By Yow Hong Chieh
KUALA LUMPUR, March 26 — Barisan Nasional (BN) must give the mainstream media freedom to report, at least from now until the general election, a former information minister said today.
Tan Sri Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir (picture) said Malaysia would not be able to call itself a democracy if the ruling coalition insisted on maintaining its “100 per cent” hold on mainstream media.
“Mainstream media is now 100 per cent controlled by one party — you cannot call that a democracy...,” he told reporters at his office in Mines Business Park here.
“It shouldn’t be 100 per cent control. At least 70-30 is all right... Maybe before you could get away with it when there was no alternative media but the situation is completely different now.”
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