Minister claims fair practice.
Housing and Local Government Minister Nga Kor Ming has defended his response to a journalist during the launch of the “I Lite U” campaign, stating that both reporters and interviewees have rights in a media interaction.
He said the press conference, held in conjunction with Visit Malaysia Year 2026, aimed to attract foreign tourists and included international media representatives.
According to Oriental Daily News, Nga stressed that while journalists have the right to ask questions, interviewees also have the right to offer corrections, which he described as a fair practice. He added that it would be an overreaction if one could not accept being corrected slightly.
He explained that both his media briefing and the Kuala Lumpur mayor’s speech were conducted in Bahasa Malaysia despite the presence of foreign media.
“However, there was still a journalist who deliberately asked why the campaign slogan was not in Malay,” he said, suggesting the reporter was trying to stir trouble and embarrass the country in front of the foreign press.
The minister was responding to criticism over remarks made during the campaign launch. After being questioned on why the project theme is in English, Nga explained that as it was a tourism event, English was best suited to attract international tourists.
However, he later told the Utusan Malaysia reporter that he would contact chief editors concerning the question posed. “I don’t want you to come here and highlight something that will spoil the whole thing. I will call your chief editors,” he added.
Following the incident, the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) Peninsular Malaysia issued a statement expressing serious concern over what it described as the minister’s alleged attempt to intimidate a journalist.