Kadir, who is the prime minister’s special advisor on media and communications, said the MMC might be able to be established by this year.
“I have been talking to several groups of people to encourage them to do this (Media Council) as quickly as possible. The new government is coming to one year very soon and there are still many promises yet to be delivered, particularly in the area of reforms, many more laws that we promised we will repeal or amend, are yet to be repealed or amended.
“I have seen at least two pretty good drafts about what MMC should be and those drafts may be discussed here in the next two days. I hope some bright ideas will come out of this conference so that it can be presented to the government,” the veteran newsman said in his keynote address at the National Consultation for MMC 2019 here today.
Commenting further, Kadir said the establishment of MMC is imperative, but the government will not be involved in the process as it was the policy of the new government to not interfere with the media.
“We want the media to be free but we also want the media to be responsible. So, the media council is important for journalists and media practitioners, it is vital because it is part of the new government’s reform,” said Kadir.
Also present was the Communications and Multimedia Ministry deputy secretary-general Shakib Ahmad Shakir, who represented the ministry’s deputy minister, Eddin Syazlee Shith.
The two-day conference was jointly organised by the Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) and the Malaysian Centre for Constitutionalism and Human Rights (MCCHR).
Meanwhile, Shakib when reading Eddin’s speech said the Malaysia Media Council could learn from self-regulatory bodies from neighbouring countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines.
He said in Indonesia, for example, self-regulation has been very successful in helping the press meet challenges from attempted government interference to issues of extremism and they have set standards of peacekeeping and ethnic conflict.
“In the Philippines, the Cebu Citizen Press Council has likewise helped to set the standard in the difficult environment, they have worked with police to help uphold justice such as in presumption of innocence. They have also engaged with religious bodies to help cultivate understanding among adherence of different faiths and help improve the condition for court reporters including dealing with issues of harassment,” he said.
The idea of a media council was first mooted for Malaysia as far back in the 1970s and several times since then, most recently in 2011.