CIJ calls for fair and equal media access to 18 May Parliament sitting

The Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) is dismayed with the reported statements by the Dewan Rakyat speaker Mohamad Ariff Mohd Yusof and de facto law minister Takiyuddin Hassan that access to the one-day Parliament sitting on 18 May 2020 will be restricted to State-owned media RTM and Bernama. The COVID-19 pandemic was quoted as the reason behind this ruling.

The role of the State is to promote democracy and allow dissenting voices to be heard and accessed, even if they are critical of policies or alleged mismanagement on the legislature’s part. The right to know and seek as well as impart information and ideas of all kinds are protected under our Federal Constitution as well as international legal guarantees of the rights to freedom of expression and speech.  

Since coming into power and increasingly so during the COVID-19 pandemic, the “backdoor” Perikatan Nasional (PN) government’s attempts at silencing dissenting voices and undermining media freedom is signalling the downwards spiral of Malaysia into an inconceivable authoritarian and undemocratic regime. Censorship and attempts to control the public narrative are rife based on recent statements from the new government threatening to take stern actions against online news portals that “misreport” the news and defining “fake news”.

This restriction of access is not just targeted at the media but also infringes on the rights of citizens to be fully informed of the Parliament proceedings and to hold our elected representatives to account. Democracy means that elected representatives will come under extensive public scrutiny, be asked tough questions and come under a wider range of comments and criticism. 

While it is noted that there will be live telecast of the proceedings, denying media access to the Members of Parliament, both inside and outside the chambers, will mean that the opportunities to talk to and verify information directly with the politicians will be denied too. Now there will be only a one-sided message or perception, disallowing any dissenting opinions for public consumption. This is deeply troubling as the public have a right to know what transpired and be able to form their own opinion based on multiple sources of information; any control of media platforms by Parliament will create an information vacuum.  

It is imperative that this ruling that restricts access be lifted and all media be granted fair and equal opportunity and access to the Parliament sitting. 

We reiterate that any measures taken to tackle COVID-19 and have the potential to restrict media freedom must be legal, necessary, proportionate and temporary with the aim of mitigating the immediate public health crisis. In this case, COVID-19 must not be used as an excuse to restrict access and limit media freedom, ultimately denying the public access to timely and balanced information on the Parliamentary proceedings. 

The State must work with the media and provide a safe and enabling environment for the media to access the Parliament sitting on 18 May 2020, including by ensuring that all necessary sanitisation and social distancing measures are adopted.  

Journalists and news portals must be allowed the space to scrutinise and be critical, if necessary, of the legislatures’ position or action in the course of the Parliamentary proceedings. 

At a time when we are facing extreme challenges due to the COVID-19 crisis and when the legitimacy of the government is under scrutiny, it beholds the State to ensure that the transparency, accountability and credibility of the Parliament be protected as a vital institution to guarantee the necessary checks and balances. 

9 May 2020

Wathshlah G. Naidu
CIJ Executive Director

For media inquiries, contact Vinodh Pillai at vndhpll@gmail.com