Yes, Mahathir, ex-judge Mohd Noor, Ibrahim Ali and Zul Noordin are at their most evil when they spew their racist speeches, hoping to sow discord and hate between the people.
It is the mainstream media, though, that take those messages of hate into the most remote of homes, where there is little likelihood of access to any form of alternative news.
It is reported that there were at least 60,000 out at Amcorp Mall for the Himpunan Suara Rakyat 505 last Saturday.
Were you out there, and, if you were, were you amongst those who agreed to my urging that we boycott the mainstream media?
I mentioned 6 newspapers that we ought to boycott.
Last Tuesday, though, just before I got re-arrested, I attended a meeting where evidence was presented to 3 of us from ABU that persuaded us that, for now, no boycott be carried out against the Chinese media that I had named and that we instead monitor them closely.
Can I take it that the boycott of Utusan, Berita Harian, Star and NST is on?
This weekend, many of you may be heading back to the kampong, having got your salaries.
Could you please help explain to the kampong folk why this boycott has been called?
ABU flyers explaining the boycott will be out shortly and will be uploaded at the website. I will alert you when they are available so you can do the necessary.
As we all know, these newspapers rely more on advertisements than on circulation for their income.
We are monitoring these papers and, on Sunday, we will announce a list of advertisers and will call for a boycott of their establishments / products for the whole of next week to kick off our Hartal of advertisers.
I will be writing to those advertisers to inform them of the boycott and the reasons for the same and to inform them that :
1. the one week boycott is to show them we mean business and that they should take the boycott seriously;
2. we hope they will take steps to cease advertising in these newspapers. This would include cancelling advance advertisements that have been arranged and paid for; and
3. we will resume the boycott against their business if they continue to advertise in these newspapers.
I can only help to initiate this effort.
Its success or failure is entirely in your hands.
The People's Parliament 
Jim
May 31, 2013
I think most pr supporters don read newspaper. Perhaps it is a good idea to come up with an alternative epaper to the malay, english and chinese papers. Beat them at their own game.
Anthony Ajayaraju
May 31, 2013
yes we will boycott all the BNUMNO papers mentioned by ABU- we do not want to read fat lies by them.cheers buddies we are for true democracy not a racist democracy..
Vaseau
May 31, 2013
I would also suggest that a hit list of those regularly advertizing in the UMNO’s Lying Media (ULM) be posted. This will serve to remind everyone which product or service they should stay away from or at the very least refrain from using. I know that Petron is not doing well because many informed Malaysians know it is owned by Mahathief’s son and stay away whenever possible. The only time the scumbags will pause to think is when they are hit where it matters to them : the bottom line.
Khalid
June 4, 2013
I agree with you Vaseau. A hit list blog or fb page should be created and updated regularly informing people which products advertised in the mainstream umno/bn controlled media we should stay away from.
Rick
May 31, 2013
In rural areas people read utusan and watch TV3 They don’t have a choice There’s where pakatan lost All these demos and blackouts are in areas pakatan has won anyway Pakatan must find a way to take their message to rural voters That is the big challenge Not more demos and rallies BN will make it difficult Nurul Izzah was not allowed to enter Sabah yesterday During campaign period PR people were physically chased out of Felda kampungs PR people were not allowed access to army navy bases
I suggest AbU and other NGOs strategize ways to reach rural voters You have 5 years to do it go kampung by kampung As someone once said It takes a village …….
alice
May 31, 2013
Include Sin Chew in d boycott list as well. Many chinese stop buying this paper due to misleading news
najib manaukau
May 31, 2013
Yet, what did the quarter cooked police do ? NOTHING and NOTHING.
A good proof of what the Malaysian police is good at.
There were very quick to have dissidents arrested and indicted, if that is not proof of what the police is, what else is ? They are a bloody disgrace to the uniform they wear ! But again you deserve what you get for voting the present regime to remain in Putrajaya, the police must act in accordance to their political master’s wishes and commands.
sunwayopal
May 31, 2013
It will be vey difficult if you do not enlist the help of the Pakatan machinery to publicise this boycott.
sunwayopal
sabre
May 31, 2013
Excellent to target the advertisers as they are feeding the Utusan, Star & the NST. It has to be relentless for us to affect the MSM. Yes, a hit list of those regularly advertising in MSM must be posted for this campaign to be effective
bigjoe99
May 31, 2013
Hartal the broadcasters too.. Encourage people to go online, its almost worth it to get someone to set up a video streaming service in some unregulated jurisdiction and take piracy of local content to new heights..
R
May 31, 2013
Cant wait to distribute those flyers in my neighbourhood, especiall in those low and medium cost apartments.
