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Mahathir Urges Media Prudence on Coverage of Terrorism
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, in a frivolous mood, urged media to be prudent in their coverage of terrorism on October 21.
"Don't report something that you have not yet verified, because it hurts our economy," Mahathir told a press conference in response to a question about anthrax.
The outspoken but humorous prime minister sparked waves of laughter from journalists in his reply. "If I speak the truth, the media is going to get very angry with me," he began amid laughter.
He said unconfirmed media reports have had "ill effects" on countries like Malaysia, especially on its tourism.
He took an anthrax scare incident as an example. When a letter from America could not find its addressee in Malaysia, it was sent back to the United States. Several months later, gel-like substance was found in the letter and it was examined for anthrax. It was tested positive first but following tests got confused results.
"But in the mean time, Malaysia is being accused of exporting anthrax; that is not being fair to Malaysia, because the people think Malaysia has got lots of anthrax to distribute all over the world.
"Obviously they are not going to visit Malaysia, only journalists will visit Malaysia because they want to see the anthrax," the prime minister quipped.
He said there were also reports indicating that Malaysia airlines is not safe because there is an Iraqi pilot working for the carrier. "Are we going to deny Iraqis any jobs simply because they are Iraqis?" he asked?
Mahathir has just attended the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders' informal meeting in Shanghai.
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