WITH journalism coursing through the veins, first-time lawmaker Wong Shu Qi has set her sights on championing freedom of speech within the local media industry.

Barely weeks into winning the Kluang parliamentary seat, Wong met newly minted Communication and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo to discuss media reforms that the Pakatan Harapan government must embark on in the next five years.

“There’s so much that can be done!” said the Johor DAP publicity secretary excitedly when met in a cafe in Kuala Lumpur recently.

Before Wong joined politics in 2011 and was elected as a state legislator in Johor in 2013, she had worked as a journalist for the now-defunct independent news portal Merdeka Review for three years.

In the 14th general election, Wong defeated former deputy minister Gan Ping Sieu (BN) by 23,053 votes to win Kluang, opening the doors to her becoming a first-term federal lawmaker.

With her media background, Wong says she is best-placed to know how stifled the local media was prior the elections, thanks to laws, such as the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA) for print media, and Communication and Multimedia Act (CMA) for online media.

Both laws, said Wong, are not only repressive, but also “outdated”.

“With or without PPPA, you cannot control the media any more,” she said.

Greater reach

Wong believes that it is time for Malaysia’s public media to be reformed and more representative of all segments of society.

“Our public-funded media (like RTM) should be modelled after the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation). They shouldn’t be controlled by the government.

“They are the assets of the people. They should be independent and easily accessible by the general public, including minority groups like the natives in Sabah and Sarawak interiors,” she said.

“The natives should have their own radio or TV programmes, too,” said the journalism and political science graduate from Taiwan.

RTM currently runs TV1, TV2 and several radio stations.

Apart from the BBC, Wong said Malaysia can also look at Taiwan’s Public Television Station and the United States’ Public Broadcasting Service for ideas to make RTM a more independent media outlet.

“(RTM’s) board of directors should be diverse, and free from political parties’ influence,” she said, adding that PH is now studying how to revamp RTM’s governing structure.

While she believes that political parties can invest in media groups, they should not be allowed to hold the controlling share, she said.

“They can invest. I don’t mind political parties investing in media outlets as long as they don’t monopolise the sector,” said Wong.

Umno currently controls conglomerate Media Prima, which runs four TV stations (TV3, ntv7, 8TV, TV9), four radio stations (FlyFM, Hot FM, One FM, Kool FM) and publishes English daily the New Straits Times and two Malay dailies, Berita Harian and Harian Metro.

The Barisan Nasional lynchpin party also controls Utusan Melayu (M) Bhd, which publishes two Malay newspapers – Utusan Malaysia and Kosmo!.

Another BN component party, MCA, holds the majority share in Star Media Group, which runs The Star newspaper and radio stations, Red FM, 988, SuriaFM and Capital FM.

Local academics and civil society groups have long bemoaned the ownership and subsequent control of local media by BN political parties. – July 12, 2018.