Indonesia Shares Experience on Press Council with Malaysia
Selangor, Malaysia (ANTARA) - Indonesia and Malaysia exchanged experiences on the existence of their Press Councils in each country through the Media Solidarity Festival 2026 forum in Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia, on Sunday.
In the forum initiated by several Malaysian journalists’ associations, Abdul Manan, a member of the Indonesian Press Council, was present as one of the speakers sharing information on the existence and functions of the Press Council as well as independent press regulation in Indonesia.
“In this forum, we exchanged information on how self-regulation works in Malaysia and what has been implemented in Indonesia,” said Abdul Manan to ANTARA in Selangor on Sunday.
As a country that established an independent Press Council earlier than Malaysia, Indonesia shared experiences on strengthening independent media regulation mechanisms, including journalistic codes of ethics.
“Self-regulation includes codes of ethics; its function is not only to improve the standards of news quality produced and behavioural standards, but also for protection,” said Abdul Manan.
The Secretary General of the National Union of Journalists Malaysia (NUJM), Teh Athira Yusoff, said that Malaysia has had the Malaysian Media Council named Majlis Media Malaysia (MMM) for the past year.
Therefore, according to her, Malaysia is very interested in hearing directly from the experience of the Indonesian Press Council.
“We have just established the Media Council for one year. Now we are promoting the Media Council to the public, about how the Media Council works to represent the media and also how this institution helps the public understand the media,” said Teh Athira Yusoff.
Teh Athira said that the complaints function has only been implemented by the Malaysian Media Council in the last few months to provide space for anyone who feels harmed by media publications in Malaysia.
Before the Majlis Media Malaysia existed, disputes related to journalistic works were usually taken directly by the public to the relevant media or by filing a police report.
According to her, in the last few months, there have been at least 600 complaints from the public related to journalistic products, the majority of which concern news title publications, reporting accuracy, including information uploaded by media companies through social media.
In the session moderated by Malaysian Astro Awani journalist Luqman Hariz, speakers included Tempo journalist Agoeng Wijaya, Bernama journalist Soon Li Wei, and KiniTV journalist Vivian Yap.
The speakers shared experiences and challenges during coverage related to the environment, including aspects intersecting with local economy and politics.