The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak has again promoted the cause of moderation when he spoke in Penang when opening the 43rd International Convention of the World Chinese Language Press Institute this morning.
Najib urged the media to play the role as a promoter of moderation, “to take back the centre” and reclaim the agenda for peace and pragmatism.
He said the movement of the moderates could marginalise the extremists, and that the media had a significant role to play in this quest.
“With collective determination, we can build a more rational, secure and equitable world. As media messages about the majority who seek peace and moderation spread around the globe, this new world is indeed within our reach.”
Well said, but Najib is not walking the talk.
Najib should ask how he could expect his promotion of moderation “to take back the centre” to have any traction or credibility when the Umno organ Utusan Malaysia is allowed to preach extremism of the worst kind with lies and falsehoods everyday?
Only today for instance, in another front-page attack on Penang Chief Minister and DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng, was attacked for his speech at the second Pakatan Rakyat national convention yesterday with calls for the banning of the DAP on the ground that Guan Eng had questioned the citizenship and loyalty of Utusan Malaysia supporters.
Guan Eng had not questioned the citizenship or loyalty of anyone when he spoke about the “Real Malaysians”.
Najib has promoted the concept of 1Malaysia where every Malaysian should regard himself or herself as Malaysian first and race, religion, geography and socio-economic status second.
Is anyone challenging the citizenship or loyalty of anyone when criticised for not subscribing to this 1Malaysia concept, such as Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin who declared he is Malay first and Malaysian second?
Utusan Malaysia has been plumbing the depths to disseminate lies and falsehoods not to promote moderation but extremism.
For instance, Utusan had accused the DAP of wanting to establish a republic in Malaysia and abolish the system of Malay rulers.
This is a downright lie. Down through the decades, DAP had made it abundantly clear whether through its own political declarations or through Pakatan Rakyat common policy programmes that DAP upholds the fundamental features of the Malaysian Constitution including the system of constitutional monarchy.
Yet the Utusan Malaysia has no compunction in resorting to lies and falsehoods in its campaign of extremism.
Unless and until Najib and UMNO leaders are prepared to check the irresponsible exploitation of race and extremist journalism and politicking appearing in the Utusan Malaysia every day, the Prime Minister’s call for moderation whether at the world Chinese media convention in Penang today or at the United Nations General Assembly recently would have no traction or credibility whatsoever – even throwing into doubt his 1Malaysia concept which is his signature nation-building programme.
Will Najib do anything to check the unprecedented degradation of political discourse in Malaysia by halting Utusan Malaysia’s irresponsible, extremist and racist journalism and politicking?
#1 by Taxidriver on Monday, 20 December 2010 - 5:28 pm
Najib is happy and proud of what UM is doing……you play the bad guy while I play the nice guy.
Only stupid Malaysians will believe all that comes out from Najib”s filty mouth. When someone is linked to a barbaric crime, never, never trust this one.
#2 by yhsiew on Monday, 20 December 2010 - 5:38 pm
Why bother to take the words of a two-faced leader seriously?
#3 by cintanegara on Monday, 20 December 2010 - 5:49 pm
//DAP had made it abundantly clear whether through its own political declarations or through Pakatan Rakyat common policy programmes that DAP upholds the fundamental features of the Malaysian Constitution including the system of constitutional monarchy/
Woww…only ’ fundamental features’…what about other features? …
#4 by DAP man on Monday, 20 December 2010 - 6:53 pm
Najib talks in his sleep. Or he talks to himself. Or talks in his dreams. Or simple thinks the people are fools.
What an idiot we have as a PM.
#5 by monsterball on Monday, 20 December 2010 - 7:24 pm
Let him speak.
The more Najib speaks….the more voters will know the real him……who is unreal .not a normal person at all…..and therefore whatever he says…more and more votes will know what kind of a PM we have..trying to keep fooling Malaysians…and ignoring all the instruments that are actually instructed by him..,,to tell lies with no ways for PR to defend themselves.
#6 by jus legitimum on Monday, 20 December 2010 - 9:06 pm
That paper has been long regarded as biased and totally racialistic.But it has never been punished for its false reportings and lies by the Home Ministry.If the other papers like The Star or Sinchew were to make a bit of misreporting about the Umnoputras,they will instantly be warned and subsequently punished.Sadly this is what is happening in this mismanaged country.
#7 by Taxidriver on Monday, 20 December 2010 - 10:33 pm
cintanegare #3
Other fundamental features so long as they are enshrined in the Constitution will be respected as well. For example, your rambutan tree bearing sweet juicy fruits…. nobody can just go and pluck the fruits or say he wants 30% of the fruits because the tree is planted within your house compound, so it is your property. I am very sure PR will protect all private properties including yours, cintanegara.
#8 by assamlaksa on Tuesday, 21 December 2010 - 12:19 am
the many of the so called “other features” are actually those introduced by UMNO/BN during their 53 years of continuous bulldozzing thru abusing their 2 third majority. it is time to separate the wheat from the chaff.
#9 by burn on Tuesday, 21 December 2010 - 2:22 am
whatever words come out from BN, my support will always be PR… DAP, PKR, PAS!
