Hindraf 5 not forgotten, Umno must go!
May 22, 2008
By Helen Ang
___________________________
A few days ago, Haris was featured as headliner in a RockyBru blog posting, and below are the pertinent bouquets and brickbats.
Yapchongyee commented: “If Dato Sri Anwar does not take this opportunity to form government and is sidetracked by such nonsense like what is opposed by this fellow Harris Ibrahim, then come the next election the BN will rigged and stuff the ballot boxes MASSIVELY. Do not listen to little minds that play to the stumbling block, like morals & ethics as if that had ever prevented the BN from committing all that is dirty in politics.”
And from chickenfeet: “He and a few people like him are (at this moment of time) the remaining conscience of the society.”
How will People’s Parliament keep the delicate balance between conscionable and sanctimonious?
I was idealistic when I titled one of my earlier posts ‘With clean hands and a clear conscience’. But in confronting the “crooked BN buggers” – to borrow a Netizen’s description – we may not be able to keep our hands as antiseptically clean as we’d like.
So inasmuch as Haris does not trust Anwar (and I share his reservations), looking at BN’s behaviour post-March 8, we can only conclude that they still don’t get it. Allocation meant for the people have been plundered by BN representatives, leaving the coffers dry upon Pakatan taking over.
When BN was in absolute power, they had determinedly withheld disbursements to Opposition reps. Now they’re busy emptying bank accounts, diverting budgets and treating the rakyat’s money like it’s their own personal purse. Far from rehabilitating, BN has only indicated that there’s faint hope of reform to be expected from them.
It’s an immense responsibility for People’s Parliament to take on the mantle of moral outrage. That’s why in my writings here, I’ve consistently appealed to readers to follow the dictates of their individual conscience. When I was insistent ‘If you cannot do what is right, at least refrain from doing what is wrong’, I had directed the precept strictly at the decision-makers and movers in MSM.
Basically, if you cannot report honestly, don’t publish op-eds like theSun did with its ‘Not everybody needs to demonstrate, please’ which said Bersih is ‘a group whose acronym could be mistaken for a Clean Toilet campaign’.
The next major street demo was Hindraf who unlike theSun’s same article above that said, “All I wanted to do last Saturday was go for a facial …” all the Indians wanted was justice. It is a terrible injustice that the Hindraf 5 are still under ISA. How can Malaysian society allow those Indian lawyers and the rest of the detainees to remain in Kamunting? It’s as galling as Ops Lalang, that indelible inkblot on Mahathir Mohamad’s filthy hands.
The most realistic way to get the Hindraf leaders out is through Parliament action; BN MPs who have some saving graces should breach the party line and support the repeal of ISA according to their conscience. Or otherwise, BN must be relegated to the Opposition benches.
Granted, Dr M is mighty mischievous with his current antics and fanning sentiments. But at the same time, it is also opportune for civil society to help hasten Umno’s implosion, while keeping an eye on the witchdoctor’s potential for troublemaking. Umno is clearly beyond redemption. Look at their next echelon of leaders: Can we stomach someone from the ranks of Kerisham, Rustam, Khairy or Mukhriz to be future PM of this country?
Weakening Umno need not be a full frontal assault but sniper fire from every direction. Raja Petra’s alleged ‘sedition’, for instance, is one spike through the chink of the party’s rusty armour. Civil society activism can take the form of challenging the various institutions and programmes that prop up the BN nexus of patronage and money-minting.
To me, MSM is definitely part of the government machinery and what we in blogosphere should steadfastly do is to peel the scales off people’s eyes and expose the duplicity of MSM. Turn the tide further against BN by neutralising MSM’s influence. MSM has always upheld “working within the system”; but truly, the system must be dismantled.
