Guan Eng and press freedom

KUALA LUMPUR: Following Lim Guan Eng's alleged slur on Johor, he has been receiving a great deal of attention from both the mainstream media and blogs, with many questioning his commitment to press freedom.

The Penang Chief Minister was not only questioned on the alleged slur but also on his attitude towards the press given his years of campaigning for press freedom and freedom of information.

Bernama had reported that Lim, who is also DAP’s secretary-general, made remarks about Johor being an unsafe state where the chances of being kidnapped were high during a radio interview with an Australian radio station.

Lim denied this and threatened to sue if Bernama failed to withdraw the report and apologise.

New Straits Times managing editor Datuk Nuraina Samad pointed out in her blog on Tuesday that another blogger had claimed that Lim had actually made the statement at a luncheon addressing the Foreign Correspondents Association in Singapore.Guan Eng and press freedom

That blogger, BigCat, included an excerpt of the speech which Lim purportedly made during the luncheon.

Nuraina also mentioned a TV3 news item which was aired during its prime time on Monday, which featured an audio recording of someone who sounded like Lim making the statement at the said venue and event.

The NST reported on Wednesday that Lim will deal with Bernama first and will not be distracted by fresh allegation of him making statements on Johor while he was in Singapore.

Lim’s press secretary (II), Wong Kim Fei, said that the NST had lied when it reported that The Mole had contacted Lim when he was in Surabaya, and denied that any news media had contacted him at all.

In the NST report Wong was quoted as saying, "I had contacted the chief minister who denied that The Mole or any news media had contacted him on this or any other topic."

Nuraina claimed that Lim had been boycotting the NST over a commentary written by the newpaper’s Penang bureau chief, Sharanjit Singh, on the “100 days in office” series.

The NST has since been banned from covering official or private functions which Lim attends as a guest. It has been claimed that Lim even instructed private companies to not include the NST in the media invitation list if they want him to grace their events.

Nuraina said Lim took offence to Sharanjit's remarks that the DAP in Penang was playing favourites with certain companies. However, she added that the commentary was not written without basis.

When contacted, Sharanjit Singh confirmed that the NST is banned from covering events at which Lim is the guest of honour.

“Apart from NST, Utusan Malaysia and Berita Harian also suffer the same fate,” said Sharanjit.

DAP Jelutong MP Jeff Ooi when contacted regarding the matter told The Mole that the media eco-system may thrive if news gatherers,news consumers and personalities featured respect each other's rights.

In an emailed response Ooi said, news gatherers remain draftees of history reporting on facts, with featured personalities deserving their right to reply should disputes occur, and news consumers properly guided with balanced reporting.

" Penang chief minister has decided to treat NST, BH and Utusan differently largely on the official platform, the Penang State Government. I reckon it's largely due to the above mentioned media relationship having collapsed, one way or another," said Ooi.

He added that there is certainly room for remedy, repair and reproach among the stake holders. The question is, who would make the first move. I also reckon, NST, BH & Utusan who feel denied can take this first move sooner rather than later.

"I observed the Penang state government has moved to engage alternative media to fill in any "vacuum" of the media space vacated by the "unwelcome" media organisations, and managed to fulfill it's information dissemination needs. Such is the era where mainstream has lost, and will continue to lose, it's traditional stronghold over the opinions space," Ooi said.

He also thinks the stalemate will linger on if nothing is being down to display the three media organisations' readiness to adopt a new approach of engagement.

"On the personal capacity as an MP and opinion shaper, I engage all media in all my media events. But on record, BH and Utusan rarely responded," said Ooi.

Lim has been a big proponent of press freedom and independent journalism and has been fighting for freedom of information.

In 2008, he called for a media reform and criticised the government for laws such as the Official Secrets Act, Sedition Act and Internal Security Act.

In his World Press Freedom Day 2008 message, Lim said that the DAP was focusing on the issue of media law reform, freedom of information and equal access to the media for all.

“We will work with all interested parties to come up with a draft bill for the Freedom of Information Act. This will be done to replace the repressive Official Secrets Act,” he said.

However, a 2009 blog post by  Sincerely, Malaysian Heart asked why Lim did not respect the freedom of reporters to do their job without fear or favour.

Source: MOLE