#10 by boh-liao on Tuesday, 21 December 2010 - 2:45 am
MMK, UmnoB/BN raped d environment n spent a large sum of $$ 2 build d Bakun Dam
Supposed 2 produce more than enuf electricity 4 Sarawak n West M’sia
But now, UmnoB/BN want 2 build 2 nuclear power plants
Administrative incompetence galore n d pungent smell of corruption
#11 by waterfrontcoolie on Tuesday, 21 December 2010 - 7:00 am
After all these years of false practices and swindking in every aspect of our nation’s agenda, Malaysians who expected any changes for the well-being of the nation are either fools or part of the plot. Eevn if you observe casually, the basic objective of BN is construction, a basic industry where costs can be manipulated for plenty of profit. Of course, after collecting their dues, the projects are left to rot. Our current costs of construction must be one of the highest around. Just compare the cost of our double tracking of the KTM; based on the designed speed and time taken to build, it must be 4 to 5 times more expensive the Communist Chinese’s system! The reason is simple time costs money; longer time means more efforts even if it is left to grow lalang! To those who pretend to defend such practices, either you are a party toi it or you are the greatest Nim……poop around! Just wait for our Indonesian friends to get their acts together; once they do it, you will ssurely feel the impact. They just annouced their railway system, to be built by China, I bet their system will be moving even before we complete our double tracking in the next 3 years!! Well, Cinta Negara, you can apply for a job over there, that is if dare to compete for it!!!
#12 by Bigjoe on Tuesday, 21 December 2010 - 8:39 am
Najib ‘moderation in press’ speech is at the CHINESE language press. Don’t see him saying the same thing to Malay press do he? But then again, its nothing surprising.
BUT the problem is, isn’t it a failure of our establishment, when he goes in front of the Chinese language press establishment, and basically shell out a bunch of crap and the Chinese press establishment just let him? Forget Najib, the complicity of Chinese press establishment and really only a reflection on the Chinese society establishment in this country in mediocrity of the government policies is damning. These establishment, like the crony businessmen, are complicit in the deterioration of our institutions, our societies, education in the name of ‘practicality’. They have use too many excuses for too long to be full partner in the dysfunctionality of our societies, the institutions, the economies.
#13 by tuahpekkong on Tuesday, 21 December 2010 - 9:07 am
I think only Utusan needs to be told to be moderate. Utusan has been spreading lies and falsehoods and creating fear among the Malays regularly for at least 30 years about other races trying to seize power. The fact that the Malays have become more solidly in control means that Utusan’s tricks have been debunked. Utusan is the embodiment of gutter journalism and a mockery to 1 Malaysia.
#14 by Jeffrey on Tuesday, 21 December 2010 - 9:09 am
Anywhere –world wide- moderates tend to lose out to extremists.
Extremists are focused and driven to push their objectives. They have no compunction to resort to false accusations, calumnies, lies and even violence. They have no problem in mortgaging the peace. They evince initiative and are always on the attack. If by doing so they advance their cause, they gain; if they fail, they don’t lose with status quo.
Moderates tend to rationalize and be on the defensive because they tend to “live and let live”. This is construed as appeasement and encourages the extremists to react even more aggressively.
In any game whether football or ping pong, the side that plays defensively loses to the one aggressively. On the road in a minor accident the road bully that comes out with a stick cowers the passive other who is taught to take a deep breath and walk away. He may go to the police station and complain. It is effective to restrain the extremist only if the authorities play neutral by the law and impartially enforce it.
So it is in politics. When the authorities do not act on complaints of the moderate but act on the complaints of the extremist against the moderate (even if the complaint and accusations of the extremist are lies and falsehood) what do we get??? The extremist wins. The moderate loses. Even if, after investigation, the moderate were not charged, he suffers the inconvenience and nuisance of investigations whilst the extremist gets off unpunished for his false accusation against the moderate. The extremist is encouraged to provoke again soon in the next opportunity because it is “heads I win and tails you lose situation!
Under this state of affairs moderates tend to lie low and not invite trouble. How to reclaim the centre when those in power evince no political will to administer the law and policies fairly to take on extremist or worse still view the extremists’ cause as buttressing their own political position or if they take on the extremists have their political position jeopardized?
#15 by k1980 on Tuesday, 21 December 2010 - 9:38 am
Jib a moderate? Then Osama is a Catholic saint!
#16 by ENDANGERED HORNBILL on Tuesday, 21 December 2010 - 10:16 am
Najib is a frog and a tadpole.
In the midst of Utusan Malaysia and Tun M, he swims with “ketuanan Melayu”.
Then, when he is on land in Penang, he tries to be a moderate, but everybody who hears him knows that he is a tadpole grownnto a frog. You recognise them by their croaks. But, most importantly, you recognise their DNA.
So, it’s still no go for BN/UMNO!
#17 by Godfather on Tuesday, 21 December 2010 - 11:14 am
UMNO is split right down the middle after March 2008. We have a group that says that UMNO should no longer be nice to the other races. This group fathered Perkasa and recently made the headline that Islam is superior to other religions and there should be no discussion about this point. We have another group that says that UMNO should be all inclusive, so this group came up with 1 Malaysia.
In the end, and with no clear winner in sight, the president of UMNO has to walk the tightrope and say that he supports both groups. He is the leader of both groups, so he has to champion their rights and beliefs. Never mind that he is the PM for all Bolehland – he has to win the support of his party first.
Some of the commentators here are absolutely right. The disgrace is in the minority parties within BN. For the sake of crumbs, they also play along with Najib’s trapeze act.
#18 by boh-liao on Tuesday, 21 December 2010 - 2:22 pm
“Anywhere –world wide- moderates tend to lose out to extremists”
Sure mah, moderates play by d rules, n kia si n kia su; whereas extremists don’t play by d rules, all CAN 1, twist here twist there, no principle mah n boh kia si 1
See how UmnoB/Bn operate, we know lah
#19 by tak tahan on Tuesday, 21 December 2010 - 10:22 pm
It is effective to restrain the extremist only if the authorities play neutral by the law and impartially enforce it. by Jeffrey
In bolehland the authorities encourage the extremists as this is the normal culture.The extremists will gather in numbers in a split seconds as if to join war combat against outside intruders.This is really uncivilised mentality and only happen in bolehland.Do they have accident vocabulary in their head?