While we’re not yet storming the Bastille, I believe the rakyat must continue revolting. Until the Hindraf 5 are freed
May 22, 2008 at 2:41 pm
In the same way that the lies of the Govt, EC & EC Chief, I Raja Polis and A Gong Generalissimo vis-a-vis the India Ink scandal has now been expposed, I Raja Polis’ lies about the Hindraf 5’s links to Tamil Tiger Terrorists must be challenged.
I Raja Polis must substantiate his claims or resign forthwith. He has had more than sufficient time to investigate
If he waffles on about some rumours from unknown PAS Politicians or unknown sources or information from sources that cannot be disclosed for National Security reasons, we know what it is - Masai Ooomgagala or plain establishment bullshit!!
Hindraf 5 are neither a political party nor a threat to our national security. Their incarceration under ISA Mohd. is untenable. The only matter on which they should be held accountable for and apologise is the claim of ‘ethnic cleansing.’ This they should clarify.
If they meant systemic marginalisation of their community vis-a-vis jobs and promotions in Govt & Quasi Govt establishments, bias in award of scholarships and places in Universities & Colleges (lack of application of meritocracy), disrespect on temple issues, etc etc then they should articulate their grievancs logically, without over the top rhetoric.
Whichever way you look, the use of ISA Mohd. on Hindraf 5 is typical Hitler-Nazi & Stalin-type authoritarianism; Sledgehammer to a fly response from a Govt lacking in confidence!!
May 22, 2008 at 3:58 pm
Helen dear,
The issue here is essentially: No to ISA.
I dont really givashit about the Hindraf 5. There are others who have been rotting in Kamunting much longer then your 5 heroes. Lets not miss the woods for the trees.
May 22, 2008 at 4:05 pm
An incisive and insightful piece by Helen.
The 50 years of unbridled power has resulted in what it is today - disabled with septic arthritis, unable to think clearly, blinded by the acrid smoke of its racist agenda, deaf to the voices of regular Malaysians, unable to choose between conflicting priorities, reactive and altogether self-centered.
Compounding its problems is a fawning “hand kissing” media cheered on by the courtesans from the Emperor’s New Clothes.
Much of this malady was spread by the machinations of our own Dr Mengle during his 22 year regime when a potent mix of incompetence, cronyism and racist arrogance was slowly infused into the system to poison all institutions, known and unknown.
The March 8th response was a natural corollary (and a systemic response) to the damage caused by ineptitude. Despite the results which clearly indicates a marked decline in almost all aspects of governance and quality of life, the coalition’s unwillingness to reassess its political conduct simply points to the terminal nature of its condition. Having lost its ability to sense decline, it will perhaps awaken only in the face of disaster.
BN cannot reform. If it does, it will cease to be BN. And so it will slip and slide “boats against the current bearing [it] ceaselessly into the past” (with apologies to F Scott Fitzgerald).
May 22, 2008 at 6:26 pm
Helen, Helen,
Yer can’t leave theSun alone, can you. Btw looking back at that article -
http://www.sun2surf.com/article.cfm?id=19973
by the award winning ex hardcopy journo and soon to be another on-liner news distributor, I realized that none of her friends who were mentioned in that article were at or interested to participate in the BERSIH rally. Comfort zoners, I guess.
And after all that’s done by others, JAS then popped up at BUM2008 and the CIJ WPFD events. Malaysiavotes re-launching ah?
———————————————————————————————————
On a serious note, there are perhaps another 70-90 inmates at Kamunting who deserve equal attention. Not just for the Hindraf 5.
However, I’d highlight one in particular i.e. Buhary Seyed Abu Tahir, a Sri Lankan who is married to a Malaysian. He’s been incarcerated since 28th May 2004 upon his arrest by the RMP for allegedly arranging to supply Libya with aluminium centrifuges capable of enriching uranium.
These components were manufactured through a business collaboration with AAB’s son, KA, through SCOPE (Scomi Precision Engineering). An investigation was carried out and the local authorities plus foreign agencies, including the CIA, found no evidence of collusion by KA or SCOPE.
