COMMUNICATIONs and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil said Putrajaya is ready to forgive the PAS-owned Harakah for its report linking Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to Israel.

He told parliament the government looked forward to the Islamist party’s appeal over the revocation of the publication’s media tags. 

“I understand that Harakah will send an appeal letter and we welcome it. I will talk to the Information Department.

“We are ready to forgive (them) as what the prime minister said. Not a problem,” the Lembah Pantai lawmaker said in Dewan Rakyat today. 

Fahmi was responding to Ahmad Fadhli Shaari (Pasir Mas-PN), who asked the minister to state the government’s stand on press liberty and freedom of speech.

Harakah recently published a report titled “Malaysia di bawah Anwar ragu-ragu sokong Palestine”, which translates to “Unclear if Malaysia under Anwar supports Palestine”. 

The publication had made it look like Anwar supported Israel by publishing a photo of him with an Israel flag in the background and the Palestine flag behind PAS ulama chief Ahmad Yahya.

On Tuesday, Anwar called out PAS leaders for using the newspaper to spread defamatory statements against his administration. 

Anwar, who is also finance minister, accused the opposition’s Ulama Council of falsely linking him to Israel.

Following the prime minister’s remarks yesterday, the Information Department revoked the media passes of Harakah reporters, thereby restricting their access to government premises, including parliament.

Yesterday, the Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) expressed serious concerns about ethical reporting and the Information Department’s move to revoke the publication’s media tags. 

CIJ’s executive director Wathshlah G. Naidu said it was of grave concern that there was no transparency in how the decision was made. – November 9, 2023.