Minister for  Energy, Water and Communications, Datuk Seri Lim Keng Yaik should give four-month grace till end of the year  to allow a  popular Chinese-language radio station Wah FM to find a formula to continue operations

Media Statement (3)
by Lim Kit Siang  

(Parliament, Thursday): The Minister for  Energy, Water and Communications, Datuk Seri Lim Keng Yaik should give four-month grace till end of the year  to allow a  popular Chinese-language radio station Wah FM to find a formula to continue operations.

The closure of Wah FM on 31^st August 2005 will cast a shadow on the  National Day celebrations, which is already under a cloud as a result of the worst haze disaster in the history of Peninsular Malaysia.

Giving Wah FM four months’ grace till the end of the year to find a permanent solution so that it could continue to operate as a radio station would be a suitable National Day present to the listeners of Wah FM.

In the interim, Keng Yaik should support the establishment of a Parliamentary Select Committee on Communications when Parliament meets next month on September 19 so that the all-party parliamentary committee can hold hearings about radio and television stations, including Wah FM, to ensure that popular stations do not have to close down because of bureaucratic rules or conditions.

(11/08/2005)