BSA Tahir was however implicated in several other NPT infringements therefore was deemed a threat to national security.
My contention - is BSA Tahir still under investigation by the local authorities or is the AAB administration awaiting further instructions from foreign security agencies and if so, who are these foreign investigators? IAEA? CIA?
While BSA Tahir awaits his fate, is Kamunting now a designated CIA rendition site for terrorist(s) pending evidence to charge them in a court of law?
Sounds and looks like GITMO to me.
Relevant links -
http://www.iranwatch.org/government/Malaysia/malaysia-police-libyareport-022004.htm
and
http://www.redorbit.com/news/general/43312/ap_nuclear_financier_has_ties_to_malaysia/
May 22, 2008 at 8:20 pm
Shar, Shar,
Re “Yer can’t leave theSun alone, can you” … Et tu, Brutus?
Well, come on! That free paper said The Boss part of a “Clean Toilet campaign” — as a member of Bersih, and hey, I’ve other toilet cleaner friends in that campaign too.
If Haris permits, I’ll post later on my rationale on theSun as contrasted to the allegation that I’m letting off NST easy. I believe my reasons to be reasonable.
May 22, 2008 at 9:22 pm
donplaypuks:
What’s with this “ISA Mohd.” thingy?
Are you mocking the name of our Prophet (Peace be upon him)? If you think you are funny, better think again.
You are moving into dangerous waters, my friend, so give it a rest.
The Ancient Mariner
May 22, 2008 at 9:23 pm
I tought you people forgot about this guys.
Hai helen,u write and haris posted.My major arguement started when i become a leech for this subject once upon a time for haris.
Haris almost get a cardiac arrest because of me.this time no comments from me about hindraf5 until further update from haris.I took his words earlier will hold to his points until he clarify futher/update further.
I also get bashing from sloone blogs when my comments stuck for moderation almost 72hours.i do follows up.
rajraman666.Hope haris wont get a heart attack because of me.SO this issue for me will be follows up without comments like leech.
May 22, 2008 at 9:42 pm
Hi Helen,
After reading your article, couldn’t resist going back to that Sun article on Bersih.
Funny, how more things register when you read something after a stretch of time.
Did any of you notice the calculated use of the word ‘SOME’ sprinkled throughout the article? Let me quote some SOMES of JAS:
1. “organised by some coalition known as BERSIH”
2. “to deliver some memorandum to the King”
3. “The group had apparently some disenchantment with
the way general elections are conducted in
Malaysia..”
4. “..I had to cover some rally”
5. “Some semblance of my Saturday had to be
defended…”
Wow! Talk about equating the honest intents of Bersih with a lame word like ’some’, not forgetting poking fun at the group with her Toilet campaign comment. Ma’am, your propensity to please the politicians is very clear.
It’s a me, me me and myself and mine, for those in comfort zones. Note the following:
1.”my well-earned day off”
2.”my plans were going to be scuttled by a group”
3. “being a mere civilian”
4.”I’d rather sleep the day off”
5. “year-end bonuses are in the pipeline”
6. “if I wasn’t going to feel terribly cheated of my
day”
7. “I wasn’t sure just who to cuss at”
8. ‘I grumbled”
9. “She had stressed-out clients like me to soothe and
beautify”
10. “a Saturday I had been dreading”
11. “Wet, tired and with blistered feet”
How in the world someone would think of writing in that vein when the Bersih rally was dead serious and merited fair discussion and analysis beats me! It’s like complaining you could not get to your favourite cake shop because there had been a terrible accident and ten people had had the audacity to die in that accident, causing massive traffic jams and denying you your cake.
Oh, dear. So that’s what journalism has become - writing a personal journal or diary of your day.
Now I understand. That article was not a miserable, failed attempt at irony. It was a ‘Dear Diary’ piece. As are so many others in MSM.
Nah. No threat to Malaysiakini or the others holding sway now in cyberspace because more than anything else, it’s a credibility issue.
