Minister comes under fire including Rais

kakiselit

                                    All, including Rais, must respect press freedom, says Saifuddin        


        

                                    Monday, August 06, 2012 - 12:37

        
        

                                    by Asrul Hadi Abdullah Sani        
        

      Location:
                                    PETALING JAYA        
        


UMNO supreme council member Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah has criticised a senior party member for attacking The Malay Mail after the paper highlighted public disenchantment over the country’s National Day celebrations.
The Malay Mail front-page story on Friday, headlined “We’ve had enough!”, pointed out the anger felt by Malaysians, calling on politicians to respect the spirit of Merdeka.

The Malay Mail also ran an editorial calling on both Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Rakyat (PR) to stop hijacking Merdeka.

However, Information, Communication and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Rais Yatim went on the attack on his Twiiter account and tweeted “The Malay Mail shows its true opposition colours, today, in its lead misleading story.”

Rais also later added that the theme was approved by the Cabinet and that it was the ministry’s responsibility to publicise the success the BN government had achieved over the past 55 years.

Saifuddin said that ministers and the administration must safeguard the sanctity of the press.

“We, as ministers and members of the administration, should uphold the notion of press freedom to its fullest. We must be able to accept different views and diff erent perspectives even to the extent that people may not agree at all we say.

“I’ve seen what was written in The Malay Mail and think it is The Malay Mail’s way of presenting the voice of the people. I thought it was fair. If we don’t agree, we can rebut, but that is it."

He also added that it was unnecessary for Rais to admonish the paper.

“I don’t think there is any need for that to be done. It is a newspaper. A newspaper works like a newspaper.

“We may have one or two newspapers we prefer to read and one or two which we prefer not to even touch, but we should respect newspapers as newspapers,” he said.

Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim recently announced that PR held states of Selangor, Kelantan, Penang and Kedah may hold Merdeka celebrations with its proposed alternative theme, Sebangsa, Senegara, Sejiwa (One Nation, One Country, One Soul).

The federal government had chosen Janji Ditepati (Promises Fulfilled) as this year’s national day theme, but received flak from the public for ignoring the Merdeka spirit and espousing BN’s political agenda.

The Malay Mail also conducted an online poll, last week, on which Merdeka theme was preferred by the public.

As at 6.30pm yesterday, 5,986 readers had voted, with 98 per cent choosing 'One Nation, One Country, One Soul' and two per cent for 'Promises Fulfilled'.

pyropura

\
...satu hari saifuddin abdullah ni pasti masuk pumbangkang, gara-gara dia dianggap paling cerdik dlam umno, you knowlah org cerdik tiada tempat, bak kata Maddey Kutty....

xAthenax

hambek ko robengah
kan dah kena dan sekawan sendiri

airfilterkotor

2 peratus je? Mesti set-set ahli jawatankuasa cawangan neh.

KTMan

Menteri yang tidak dapat menerima kenyataan yang dia buat kesilapan besar...jenis berlagak nak mampusss..

ren0_0

kat mana aku leh buat vote tu? nak menyumbang jugak

salimrock

with 98 per cent choosing 'One Nation, One Country, One Soul' and two per cent for 'Promises Fulfilled'.


98% to 2 %...

PRomises fulfilled?

wtf??

kt hari2 tgk muka najib kat tren komuter kata kami mendengar,mari kt tgk, adakah beliau mendengar.......