‘FB POST IS LIM’S PERSONAL VIEW’
Loke says press secretary’s criticism of RTM should not be seen as infringement of media freedom
TRANSPORT Minister Anthony Loke has defended his aide Lim Swee Kuan following the latter’s criticism of Radio Television Malaysia (RTM) in a Facebook post recently.
Loke said the post was based on Lim’s personal view and should not be seen as an infringement of media freedom.
“It’s a question of why certain portions of the event were taken out if it was a live event. It is not about infringing media freedom.
“First, it is a government television station and the entire event was supposed to be broadcast live.
“So why were certain portions taken out? Anyway, I do not want to pursue this further,” he said after the groundbreaking of Railway Assets Corporation (RAC) Central Tower in Brickfields here yesterday.
Present were Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Kamarudin Jaffar, RAC general manager Azhar Ahmad and YTL Corporation Bhd managing director Datuk Yeoh Seok Hong.
On Sunday, Lim, who is Loke’s press secretary, took to Facebook, asking whether RTM was sabotaging the government, adding that an official letter would be sent to Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo.
This came after RTM failed to broadcast the speeches by Loke and Negri Sembilan Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Aminuddin Harun at the Chinese New Year Open House at Dataran Sentrio in Seremban, which was attended by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.
Lim’s post, however, drew backlash as it was seen as threatening RTM.
On whether RTM might have their own agenda, Loke said: “We do not want to make assumptions.”
Loke, who is Seremban member of parliament, said he never gave instructions (to Lim) to write the Facebook post and would leave the matter to Gobind to investigate.
Yesterday, Gobind said RTM had been told to submit a report on the incident. The Puchong MP asked RTM to list its standard operating procedures in handling requests for the station to cover an event.