KUALA LUMPUR: The government should stop intimidating the media and focus on investigating allegations of wrongdoing and dubious deals involving state investor 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), a media freedom advocacy group said yesterday.

Gerakan Media Marah (Geramm) reminded the government that the media serve public interest and have a duty to unearth alleged corruption and improprieties.

“While the integrity and security of commercial data and business transactions are an issue of great concern to all, but when the wider issue of public interest is at hand, and if corruption and impropriety are involved, it is contingent upon the media to unearth such issues,” Geramm, a loose coalition of journalists, media representatives and activists, said.

The group was commenting on a threat by Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi on Wednesday that the ministry has the power to cancel or revoke publishing permits if the media are found publishing false information.

The minister singled out The Edge weekly and its owner Datuk Tong Kooi Ong for special mention. The Edge has published several reports on 1MDB’s dealings.

Ahmad Zahid said the information published might be false, following news that data and emails leaked about 1MDB’s dealings with PetroSaudi International had been fabricated by a former director of PetroSaudi.

The news about fabricated data was first reported by the New Straits Times, which quoted an anonymous source for private cybersecurity firm Protection 

Group International.

Geramm said yesterday that “[Ahmad] Zahid had spouted broad hints that the media and journalists who reported on the matter may also face the brunt of ongoing investigations, expressing willingness to take action and extradite Malaysians or those in Malaysia if required by Thai investigators”.

Instead of shooting the messenger, it added, Putrajaya should ensure it practises greater responsibility and accountability to the public.

“It is no use to try to silence the tale by killing the storyteller.”

PKR, meanwhile, said Ahmad Zahid’s warning to the media was premature as the PetroSaudi ex-employee, Xavier Andre Justo, had not been proved guilty.

The party’s communications director Fahmi Fadzil said being accused of something does not mean that the accusation is true.

“By law, a person charged in court is innocent until proven guilty. The former director [of PetroSaudi], as far as I know, has not even been charged in court.

“To equate the warning on the basis of allegations is premature,” Fahmi said in a statement yesterday, and urged the minister to withdraw his warning against The Edge.

Justo was arrested in Koh Samui, Thailand, on Monday, and is being investigated for alleged blackmail and fabrication of data and emails regarding PetroSaudi’s dealings with 1MDB, which he leaked to whistle-blower website Sarawak Report.

Justo has denied the allegations, Thai media reported.

In a related development, a little known group calling itself the Malaysian Chinese Network urged police to initiate investigations into all media outlets that have reported and published news on 1MDB.

This, according to the non-governmental organisation’s president Ng Lum Yong, is because they have published articles based on the “forged documents” provided by Justo.

Ng lodged a police report at the Dang Wangi police headquarters in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, and singled out The Edge and The Malaysian Insider as examples of media outlets responsible for such reporting.

“All local media organisations operating in Malaysia must be investigated by police for publishing articles using the forged documents provided by Justo, who has been detained on charges of extortion.”

When asked how he came to the conclusion that the information used were false, Ng said: “As shown, many of the numbers quoted are sometimes not accurate.

“The Edge wrote articles on 1MDB, but the details were not exact.

“Therefore, this causes chaos to our economy,” said Ng, who is a former PKR founding member, at a brief press conference in front of the police station.

The Malaysian Insider is part of The Edge Media Group, which publishes The Edge. — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on June 26, 2015.