In its “Malaysia Petang Ini” programme aired on Monday to discuss the controversy, the host said Al Jazeera should rightly be renamed Al-Jahiliyah, the Arabic term for “ignorance” which is usually used to refer to pagan Arabia.

“I feel that Al Jazeera, or after this issue, as I can call it, Al Jahiliyah, does not have any basis or perhaps lacks ethics. If we google, they are involved in a lot of controversies and criticism,” Herleena Pahlavy, one of the two hosts, said at the end of the programme.

She then closed with this statement: “I am Leena Pahlavy. Al Jazeera, you shut up.”

Bernama, the national news agency, comes under the jurisdiction of the communications and multimedia ministry.

FMT has contacted its minister Saifuddin Abdullah for his response.

Throughout the Bernama programme, the two hosts took pot shots at Al Jazeera over its 101 East programme titled “Locked up in Malaysia’s Lockdown”.

They also questioned the station for de-activating comments on the programme’s YouTube, saying this was due its fears about the power of Malaysian internet users.

Al Jazeera’s 25-minute episode, which focused on the authorities’ treatment of migrants under the movement control order (MCO) to contain the Covid-19 pandemic, has led to a sedition investigation by police into the Qatar-based news channel, as well as an immigration hunt for a Bangladeshi worker featured in the report.

Fake or not? Check our quick fake news buster here.