I think those advertisers receiving such notice from you would shrivel in you know where
shakuntala
May 31, 2013
Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay. ……no buys, no lies!!. It’s on!!
I only feel sorry for the little news-vendors whose livelihood may be affected….but then in some cases again, vending may be just a small part of their income.If we are to do this the main consideration ought to be HARTAL….. now or never. Have to be cruel to be kind.
Haris time to flog hartal t-shirts, the message has to be carried far and wide..think you have some….Reformasi!!!….
Daniel
May 31, 2013
Haris
I would like to suggest that one of the petrol stations be boycott target even if they don’t advertise in the 4 MSM, if indeed this petrol station is linked to mamak kutty.
To the urban folks, petrol station is the easiest to boycott because of readily available and easily reachable alternatives.
Daniel
May 31, 2013
yes, I just checked.
Petron Philippines 18% owned by San Miguel. And we all know who own San Miguel.
abrahampenrose
May 31, 2013
Each dictatorship has a weakness. Since BN doesn’t use the police or army much (not much compared to Myanmar), BN relies heavily on media and spin.
Once we have cut off BN’s oxygen, they will die.
Paul Warren
May 31, 2013
It is the boycott of advertisers, their establishments and their products that will feel the heat immediately. Taht is more powerful than the boycott of the papers themselves.
Voter Wan Abdullah
May 31, 2013
Boycott 1 week?….These MSM will never change ( jus like umno ). I say boycott forever.
Read The Sun is better…more balanced & FOC too.
Bro, the 1 week boycott is in respect of the advertiser, not the paper. The boycott of the paper goes on
We have a strategy.
Another Anak Bangsa Malaysia
May 31, 2013
Haris,
Targeting the rural areas is a great idea.
With 20/20 hindsight, the rural areas were key to BN’s master plan in hijacking GE13.
The remote nature of those rural seats lend themselves easily to the insertion of hantus – and yes, I have seen with my own eyes that very remoteness and the intimidatory tactics used to discourage closer inspection of voters.
I would go further and suggest fostering/nuturing a more permanent ABU presence in rural areas to build stronger community ties.
Such a suggestion is obviously a “nice-to-have” with many issues to be addressed.
I hope that ABU will be fully supported by Pakatan in this regard.
As is usual,
More power to you, Haris Ibrahim.
Freddie Cheong
May 31, 2013
Boycott the Malay and English newspapers? I NEVER read Malay newspapers, anyway. For NST and Star, I stopped buying and reading long time ago. Though the Chinese may not have enough political powers but they have economic powers. Use it wisely and for noble causes. Thank you.
An ex- reader
May 31, 2013
Can ask ah haris ? Why that utasan newspaper how many times you sued, sued, sued and won also still can continue in business? Where they get so much money to pay all the legal suits? Hardly people read or advertise in them. Other papers already bankrupt like this.
peminat FLOM
May 31, 2013
haris oiii….harap2 ko sampaikan mesej ni pada pemimpin pakatan sekali yang dok gila publisiti sibuk nak buat sidang media and keluarkan statement pada soratkabar2 Bahalol Negara ni……. dah naik menyampah aku bila tengok pemimpin kita sendiri yg terhegeh2 nak muka depa keluar dalam paper mainstream….okie?
lizzie
May 31, 2013
Probably paid for by their insurer. Maybe need to find who is their insurer and also boycot them?
Jimmy KL
May 31, 2013
Great speech Haris! But unfortunately Himpunan Kemuncak Blackout 505 was rather tame affair. The crowd have dwindled. Have we missed the moment to push people’s struggle forward? Check out an interesting analysis and historical account of our missed moment due to the hesitation and indecisiveness of our political leaders at: http://diskopi.wordpress.com/2013/05/30/pasca-pru13-siri-5-momen-yang-terlepas/
myblog
May 31, 2013
I think boycotting their sponsors such as advertisers is a good idea. To make an impact you must do research to find out their biggest advertiser that is boycottable, ie. it will hurt them if we stopped buying their goods such as Nestle etc First find out how much they spend on the advertisements, then you will know the impact on the newspaper.
Next thing to do is to make sure we boycott one at a time in order too have focus and give maximum impact. If too many manufacturers to boycott, I think compliance from the public will be difficult and the impact diluted.
Thirdly make it a 30 day boycott so that the companies can feel the pinch. Companies work on a supply chains, anything shorter than one month will be easily absorbed by their supply chain, they wont even know about it. Boycott 30 days, give them 1 week to repent and cancel their advertisements otherwise the next boycott will be 90 days.
