I want to confirm the statement by the DAP MP for Seputeh Teresa Kok that I have instructed my lawyers to institute legal action against the PAS MP for Kepala Batas Siti Mastura Muhammad.
This is more than an action to clear my name of defamation, but because Siti Mastura has become a national disgrace as a media illiterate to become a Member of Parliament and have a PHD conferred on her.
How can Malaysia rise up and become a great world-class nation when our parliamentary institution and educational system have descended to the level where a media illiterate can become a Member of Parliament and have a PhD conferred upon her?
What is even shocking, she is not the only example in the Malaysian Parliament, as what she had done was no different from what the PAS President and MP for Marang, Hadi Awang had done.
Hadi had made wild and preposterous allegations that the DAP and I were anti-Malay, anti-Islam, anti-Royalty, communist, and spreading Islamophobia but more than a year had passed and Hadi had not been able to produce an iota evidence to substantiate these wild, preposterous, and untrue allegations.
Even more important nationally, Malaysia cannot reverse the national decline of the last few decades to become a great world-class nation again if “media illiterates” can become Members of Parliament or have doctorates conferred on them by local universities in the country.
In this age of information, there is a need for MPs and those conferred doctorates to be media literate.
“Media literacy” is an expanded conceptualization of literacy that includes the ability to access and analyze media messages as well as create, reflect, and take action, using the power of information and communication to make a difference in the world.
Media literacy is not restricted to one medium and is understood as a set of competencies that are essential for work, life, and citizenship.
Media literacy education is the process used to advance media literacy competencies, and it is intended to promote awareness of media influence, and create an active stance towards both consuming and creating media.
Media literacy education is part of the curriculum in the United States and some European Union countries, and I recommend to the Education Minister, Fadhlina Sidek to introduce media literacy in the schools so that our school children, not only those in the universities, do not become “media illiterates” like Siti Mastura and Hadi Awang, and can discern what are propaganda, censorship, bias, lies, and hate speech in news and public affairs programmes.
(Media Statement by DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang in Penang on Monday, 20th November 2023)