Don't confuse people with unverified news, Salleh tells Media

MCMC minister cites the tabling of the Private Member's Bill on the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction)(Amendment) Bill 2016 by the PAS president as an example.

Communications and Multimedia Minister Salleh Said Keruak has reminded local media practitioners to deliver information accurately and refrain from confusing the people with publishing unverified news.

He said this in light of some media publishing news that had yet to be verified, which resulted in causing confusion among the people, he said.

He cited the issue of the tabling of a Private Member’s Bill on the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction)(Amendment) Bill 2016 by PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang in the Dewan Rakyat on Thursday.

Salleh said the bill was not on hudud laws as published by newspapers.

“The information was completely untrue as what took place was proposed amendments to Syariah laws, apart from being a private proposal and in the democracy we practise, one can submit a private bill and it depends on its suitability of whether it is concrete or not,” he said.

Salleh was speaking at the launch of Bernama Radio in Kota Kinabalu, broadcast on FM107.9.

In this regard, Salleh said even though the media competed to deliver information fast, the news had to be verified first to ensure the people get the correct information and not cause confusion.

Touching on a separate issue i.e. the claim on Sabah by the Philippines, Salleh said the matter need not be debated anymore as it was clear Sabahans had chosen to be with Malaysia.

“We do not recognise the Filipino claim on Sabah as the people have chosen to be with Malaysia,” he said.

On Wednesday, Philippines president-elect Rodrigo Duterte issued a statement saying the Philippines would pursue its claim on Sabah.

According to Salleh, the Philippines Government had dropped its claim on Sabah years ago but had revived it due to the local politics in their country.

– BERNAMA