Do it to the largest private company advertiser, believe me the rest of the companies will comply when you demand having seen for themselves the impact and helplessness of the company targeted. Just my two cents worth
peterooi
May 31, 2013
Valuable 2 sen bro / sis ! Harris, good points given here by this blogger .. I share his sentiments
annabrella
June 1, 2013
Spot on!
But to get the trash MSM themselves to go down the slimy gutters they inhabit may not be so easy without their boycott also being carried out by the people in the more rural areas that these gutter trash really target with their political propaganda crap which I suspect is funded by more stable sources of funding not related to any profit-motivated bottom lines.
“Imagine Power To The People” John Lennon.
msian
May 31, 2013
I already stopped buying those papers you mentioned before 2008. No point paying for trash and lies. I’ve even avoided going to certain shops for obviously reasons, I know one person won’t have any effect but I feel better for doing my part.
peterooi
May 31, 2013
Have done the same and canvasing friends to do the same !
Voter Wan Abdullah
May 31, 2013
And please do let us know who are the main culprits who ignore ABU warning.
Lets us have the list of those advertisers ( pinned for 2 weeks ) In People.Parliament..then we ALL can cut,paste & post this HARTAL article/posting in other medias esp facebook & emails.
Viva ABU.
Yong Yek Ming
May 31, 2013
Stop buying products and services that advertise in those paper.. Can we ABU team comeup with a FB listing?
shakuntala
May 31, 2013
One nose away……on the subject of bread, the bread of life for some people. A friend of mine said she no longer buys Gardenia, that is a lost cause for her……instead she says, “buy Massimo” sounds and tastes really good. Mind you am really advertising there.
Asked why and she said, ” Gardenia belongs to Rosemama”……..news does get sniffed around doesn’t it.. Have to find that out. From paper to bread….slowly, slowly catchee monkey! Sounds good.
Taipan
May 31, 2013
Let’s collect some of these old newspapers targetted and do a public bonfire!
Daisy g
May 31, 2013
My family is with you on this !!! NO STAR !!!
Brian
May 31, 2013
The family only buys the Star toilet paper. As of this week we have stopped the purchase of it. Did’nt miss anything. Starve the bastards.
We Stand Together
May 31, 2013
I recommend a boycott period of three months minimum. In this way those newspapers will never recover before ownership is changed.
rajraman666
May 31, 2013
So Candleman, this Hartal about news paper only? What’s happen “PONTENG ” theory of make a town as ghost town.
Most urban voters are Pro Pakatan and since you are close to this Political Trader and NGO we can try small satellite town, Like Subang Jaya ( your Hannah Yeoh Bangsa Malaysia can help) one week and another week Bandar Utama and Sunway, Bangsar. Slowly but surely its can catch fire.
rajraman. Newspaper own by UMNO they lose money everyday,but UMNO use your $ and taxpayer $ to bail them out.The big company advertised also indirectly own by UMNO and their cronies.People’s power comes in many way, some in form of rally but change the rally to “Ponteng”
I think you can do it.I have faith in you.JUST TRY.
burn
May 31, 2013
in reality… the impact will be minimal! if me, i will give telor result!
most advertisers have contract booking up to 3 – 6 mths to a year on insertion dates.
moreover, those news paper have financial support thru back door.
hartal or not, won’t effect them at all.
rajraman666
May 31, 2013
It’s true burn.
I burn some fingers with Star.The contract if don’t fulfill they will charge penalty.All back dated.Anyway I Hartal all news paper unless i can get free in coffee shop.It’s all happen due the lady call Helen Ang.(former ex buddy of Haris)
rajraman. Burn my pockets lah.
SeanK
May 31, 2013
That devil incarnate has a share in The Loaf, right?
peterooi
May 31, 2013
beg to disagree ! if you followed the recent Star Shareholders’ meeting the Board of Directors have been grilled on falling share price for STAR and also its lopsided reporting !
marie chee
June 1, 2013
Hartal is a good idea. Have not bought any msm for a long time. Only read online news.
Has anyone noticed that the KFC chicken does not taste the same.
Or has KFC dis francised from Colonel’s Sanders.
The information I got is, all the chicken from Colonel’s Kentucky Fried Chicken is from the USA. Noticed that the pieces are white in texture and cut into eight pieces only.
Who owns KFC now ?
burn
June 1, 2013
rajraman666… apo lu cakap? tak paham langsung!
semua bertabor…
rajraman666
June 2, 2013
burn,
Gua cakap saya sokong pendapat lu. Syarikat yang iklan kat surat khabar ada planing long term.Kontrak antara pengiklan dan pihak Surat Khabar.Kalau tak iklan kena bayar denda berupa wang ringgit.
rajraman.Sokong pun kena kutuk, yang lain bertabor kerana you tak tahu kisah silam “HARTAL” sebab masa itu mungkin lu masih kanak2 riang.
