Gerakan hopes the government’s proposal to translate news items in the Chinese newspapers is not an exercise to ‘supervise’ the Chinese press.

Gerakan’s head of central burean on unity, Dr Asharuddin Ahmad, said the noble exercise should be to promote mutual understanding of the different communities in the country.

“We hope it is not the government’s intention to pinpoint faults but to ensure that all races in the country can fully understand the meaning of the news items printed,” he said.

Dr Asharuddin said the media had the responsibility to deliver the people’s voice and it would be good for unity purposes if all Malaysians could fully understand what was being reported in the various newspapers.

“The people should be well-informed of the happenings in the country and it would benefit the nation and the people if we can take steps to avoid any form of suspicion between one community and another,” he said.

Dr Asharuddin echoed the call by the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) president Norila Daud that the editorials in Chinese and Tamil newspapers should also be translated into Bahasa Malaysia and English, to promote mutual understanding.

On Wednesday, Information, Communications, Culture and Arts Minister Datuk Seri Rais Yatim said the ministry was looking into the possibility of translating news items in the Chinese newspapers for all to read.

He said the ministry had been doing the translation since 1984 as a ‘safety pin” but now it might consider having the translations broadcast in RTM, if the need arose.