MCA spokesperson Mike Chong said the Sin Chew Daily reporter had merely approached a candidate and asked for personal details.

“At political events, many people violate SOPs. Why are they not fined, but a journalist is fined? This is unfair and illogical,” he said, calling for media freedoms to be preserved “rather than restricting them in inappropriate ways”.

The Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) said the problem arises from a lack of safe space for media reporting on the ground. The authorities should have given the media an equal opportunity to interview all candidates and other parties at the nomination centre, said CIJ executive director Wathshlah Naidu.

“There should be no undue barriers placed that would prevent the press from carrying out their role in disseminating critical and timely information,” she said.

She also urged the media to consider investing in better equipment to avoid crowding and to reduce the risk to their safety.

“More coordination is also needed among media organisations that would make it possible to protect the journalists on the ground better,” she said in a statement.

Earlier today, reporter Wong Kian Yong of Sin Chew Daily was issued a compound notice by a health ministry official who accused him of failing to observe physical distancing outside the nomination centre in Larkin. A reporter with news portal Malaysia Gazette, Khairulanuar Yahaya, was given a warning.