said he wanted to ensure that the chief editors exercised caution in the reporting of sensitive issues on race and religion and that they understood they would be held responsible for their action.
Commenting on a report published in Utusan Malaysia recently alleging that certain groups wanted to make Christianity the official religion, Hishammuddin (right) said:
“There are times when the Malay community were unhappy with the reporting of the Chinese newspapers (on sensitive issues) and vice versa.
“It is the responsibility of the chief editors to ensure that their organisations do not go beyond the boundaries set in reporting such issues,” he told reporters after opening the Sungai Besar Umno division delegates meeting near Sabak Bernam.
Despite the clarity of the country’s publishing laws and guidelines, he said, “every paper has crossed the line (in reporting sensitive issues) one time or another. Now it’s Utusan (which has crossed the line).”
Hishammuddin said that it was difficult to control the flow of information on sensitive issues, especially with the emergence of the new media.
“If it (the information) does not make it to the mainstream papers, it will somehow or rather get to the new media like online news portals, Facebook and the short messaging service,” he said.
Referring to the acid splashers who have been terrorising women in the Klang Valley, Hishammuddin urged people with information on the suspects to come forward and help police with their investigation.
He said he was making the appeal on behalf of the police who had so far received 22 reports on women being splashed with acid.
– Bernama