KUALA LUMPUR, May 30- Malaysiakini.com news portal must be made to register officially and strict conditions imposed on its operations to prevent it from disrupting unity in the country, suggested a non-governmental organisation.
The president of Kelab Wartawan Muda Malaysia (KWMM) or Malaysia Young Journalists Club, Dzulkarnian Taib said the authorities must take immediate action on the news portal, which he claimed was lop-sided in its reporting that could adversely affect the political situation in the country.
He said to curb irresponsible and unethical journalism by the news portal, the Home and Communication and Multimedia ministries must act decisively including banning and closing its operations.
Dzulkarnian, who is a former chief editor of Suara Keadilan, claimed that the news portal’s attempt to create disunity could be seen from its report on the statement by former Appeals Court judge Datuk Mohd Noor Abdullah on the Federal Constitution at a 13th general election post-mortem discourse on May 12 where the statement was labelled as racist.
“The former judge who is very experienced and week-versed in issues concernning the Federal Constitution had to face a police report lodged against him by an opposition leader in a concerted attempt to silent those who speak up based on the country’s laws and truth,” he added in a statement issued, here, today.
He noted that the news portal in another report had also taken out of context the statement made by Utusan Malaysia’s assistant chief editor Datuk Zaini Hassan at a forum on ‘Social Media: Managing Issues and Handling Public Perceptions and Emotions’ in Juiy 2010, to the extent of painting a negative picture of Zaini.
Dzulkarnain said for the two events, the organisers confirmed that Malaysiakini.com was not invited to cover but it still sent its representatives and demonstrated unethical journalism in its reporting.
– BERNAMA
