The Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) has expressed regret over the reprimand issued by the Home Ministry to The Star over an article on the impounding of 5,000 copies of Bahasa Malaysia Bible.
The CIJ also called on the ministry to retract its reprimand and to cease issuing directives which interfere with the media’s public interest role.
“It is unclear what directives The Star have breached. The article essentially reported a statement by the National Evangelical Christian Fellowship secretary-general Sam Ang,” it said in a statement on Tuesday.
“In publishing the statement, The Star was doing its duty in monitoring power and allowing the aggrieved party its say. No Home Ministry directive should have such wide and far-reaching powers as to prohibit the publication of such a statement,” it added.
It also said that Ang's statement was in no way incendiary or inflammatory.
"It expressed the concern of a community whose constitutional freedoms have been infringed upon,” it said.
