The Information, Communications and Culture Ministry has prepared a cabinet paper on equal media access for political parties to present their election manifestos to the people, Minister Dr Rais Yatim said today.

He said the paper was prepared following a request received by the ministry.

“But there has to be a caveat. The projection of the manifestos must be limited in time and must be according to the ground rules that we have at the ministry.

“It’s not something like free-for-all. It has to be based on the newsworthiness of each statement. For the manifestos, we've drawn up a basis of equality for all parties, including the Barisan Nasional,” he told reporters after opening a seminar on the thoughts of Malaysia’s prime ministers in Kuala Lumpur.  

Rais said the ministry looked forward to discussing the matter with various parties “who think that we should enhance certain aspects of the presentation”.

“But, again, I must say ... that the ground rules of the ministry must be observed and certain decorum will have to be observed as well,” he stressed.   

“This is for the sake of democracy and the practice of equality before the law,” he said.

Free and fair media access is one of the 22 recommendations of the parliamentary select committee on electoral reform presented to the Election Commission (EC) after they were passed without debate by the Dewan Rakyat on April 3.  

On the seminar, which carried the theme ‘Nurturing Cohesion in a Diverse 1Malaysia Community’, Rais said more such programmes should be held to enable the new generation to better understand the aspirations of every prime minister in developing the nation.

Citing the ideas of several former prime ministers, he said their ideas and opinions should be seen in the context of the policies established.

- Bernama