May 23, 2008 at 12:22 am
Helen
The Ancient Mariner, I think, said it best. Even those on board the Titanic JUMPED! The UMNO-BN ship is sinking. Conscience and your commitment to travel the Titanic does not bind you to go down with that ship. Everything that is evil is personified in the UMNO-BN coalition. O.k la for many voters it has taken 50 years to see the evil in BN before they turned on them. As for the few good ones left in UMNO-BN, I would not fault them if they jumped. Unles of course they have been paid to jump.
As I have previously said in an earlier posting, as much as Haris desires MPs to talk to their electorates first before jumping, I think that luxury might not be available. Time will not stand still until that town hall meeting is held. You surely can expect the UMNO-BN juggernaut to do something more evil than the conscience and ethics some of you are throwing around as a restraint. I suppose you would rather prefer the sinking of the Titanic itself first before you would permit anyone to board another ship.
Fact of the matter is, if you needed to save yourself and those of the others, jumping had to happen even before Titanic tilted. Waiting for it to sink first is just foolhardy.
May 23, 2008 at 9:28 am
At first glance, I too found Jacqueline Ann Surin’s article baffling because I know her as a former colleague at the Star and before that, as a concerned member of civil society (I think I first met her at a meeting for Acheh). Though we have never been close, I do know what she stands for and I know that writing such an article is a disservice she would never do to one of the freedoms she holds dear - that of expression. At the time her article came out, I was one of the posters for the egroup Berita Malaysia and I made a conscious effort not to spread that weird article until I found out what was going on.
So I asked my smart friend Sonia Randhawa, who knows Jacq better. She interpreted the article as Jacq’s attempt to show that for every person who were going to the rally that day, there were a dozen others who were involved indirectly through their concern for the person’s safety. Kind of like how Rehman Rashid described the paralysing effect of the ISA on the families and friends of the detainees, that it was not just one person who was arrested, but a whole nation of fathers, mothers, siblings, etc., though he conveyed the message better as it was through his book, “A Malaysian Journey”, where he was free to write down his thoughts (BTW, that’s a must-read book about journalism and the Mahathir era, no matter what you may think of the author now).
Re-reading Jacq’s article (http://sun2surf.com/article.cfm?id=19973), sure enough, I started to see what’s between the lines, literally: that there were others who couldn’t go, but were “keeping tabs” on phone, TV, Internet, and offering prayers for a peaceful vigil.
My guess is, she was attempting to find a creative way around the directive to play down the Bersih rally (remember the context?). So she assumed this Mak Datin agenda, while managing to describe everything that happened - from the jam-causing roadblocks that started way before the rally, even from the day before (note that she never said the rally caused the jam and she even stated the reason for the blocks - to stop demonstrators from coming into the city), the persistence of the protesters despite a “very wet Saturday”, the reception they got from the FRU.
Whatever her intention was, I heard that the article generated a lot of angry responses. Which can be taken positively, as it goes to show again how much support Bersih had (confirmed later at the ballot box
Of course, the best person to clarify everything is Jacq herself, which I hope she will do. I hear she’s writing a book about her journalistic experiences. Perhaps you will judge her differently when you get the whole picture of what she was trying to do with that article.
Which brings me to my last point. Many of you are quick to jump on her for that single article. Have you read enough of her writings to know what her take is on justice, human rights and freedom of expression? She is not Wong Chun Wai, whose writings over the past years speak for themselves, even if he may be trying to do a hasty U-turn now in the wake of the political earthquake (hilarious for those of us who remember how he tried to defend Star’s one-sided coverage of the Reformasi rallies).
That’s another story that I hope Jacq will expose in her book, since she was one of the principal journalists who demanded accountability from the editors over that.
She was also one of the initiators of the journalists’ petition to repeal the PPPA in 1999, which was presented to the Parliament. The government’s response was to set up a press council. Seemingly an ideal answer, it was not, given the proposed non-independent feature of the council (think Suhakam) and the fact that the law will still not be repealed.
