KUALA LUMPUR, May 3: The establishment of the Malaysian Media Council could be one of the factors for the country’s better performance on the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) World Press Freedom Index 2025, says Deputy Communications Minister Teo Nie Chin.
Malaysia made a jump of 19 spots to reach the 88th place in the The World Press Freedom Index, which was released yesterday. It was categorised under the “Problematic” countries. Other categories were under the “Difficult”, “Serious”, “Very Serious”. Among the countries that came under the “Satisfactory” zone were Australia and Canada. US was categorised “Problematic” while China and India were both categorised “Very Serious”. The Nordic countries were among the “Good”, while neighbouring Singapore surprisingly came under “Difficult”.
While the global trend in press freedom indicated a worrying trend with the average rate of press freedom down by 55 points, Malaysia showed a positive trend, she said in a statement issued here today.
For the first time, there has been a decline in press freedom worldwide, and the press facing difficulty is a a cause for concern, she said.
For media practitioners in more than half of the countries in the world are now either in the category of “facing difficultry” or in “very serious” situation, she said.
Teo said that the Malaysian Media Council Act that was passed at both the Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara this year, reflective of the Madani government to promote a free and responsible press, has been acknowledged with the rating.
It is not easy to strike a balance between facilitating the freedom of expression and ensuring societal harmony in a country like Malaysia with its multiracial and multireligion background, she said.
As the RSF pointed out, the advent of online platforms has further burdened the information space with the spread of contents that are manipulative in nature as well as where false information can be also easily viralled.
In view of this, she said the government has also taken steps to modernise existing regulations.
The Communications and Multimedia Act was amended n 2024 to provide clarity on several important matters, she said.
There are still more to be done and the ministry remains committed to ensuring that press freedom goes in hand with responsible reporting while the multitude of opinions can continue to be expressed and respected in the country.
— WE