MEDIA advocacy groups urged the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki to stop harassing journalists who were merely doing their job.
“We were alarmed that Azam had issued a letter of demand against journalist Lalitha Kunaratnam for writing articles against the former.
“Azam should withdraw the letter of demand and stop harassing against the journalist with immediate effect,” the Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) and Gerakan Media Merdeka (Geramm) said in a joint statement.
Two days ago, Azam’s legal team had issued a letter of demand to Lalitha over two articles written on Independent News Service (INS), entitled “Business ties among MACC leadership: How deep does it go? (Part 1) and (Part 2)”.
Among the allegations levelled were Azam had owned 930,000 shares in Gets Global Bhd as at April 30, 2015 and a further 1,029,000 shares as at March 31, 2016.
The issue became very serious that Edmund Terence Gomez quit his post at the MACC panel as the latter and its advisory board refused to investigate the allegations.
On Jan 5, Azam told at a press conference that he did not see it as an issue claiming that his younger brother, Nasir Baki had used his trading account to purchase some shares.
However, Azam’s defence backfired as it was later revealed that trading using another person’s account was in violation of the Section 25 of the Securities Industry (Central Depositories) Act 1991 (SICDA), with Section 29A of SICDA stipulating that all dealings in securities shall be done only by the beneficial owner of the securities or an authorised nominee.
He is now being investigated by the Securities Commission (SC) and the offense carries both a fine and jail time.
Touching on the matter, the groups reminded Azam that the media have the fundamental responsibility to hold the state and Government officials accountable.
Strengthen Whistleblower Act
With that, they noted, Lalitha had provided fact-based reports which had raised legitimate questions on an issue of public interest.
“And what is expected is for the allegations to be investigated, not the reporter,” they stated.
With that, the groups urged the Government to review the Whistleblowers Act 2010 and get its scope expanded to offer protection to all who make exposes on issues of public interest.
They added that the Government must uphold and respect freedom of expression, particularly by the media, by repealing repressive laws used to restrict those freedom.
“We also need to establish the Malaysian Media Council, where it can act as a transparent and independent self-regulatory body for the industry and deter the Government and its agencies from becoming the sole arbiter of truth,” the groups remarked. – Jan 8, 2022