May 23, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Yes, pray tell what you were trying to do with the article,JAS. The honest-to-goodness truth and nothing else.
May 23, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Internal Security Act 1960 is being used by the master in POWER to undermine the people of Malaysia. Let us all Malaysian regardless of race and religion go against this Act for once and for all.If a person is found to be inciting ’seditious’ than the person should be tried in the open court. Do we still believe in the system of law in Malaysia ?
May 23, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Memanglah Malaysia semua boleh, kita boleh tahan orang tanpa bicara. Kalau ada orang yang cakap lebih-lebih boleh tangkap juga tak payah bawa mahkamah terus sumbat ke penjara Kamunting. Undang-undang ini dicipta oleh manusia mengikut kesesuaian pada ketika itu tahun 1960 an. Masa itu ada Komunis… sekarang masih ada Komunis di arena politik. Jadi sebagai alat untuk menidakkan hak rakyat kena pakai lah law macam ini. Alasan mereka Malaysia negara majmuk kena ada law macam ini baru boleh aman, kalau tidak akan terus berperang. Apa nak jadi ? HINDRAF untuk hantar memorandum dulu kepada PM untuk meminta sesuatu yang mereka rasa adil tapi permintaan mereka itu dilihat sebagai ancaman kepada negara pulak. Sebenarnya masalah dengan Hindraf ini bukan apa, mereka mahukan bahagian yang sepatutnya diberikan kepada mereka sahaja. Bukan minta hak Melayu dan Cina. Mereka minta hak sebagai warga Malaysia yang sudah 51 tahun merdeka. Ini orang Indonesia, Bangladesh,Burma, Pakistan,India lagi diberi kemudahan dan penjagaan. Rakyat sendiri dianaktirikan. Ini yang jadi masalah kepada kepimpinan negara sekarang. Kerajaan rakyat untuk rakyat… betulkah macam itu sekarang ? Tengok sekitar kita dimana-mana orang warga asing lagi ramai semua sektor, perniagaan, perkilangan, aliran wang keluar negara tak ambil peduli selagi ada puak yang untung, peduli apa dengan orang lain. Janji aku untung. Beginilah sikap pemimpin masa sekarang. Tak kena kepala sendiri boleh jalan sudah. Menyampah sungguh. Hasil negara yang begitu banyak pi mana pun tak tahu kononnya bagi subsidi…rakyat semakin susah.Keperluan asas sudah meningkat. Malaysia antara pengeluar minyak kelapa sawit yang besar di dunia tapi kat sini susah pulak nak cari minyak sawit untuk masak. Semua ini taktik nak ekspot nak untung lebih. Peduli apa aku. Aku tak susah. Pada hal aku tak masak pun kat rumah. Aku dok makan hotel saja pasal ada duit banyak. Nasib orang miskin pulak macam mana ? Gaji sebulan RM 700 kena bayar sewa rumah, bil api & air, anak sekolah, petrol, makan minum. Yang kaya tetap kaya yang miskin papa kedana. Semua ini kena berubah. Rakyat kena berubah untuk minta keadilan. Biar semua rakyat Malaysia rasa hidup yang cemerlang. Kena berubah. Jom Ubah pun macam tu jugak. Dua Kali lima, Lima Kali Dua…
May 23, 2008 at 5:32 pm
Siew Eng my friend,
However much leeway you grant JAS, the bottomline remains that “writing such an article is a disservice” – very much so.
Your ex-colleague was heavily advertised by theSun. The ad-copy went: “Some may say she cares too much. For people of different faiths, for ethnic minorities, she gets personal. When she gets personal, she gets an award.”
I agree absolutely with Farida that the only personal caring I see is “me, me, me and myself and mine, for those in comfort zones”.