Paham ke lu sekarang?
Jagara
June 1, 2013
With you all the way, Haris. Smart move! Hit them where their pockets hurt, then they will listen to the rakyat. Thank you on behalf of all Malaysians. We are fighting to free our beloved country from the evil Umno.
rajraman666
June 1, 2013
https://harismibrahim.wordpress.com/hartal-boycott-the-lying-newspapers/.
rajraman.5 years ago.
KHL
June 1, 2013
Haris,
The boycotting of newspapers or advertisers be it few weeks or few months has only short term effect. Over time, less and less people will be committed to the boycott. Advertisers have marketing budget to spend and they are going to advertise anyway.
We should hurt them long term, and do it one by one. First, let’s hurt them on classified ads and leave the full page or half page advertisements alone first:
1. Get a team of people and scan the target newspaper classified ads section everyday.
2. Convert those scanned ads into soft copy (using OCR or whatever software that can turn those scanned images into text) and publish it on a website.
3. Promote the website and let people know that if you want to look for classified ads in the targeted newspapers, you can visit the website and no need to buy the newspaper. And good thing about website is that you can search more easily compared to newspaper.
4. If you run it for some time and the website gains popularity, then the searcher (person who looking for something) and the advertiser (person who post the classified ads) will start shifting to your website and classified ads in the targeted newspapers will become less relevant and therefore hurting one of their revenue stream.
Voter Wan Abdullah
June 3, 2013
Asalkan. . . . . . . Bukan Utusan,Star,Petronas,Giant,Guardian,
Anything . . . . . . But Utusan ,Star,Petronas,Giant,Guardian,
stormy days ahead
June 3, 2013
Yes….already cut out the shitty star paper……fit only for the toilet…
Malaysianatheart
June 3, 2013
Its a start ….. GO FOR IT! Although i agree that the effect will be minimal. I stopped buying MS newspapers a long time ago. I don’t buy Petronas and of course not Petron. But I pass by the Petronas station near my place at least twice every day. I am so disappointed to see it packed all the time. I often pass Petron stations too – also packed!! Yes I know the other brands get their petrol from Petronas anyway – but still, if we boycott Petronas, there will be an impact.
My issue is with the general apathy of most Malaysians. They have no faith that anything we do will dislodge these monsters. The last election results were a monumental blow to the majority. We have to address the defeatist syndrome first Haris. All these rallies etc are going nowhere in assuring the people to keep faith. They see little point in the hartal too. If the people cannot even see with their own eyes an empty Petron station, then how can we expect them to keep the hartal going? Nothing has changed – its business as usual – and UMNO/BN not in the least interested in making any fundamental changes. How can we bring the confidence back to the people that we will somehow boot these racist bigots and plunderers out? That, mate, is the first step to a successful Hartal or anything else for that matter.
Khalid
June 4, 2013
First of all we must all boycott the umno/bn controlled mainstream media. When companies advertising in these media realize this they will start thinking twice if it is worthwhile advertising in these media. This is going to be a blow to the media. Next we should have a website, blog or fb page updating which companies are still advertising in these media. Then we start boycotting their products. Staring with the big ones first. This should be a knockout blow to the media. Of course it is easier said than done but if any organization could conduct this systematically I’m sure it will materialize.
Jeremy
June 7, 2013
Haris, could you also disclose to Malaysians the owner of The Loaf? We all know very well that people from urban places are anti-establishment, but I still see many people in KL and PJ frequenting The Loaf, very much to my chagrin. I can only comment here and share with people around me, but you have a voice that reaches out far and wide. News media aside, The Loaf ought to be the first company Malaysians ‘hartal’.
Mr Haris, your words and (more importantly) actions inspire. Please continue the job awesomely done. Be safe and may God be generous with you with His blessings.
ablogsmith
June 10, 2013
What happened to the threat that if the EC Chairman & Deputy do not resign by a certain date a million will march to EC to protest and demand for their resignation? I am waiting to go protest. Who has Chegu Bard contact?
Pak Yeh
June 12, 2013
Pakatan Rakyat should boycot the parliament if they believe the government is a cheat..!!!
Common Harris. Speak up.!!!
These PR are only thinking of their salary!!!
PR are just proxies of the rakyat. If they do not want to fight, lets also remove them.!!!
tkicebow@gmail.com
June 13, 2013
God bless HARIS&ABU !!!