MCA 'uninvites' Mkini from covering AGM
MalaysiaKini.com
Oct 3, 2014

MCA has decided “not to invite” Malaysiakini to cover its annual general meeting scheduled for next weekend.

Secretary-general Ong Ka Chuan confirmed that the decision was made at today's central committee meeting.

“You had twisted the statements at some press interviews of some leaders (said the central committee), so they said not to invite you (to cover the AGM),” Ong told Malaysiakini today.

However he declined to say which particular news reports the central committee was referring to.

According to the Tanjung Malim MP, the committee also agreed to exclude several other online media from the AGM, but he did not name them.

However, Ong stressed that this is not permanent and MCA will review the decision after the AGM.

MCA will hold its AGM on Oct 11 and 12.

This will be MCA's first AGM after Liow Tiong Lai was elected as party president last year.

During the tenure of Liow's predecessor, Dr Chua Soi Lek, the party never stopped Malaysiakini from reporting on its AGMs.

MCA's counterpart in BN – Umno – has for the last two years banned Malaysiakini from covering its AGM.

The last time when Umno issued its AGM media pass to Malaysiakini was in 2011, when only two passes were permitted, despite 17 applications being submitted.

Before that, Malaysiakini had been unsuccessful in its applications for media accreditation cards to cover the Umno general assemblies, and its reporters did so by squatting in the audio-visual room.

This went on uninterrupted for several years until 2010, when “unaccredited media organisations” were given the boot from the room  - and only a handful of accreditation cards were issued after several appeals.

Not allowed to attend press conference

Meanwhile, Malaysiakini also barred from attending the press conference that was held after the MCA central committee meeting, despite having been invited to cover it.

The press secretary to Liow (left), Lim Chau Leng, told the reporter to instead publish the report from national news agency Bernama.

However, Lim refused to comment when asked about the invitation Malaysiakini received from him, via a WhatsApp chat group, to cover the press conference.

Lim also turned down this reporter's request for Liow to comment on the reversal of the invitation to Malaysiakini to report on the MCA AGM, claiming that Liow was attending a series of meetings.

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