(Petaling Jaya, Saturday): Suhakam
should be doing practical and useful work to promote and protect human rights,
in particular in the area of press freedom, instead of avoiding the substantive
issues about freedom of speech, expression and information by getting lost in
the forest of workshops, seminars and conferences.
Last
week, Suhakam Secretary Kamaruddin Mohd Baria announced that a press freedom
workshop will be held early next month with editors from major news
organisations and government officials as participants.
When I met the
Suhakam Chairman, Tan Sri Abu Talib Othman in May, I expressed my concern that Suhakam is organizing a workshop on
press freedom in Malaysia when it should be holding inquiries into the various
complaints of infringements of press freedom and violations of free speech.
told Abu Talib that it was a matter
of concern and even consternation that Suhakam seems to regard itself as an
organizer of workshops rather than as a body which had been established by
statute with specific powers to inquire into complaints of violations of press
freedom.
There had been umpteenth workshops on press freedom in the country in recent years, whether organsied by journalist groups or the Bar Council, without any appreciable improvement in press freedom. Even Suhakam itself had organized two such workshops previously. Instead of another workshop on press freedom, Suhakam should be holding inquiries into the various specific complaints of violations of press freedom which it had received
Be that as it may, as
a workshop has been decided upon, Suhakam
should monitor the daily media coverage, both electronic and printed, of the
Pendang and Anak Bukit by-elections and submit a special report for the Suhakam
press freedom workshop next month on the fairness of such coverage.
In
the past few days, TV1 and TV3 have degenerated into blatant Barisan Nasional
by-election TV channels, displacing virtually all news coverage during the prime
time news and turning them to a propaganda blitzkrieg to sell the Barisan Nasional
candidates to the voters in the two constituencies through national television.
Suhakam
should also have a special team to monitor the Pendang and Anak Bukit
by-elections, dealing not only with the
mass media abuses, but also the other two of the 3M electoral abuses of money
politics and the abuse of government machinery and public funds.
(13/7/2002)