Koalisi untuk Pemilu yang Bersih dan Adil or BERSIH urges all broadcast media organizations, in particular the state-owned RTM, Media Prima and Astro, as well as all print and online news portals, to provide fair and balanced media coverage to all political parties and independent candidates in the 15th Malaysian General Election. The Election Commission of Malaysia has designated November 19, 2022 as polling day.
"The interim government, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, should lead and instruct RTM to play the role of a state broadcaster serving all people in Malaysia," said BERSIH Chair Thomas Fann, as the release received by electionhouse.org on Wednesday (11/2).
The media in the election is considered to be able to influence the choices of 21.1 million voters. BERSIH proposes three types of programs that can be broadcast by television and radio.
One, the party's political program. Broadcast media give slots, either evenly or based on the number of seats contested, to all political parties and independent candidates to submit election manifestos.
Two, the prime minister candidate debate program. Previously, there was no debate on the prime minister candidate in Malaysia. The debate program is deemed necessary to demonstrate the abilities and views of the candidates on public policy issues.
“While this will be new in Malaysian politics, debate is nothing new in our society. Schools and universities have long organized debates, and that is part of the legislative process in Parliament,” said Thomas.
Three, the political party dialogue program. In this program, representatives of political parties and independent candidates will sit together to discuss public policy issues.
“Such initiatives are not only informative for voters, but also foster a new culture of civility among politicians. Parties will also be forced to nominate more qualified candidates, who can better articulate and represent their parties,” said Thomas.
He added that providing fair broadcast time to political parties is a form of indirect public financing to parties. Political finance is part of the party finance reform that is being pushed in Malaysia.
“Let the 15th General Election be defined as an election that opens the way to greater democratic reforms by being the first in which all political parties and independents have equal access to the mass media,” concluded Thomas. []
This article is translated by Catherine Natalia.
