Govt mulls allowing candidates to campaign on govt official media

KUALA LUMPUR: The government is considering giving slots to Melaka state election candidates including the opposition to campaign via government official television and radio channels.

Communications and Multimedia Minister Tan Sri Annuar Musa said this is because the government understands the difficulties faced by all political parties especially new candidates to campaign in the new normal.

“I understand their problems and I accept the fact that some said they are handicapped especially the new candidates.

“Even though political parties have introduced new campaign methods, there is a need to let them appear on television networks.

“So we will be holding discussions with Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) on the possibility of giving equal slots to all candidates. I will make the announcement on the matter in a day or two,” he said.

He was speaking at a media conference after witnessing a demonstration of the ‘5G MultiOperator Core Network (MOCN) Integration’ at Titiwangsa Telekom Malaysia here yesterday.

Annuar was commenting on a request by Pakatan Harapan (PH) for all contesting parties in the Melaka election to be given slots in government official media to campaign. On Monday, the PH Communications, Digital and Multimedia Committee requested that each party be given at least 30 minutes to speak over TV1, TV2 and Bernama TV every night as well as 60 minutes on Melaka FM and Bernama Radio daily.

This followed the imposition of strict standard operating procedure (SOP) by the Election Commission (EC) which does not allow ceramah, rallies and houseto-house visits.

On the other hand, candidates have been urged to use television, newspapers and social media apart from disseminating messages using loud hailers on vehicles to deliver their manifesto and campaign messages.