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| Abdul Karim (centre) addresses the press on the upcoming golf tournament. |
KUCHING: Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah wants Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo to rectify the alleged guidelines that forbid Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) from providing coverage to states under opposition rule.
Speaking to reporters after a press conference to announce the 117th Malaysian Amateur Open golf championship here yesterday, Abdul Karim said he cannot shake the feeling that opposition states in the country are being sidelined by the national broadcaster.
“I think RTM is clearly not giving the state government, which is under Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS), any coverage, and the minister-in-charge (Gobind) should do something about it soon,” he said.
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| Visit Sarawak Campaign |
To prove his point, Abdul Karim pointed out that his press conference was not covered by RTM journalists, which added to his suspicion that state government events were being boycotted.
He went on to suggest that if Gobind was unable to do anything to address the situation, the latter should admit he was not up to task in carrying out his duties as a federal minister.
“It is frustrating for us (Sarawak government) as we feel that we have a lack of coverage from RTM. I thought it is RTM’s duty as a government organisation to unite the people of the country by giving coverage everywhere, even if the area is under opposition rule,” he said.
Abdul Karim further claimed that RTM’s action in not covering events in opposition-controlled states showed that the situation was even worse compared to when Barisan Nasional (BN) was the federal government.
“Even though Sarawak is under GPS and not the same coalition that subscribe to the federal government, Sarawakians are still Malaysians and still sing the same national anthem, Negaraku.”
He also said he would have understood if RTM boycotted the press conference if it was related to politics, but not when it was related to an upcoming golf tournament to be held in Sarawak from June 18-23 this year.
“The press conference today (yesterday) is on an international golf tournament scheduled to be held here in the state soon. How could RTM interpret this as a political function as we are only here to talk about the golf tournament and nothing else more than that.”
Last month, Gobind had reiterated that his ministry did not issue any directives or guidelines to RTM on giving coverage to states under opposition rule.
He said he had been informed that the decision on coverage was the result of RTM’s state-level internal discussions, and not due to instructions issued by him or his ministry. -TheBorneoPost
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