Nat Tan on Hindraf was intensely personal and any reader could tell he cared. I wrote him afterwards that the piece was his shining moment — he’s not a trained journo. MalaysiaVotes makes much ado touting their self-professed strong dedication to professionalism (your Berita Malaysia picked up the Thurs. Star article — another current occasion for self-promo by mVotes founders).
Please tell me why a young ‘unprofessional’ delivered seminal writing when the much vaunted award-winning professional failed? If you, with equal my years in journalism, “found her article baffling”, what more the average reader. Isn’t that a cop-out coming from theSun which would have Malaysia believe it’s the bravest, most incisive paper in town?
You cite her close friend as interpreting “the article as Jacq’s attempt to show that for every person who were going to the rally that day, there were a dozen others who were involved indirectly through their concern for the person’s safety”.
I really don’t think that’s the main issue with an epochal event like Bersih. When Haris lit his candle at Dataran Merdeka for RPR, I was “involved indirectly through my concern for his safety” but I don’t think Helen ought to be the subject of historical record, as the Bersih people power (otherwise Clean Toilet campaign) assuredly is.
So if one is to stridently claim “journalistic standards of fairness, factual accuracy, accountability and balance” – as the founders do for their website tagline – then to sorely miss what it is that makes news does not acquit well of ‘professionalism’ at all.
And Siew Eng, if I wanted to “read between the lines”, I’d grab a Henry James novel.
To put it plainly and “on the line”, the excuses just don’t wash, especially for a paper that declares they provide “the only place we air our views in the open” (yup, ad-copy from theSun’s marketing campaign again, and more soundbites following), “when [theSun team] write, the man on the street has a voice”, “[they’ll] do anything for a story”, “we’ll dissect, we’ll analyse”, “no issue too sensitive” … yadda, yadda.
In the aftermath of Bersih and Hindraf, for all their chest-thumping, I only heard a deafening silence from theSun (well, possibly the rinsing and daub-daub of a facial).
I wouldn’t know about “find a creative way around the directive to play down the Bersih rally”. Didn’t you after all say: “She was also one of the initiators of the journalists’ petition to repeal the PPPA in 1999″, so what’s this about obeying unconscionable directives?
You say, “Perhaps you will judge her differently when you get the whole picture of what she was trying to do with that article.” Hartal has seen what she tried to do with her Jan 31 farewell column. What we did not see was what she tried to do to make amends for “a miserable, failed attempt at irony” – if it can be generously passed off as such.
“Many of you are quick to jump on her for that single article. Have you read enough of her writings to know what her take is on justice, human rights and freedom of expression?”
Enough, thank you but we expect mVotes to scream for more attention pretty soon.
But for now, these suffice, http://www.sun2surf.com/article.cfm?id=19689
http://harismibrahim.wordpress.com/2008/02/19/do-malaysian-newspapers-not-publish-clarification/
Cheers, Siew Eng
May 23, 2008 at 9:07 pm
Siew Eng,
I am reminded of what my ex-Group Editor once said to bring down the egoistic temperature of some journalists, which went something like this: “Don’t forget that yesterday’s wonderful article is often used to wrap up today’s fish.” Journalists are only as good as their last article.
JAS has gone on to write other articles since her Bersih ‘fiasco’, yet that article continues to stay on negatively in the public memory. Why?
I think it is because we had learnt to trust her writing and her convictions, and what she did amounted to more than journalistic betrayal. The least one could expect of her was fair coverage but her article had that distinguishable mocking tone.
Helen has put it best : ” Basically, if you cannot report honestly, don’t publish op-eds like theSun did with its ‘Not everybody needs to demonstrate, please’ which said Bersih is ‘a group whose acronym could be mistaken for a Clean Toilet campaign’. ”
Siew Eng, your defence of JAS harkens so much to her past credits but we know the human character is never static. Every day we are faced with choices, often hard ones. Good choices shape our character. Bad ones reflect our character. And very often, the best test of character is what you decide to do when called upon to do the unthinkable, to do what is totally against your conscience.
