SHAH ALAM: Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) vice president Datuk Seri Mujahid Yusof Rawa today urged party members to stand by the government’s principle in upholding media freedom.
“We’ve been criticising the Barisan Nasional government for coming down hard on the media. We’ve been preaching about media freedom, so how can we do the same thing (as BN did)? We can’t contradict with whatever we are fighting for.
“We are working towards balancing media freedom and accountability. So, don’t panic. Trust in us and we will do the best to achieve this,” he said in his winding-up speech at Amanah’s fourth national congress held here.
Some of the delegates in their speeches yesterday had urged the government to make use of the mass media to further promote its initiatives.
Meanwhile, Mujahid also stressed on the importance of adopting 'Rahmatan lil Alamin' (mercy to all creations) approach in all aspects of life.
“We need to be sensitive towards our non-Muslim friends. I’m embarrassed when a non-Muslim member pointed out that the dishes served to delegates here were not labelled, such as mutton or beef.
“Here we are, preaching about being an inclusive party when we can’t even address such simple matter,” said Mujahid.
On the targeted fuel subsidy programme, he pointed out that the initiative was part of the Pakatan Harapan election manifesto.
“We (government) are spending RM2.2 billion and will be able to save some RM10 billion under this programme.
"Claims by delegates that this programme will not benefit the M40 (middle income group) are baseless as over eight million people under this group will enjoy the subsidy, while there are two million people under the B40 (bottom 40 per cent income),” said Mujahid, who is Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Religious Affairs).