poobalan.com

Newspapers have been ‘advised’ by the internal security ministry to play down news reports involving activities of the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf).

Malaysiakini learnt that top editors of all dailies were told at a meeting not to highlight stories and photographs relating to the Hindraf rally on Nov 25 and on all other matters involving the coalition.

The 90-minute meeting was chaired by Publications Control and Al-Quran Texts Unit enforcement head Zailani Hashim. He could not be contacted today for confirmation as he is out of town on duty.

However editors contacted confirmed the gist of the meeting, which took place at the ministry in Putrajaya yesterday afternoon.

‘We were basically told not to give prominence to Hindraf,” said an editor with a vernacular publication, adding that Tamil-language dailies were specifically mentioned for their coverage of the rally.

At the same time, the editors were also told not to publish news that would put the police and the government in a bad light.

“The KDN officer told us that we can report news about Hindraf but we have to give them low coverage,” said another editor who was also at the meeting.

“And we were told not to play up photographs of police being violent at the Nov 25 rally by Hindraf. The message was for us not to blame the police for what happened at the rally.”

He said the ministry appeared worried that the reputation of the police force could be further eroded in the eyes of the public.

On Nov 25, about 30,000 Indian Malaysians brought the busy Jalan Ampang to a standstill for about six hours, as they attempted to march to the British High Commission to submit a petition claiming they have been marginalised since being brought to Malaya as indentured labourers.

The police used tear gas and water cannon to disperse the crowd. Earlier that day, a smaller crowd of about 3,000 was similarly dispersed at the Batu Caves temple. The crowd had gathered there in preparation for the rally in Jalan Ampang.

Some protesters have since been charged with illegal assembly, while 26 others were charged yesterday with the attempted murder of a police officer after allegedly assaulting him with bricks. All the newspapers gave prominent coverage to this today.

The government has condemned the rally as illegal and dismissed claims that the community is marginalised.

Editors were also told not to highlight another rally by the polls reform coalition Bersih, planned for Dec 11 at Parliament House, against a proposed constitutional amendment to extend the retirement age of the Election Commission’s office bearers from 65 to 66. 

A previous rally by Bersih last month was dispersed by the police using water cannon and tear gas, but some 40,000 people managed to break through the cordons to march to the national palace where a memorandum was submitted to an official.