You equate JAS’S writing on Bersih with Rehman Rashid’s re. “the paralysing effect of the ISA on the families and friends of the detainees, that it was not just one person who was arrested, but a whole nation of fathers, mothers, siblings, etc ”
I think you have done Rehman a disservice. There’s a world of a difference between the motivation of the two in what they wrote at those times. Rehman wrote with sympathy. JAS?
If hers wasn’t an indulgent and mocking piece, I’d like to stand corrected. So enlighten me.
May 23, 2008 at 9:23 pm
Helen, I really think you’re off-tangent, but I have said all I wanted to say and we can agree to disagree.
I also find Star and NST - two companies where you’ve worked for - more worthy of scrutiny for their longer history of crimes to the truth (wish you would train your harangue on them!). Kinda like how most of us would be extremely critical of old-man BN rather than new-kid-on-the-block PR, though the latter should be made to face the same chopping board were there no selective prosecution.
Fairness is also about perspective and proportion.
FYI, this is neither here nor there, but I have been asked by Cindy whether I was interested to join their new outfit. I have offered to help in any way I can - but rising to their defence is not one of it, rest assured!
Talk again.
May 23, 2008 at 10:06 pm
Farida, yes the human character can change - but it would take something monumental to make that pivotal shift from north to south, and it would not happen overnight. Especially for someone who has repeatedly revealed her convictions, through action and words.
And BTW, she was also one of those arrested at the
APCET meeting. Unless one was Anwar, an experience like that, and countless more suppression during the Mahathir/Reformasi era, would mark one for life to fight for FoA, etc.
Rather, I would think that writing is the more malleable of the two, though it’s certainly not easy to attempt a different style - especially using irony - as how Jacq’s little experiment has shown.
(Am reminded of a letter writer aeons back who suggested that “Jack and Jill” be banned for the suggestive content (what else can both be up to on top of the hill where it is geographically impossible to obtain groundwater from a well, and to see both tumbling down the hill after that!) in response to some ludicrous suggestion to censor something as innocuous (forgot what it was). A burst of indignant letters followed until a wry fella pointed out the real intention of the letter writer, but advising him to change his style. That was a lesson for me, too.
We should enlighten each other over tea or some such civil society gathering. Online exchanges tend to get rancorous…
Back in KL in June. Hope to be, and see you, at CIJ (http://www.cijmalaysia.org).
May 23, 2008 at 10:27 pm
The war of writing skill and reporters reporting started.
I thought this topic about HINDRAF5 AND umno with barisan nasional pocketing their cronises our money.
oTHER then donplaypuks point blank about HINDRAF5 and ISA the topic became reporters bashing each other.
Rajraman666.Thought want be the obsever but had to become busybody/buzybody.(cant even spell,can the reporters spells for me please)
May 23, 2008 at 10:54 pm
PS And Rehman Rashid is of course way up there as a writer. No mistaking anything he writes.
May 24, 2008 at 12:25 pm
Raj Raman,
There is a connection because MSM reporters have been saying that Hindraf are Tamil terrorists, samseng, a threat to Malay rights, demanding whiners, troublemakers, FRU taunters, traffic disruptors, and that their supporters do not have the right to drive to KL – stopped as they are at police roadblocks for having dark skin.
If you’ll read Nanda’s ‘Where does the buck stop with MSM?’, he quotes theSun’s consultant editor Zainon Ahmad admitting the newspaper obeyed a Home Ministry directive to limit their story on both the Hindraf rally and Bersih to one picture and 10 paragraphs.
So Raj, if — as you observe now — reporters (in the case of Farida and me, non-practising) are pitting writing skills against each other, those who do so in blogs contribute ours for free because we sympathize with Hindraf and do not consider Bersih to be a Clean Toilet campaign.
