Now anybody can stop reading Utusan Malaysia


— Mustafa K. Anuar
The Malaysian Insider
May 24, 2013

MAY 24 — The excessive reaction resorted to by Utusan Malaysia and other Malay-based groups over the fair criticism made by AirAsia X chief executive Azran Osman Rani is disturbing and worrying.

Azran had criticised what he rightly considered to be a racial slur in the daily’s post-general election coverage.

Utusan Malaysia columnist “Awang Selamat” even threatened that the daily would not hesitate to punish AirAsia by not accepting the budget airline’s advertisements.

Such a knee-jerk reaction sadly reveals an alarming inability and incapacity — displayed by the daily and other quarters concerned — to accept and appreciate the legitimacy of differing opinions and dissent in a democracy. Such behaviour suggests that there’s only one way of looking at things in Malaysia, and that is a perspective that necessarily aligns itself with that of Utusan Malaysia and its political masters — which must be denounced as bunkum.

Equally disconcerting is that this issue erroneously suggests that a Malay individual who holds an opinion that runs counter to that of the Malay daily and its political owners, i.e. Umno Baru, is regarded as having betrayed his/her own ethnic community.

Umno Baru, it must be said, doesn’t have a monopoly over truth nor does it necessarily represent the interests and ideals of all members of the larger Malay community. The same rule applies to all political parties who wrongly claim to champion their respective ethnic communities.

The refusal to acknowledge, let alone appreciate, the importance of differing views in a democracy is not only confined to this rabid daily.

Just recently the newly-anointed home minister chastised detractors of Barisan Nasional for disputing the results of the recently concluded general election, and unwisely told them to leave the country if they were unhappy over what had happened in the polls. This is tantamount to equating legitimate dissent with treachery — now, this is outrageous and undemocratic, and doesn’t promote any sense of inclusivity and tolerance among Malaysians from all walks of life.

If there is a lesson to be learned from this episode, it is that just as Utusan Malaysia has the freedom to deny advertising space to AirAsia, discerning and concerned Malaysians also have the same freedom and right to boycott and abandon this controversial and race-baiting political mouthpiece. — aliran.com

  1. #1 by Godfather on Friday, 24 May 2013 - 11:49 am

    It’s my way or the highway. Get it ?

  2. #2 by worldpress on Friday, 24 May 2013 - 11:59 am

    putusan & putus

  3. #3 by PRmaju on Friday, 24 May 2013 - 12:23 pm

    utusan is run by biggest mafia

  4. #4 by tuahpekkong on Friday, 24 May 2013 - 12:56 pm

    UMNOputras think they are a class above the other Malays and at least two classes above the Chinese and Indians. They brook no dissent from the Malays and expect complete obsequiousness from the Chinese and Indians. Utusan is one of UMNO’s many tools to help her cling on to power. It has regularly resorted to race-baiting over the past 30 years. I have not read the newspaper for many, many years. Just can’t tolerate the paper’s unethical journalism.

  5. #5 by cinaindiamelayubersatu on Friday, 24 May 2013 - 1:48 pm

    awang selamat selamatkan lah malaysia dengan utusan meloya mu

  6. #6 by waterfrontcoolie on Friday, 24 May 2013 - 7:39 pm

    It is high time that the State Gomen of Selangor, Penang and Kelantan start to offer cheaper or subsidized wifi to the rural areas to educate them for the next 5 years on the reality of this flat, flat world and come GE14, your work will be a lot easier! BN just cannot handle truth and reality!

  7. #7 by worldpress on Friday, 24 May 2013 - 7:40 pm

    putus-utusan

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