Now talking about ‘Follow the Money’, this was reported in The Star’s Wikimedia column on Thurs. “Another area where it [M’siaVotes] shares a similarity to Malaysian Insider is speculation about its owners. Many industry folks think MalaysiaVotes’ financier is a newspaper owner who has been known to fancy Internet ventures.”
Star quotes Cindy (the same one mentioned above by Siew Eng). “We are contractually bound not to reveal who our financial backers are, unless they themselves decide to reveal their identities,” says Tham. “We can only tell you that they are Malaysian investors who do not belong to any political party or government agency or NGO.”
And this is what JAS replied in February when the new website went on their publicity blitz. (Malaysiakini interview question): ‘For transparency purposes, can you reveal your financial backers?’
JAS: “At this moment in time, both Cindy and I are contractually bound not to reveal who our financial backers are, unless they themselves decide to reveal their identities. We can only tell you that they are Malaysian investors who do not belong to any political party or government agency or NGO.”
Wow, another one for the Malaysia Book of Records. Unless the M’siaVotes co-founders are Siamese twins who think identically – note the word for word – they’ve got their pat answers memorized. Actually, their standard replies show in their prepared PR responses at open forum Q&A with detractors, of which they have many.
Whether in print or now, as New Media, MSM ‘are’ indeed cronies. If you’ll look at my ‘MSM Machiavellian machinations’ post, there is Comment #7 by Mustafa saying: “The behaviour of the MSM (that are linked to the BN component parties and their economic allies) generally reminds one of the adage that the leopard finds it difficult to change its spots.”
You will find that the same smudgy spots showing – ‘our Government-say-so type “journalism” – whether the medium is print or cyber.
Pity Siew Eng did not accept Cindy’s job offer. Then I could have asked her who signs the paycheque.
May 24, 2008 at 5:06 pm
SUN-STROKE, THE MINI-SERIES:
• Save yourself from Sun-stroke!
• Toss the Sun-block! Danger, danger, Sun-stroke …
• Sun-stroke: Help! MCA think tank a tipple
• Sun-stroke: Aiyah, no need to think lah, MCA already tanked
RELATED ARTICLES:
• Where does the buck stop with MSM?
• Letter to theSun from the Hartalmsm committee
• Do Malaysian newspapers not publish clarification?
• That Lee Lam Thye fella and ‘the system’
IN ‘RESPONSES’ THREAD:
Save yourself from Sun-stroke! Comments section
• March 27, 2008 at 11:09pm
• March 29, 2008 at 1:02am
• March 29, 2008 at 10:27pm
• April 18, 2008 at 12:35pm
May 25, 2008 at 6:43 am
To.
Helen,
Thank you very much by taking the trouble to reply to my comments and I also noted your points.(always so sometimes)
I do also knows this a war beetween a proxy.Its ups to whoever championion whatever cause as a reporter or editor.
BUT ALWAYS DONT KNOW WHY THE REPORTERS/EDITORS WHO HAVE THE INFLUENCE STILL STAYING IN THEIR RESPECTING POST TO FOLLOWS LIKE A COWS TO THEIR PAYMASTER AND DEFENDING THEM.(for the post and money with some cheap publicity)
I aslo notice an editor with double face working in MSN now become as “THE WRITER”.(AND 99.99% OF HIS BLOG I DONT READ,BECAUSE I DONT WANT TO READ TWO DOUBLE SIDED STORIES ONE FROM HIS PAYMASTER AND ONE FROM HIS SOUL I PRESUMED)
rajman666.thanks helen for remembering me as raj raman.
May 27, 2008 at 6:57 am
[...] in a RockyBru blog posting, and below are the pertinent bouquets and brickbats. Yapchongyee commentehttp://harismibrahim.wordpress.com/2008/05/22/hindraf-5-not-forgotten-umno-must-go/San Francisco The San Francisco ExaminerMIDDLETOWN, Conn. Map , News - Filling in for Sen. Edward M. [...]