Archive for category Media
Of running dogs, misunderstanding and proving the phrase
NEWS ANALYSIS
The Malaysian Insider
October 07, 2013
The police are looking into five reports against DAP publicity chief Tony Pua for calling the Registrar of Societies and Utusan Malaysia Umno’s running dogs.
Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Mohd Bakri Mohd Zinin reportedly said they want to decide whether Pua should be investigated under criminal law or the Sedition Act.
This is where it gets farcical. Why investigate a man for calling someone else a lackey?
Do the police, Utusan Malaysia, the five groups that lodged the reports or even Umno understand what running dogs even means? It’s an English translation of the Mandarin word that refers to lackeys or lapdogs. Read the rest of this entry »
RM38,000 wasted in Health Ministry’s ‘stupid’ campaign
Posted by Kit in Auditor-General Report, Health, Media on Tuesday, 1 October 2013
Auditor-General’s 2012 Report (2)
Malaysiakini
Oct 1, 2013
The Health Ministry’s decision to brand smokers as ‘stupid’ in promotional literature cost it RM38,750 after the material was deemed unsuitable for distribution.
The Auditor-General’s Report 2012 states that the ministry had ordered 300 backpacks costing RM19,500 and 3,500 notepads at RM19,250 with the slogan ‘Smoking, a stupid habit for stupid people’.
But the items never made it into the hands of the citizens as the language was later deemed inappropriate.
But the lingual faux pas was not the ministry’s only mistake. Read the rest of this entry »
Kit Siang sues Utusan over claims of CEC manipulation
by Melissa Chi
The Malay Mail Online
September 27, 2013
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 27 — DAP’s Lim Kit Siang filed a lawsuit today against Utusan Melayu over an article alleging he had manipulated the party’s central executive committee (CEC) election — the same day its newspaper Utusan Malaysia printed an apology to the party’s leaders over another article.
His lawyer, Gobind Singh Deo told reporters that the Umno mouthpiece was libelous in an article published on August 18 this year.
“The article in which Utusan used repeated information from the alleged book which quotes one Father Augustus Chen, which we say don’t exist.
“We challenge Utusan to come up with proof to show that Father Augustus Chen exist and to also prove that the allegations that he had made in respect to the 753 delegates did not get notice, proof that, and also the allegation in respect to the fact that there was 500 or more phantom voters from Penang,” he said after the High Court dismissed the bid for injunction against DAP polls.
The 16-page booklet surfaced in Penang sometime last month, claiming irregularities and vote manipulation allegedly to place cronies of both Kit Siang and his son, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, on the powerful CEC, among other allegations. Read the rest of this entry »
Utusan and national aspiration
Posted by Kit in Media, nation building on Monday, 23 September 2013
– The Malaysian Insider
September 22, 2013
Utusan Malaysia’s Sunday edition today carried an opinion piece lashing out at The Malaysian Insider for its reportage of the Malay newspaper, saying it goes against national aspirations.For good measure, it defined the aspirations as Malay issues and the official religion, Islam.
And it went on a litany of issues from the Allah issue to the late Communist Party of Malaya secretary-general Chin Peng and how the authorities should take action including suspending the portal’s permit.
Let’s make a few things clear.
Utusan’s narrow racial interest is not akin to the larger and wider Malaysian interest.
This is a nation which is 50 years old and it is for all Malaysians, not just a racial subset.
One cannot use the name Malaysia in its masthead and just champion a single race and call it a national aspiration. One cannot then say anyone having a contrary opinion is a traitor to a national cause. Read the rest of this entry »
A “grouse” about TMI’s “woeful” usage
– Clive Kessler
The Malaysian Insider
September 22, 2013
“In a public tribunal, many air grouses over Election 2013,” your recent TMI headline trumpets.
Malaysian journalistic usage, with its verbal idiosyncrasies, is sometimes strange.
Even stranger is the fact that those who seek to offer an alternative approach, or speak in a different voice, often (and unthinkingly, so it seems) adopt the language of the dominant press.
They, and here now including The Malaysian Insider, do so without recognizing the hidden assumptions and attitudes, the insidious implications, that are built into those all too familiar “mainstream” usages.
Malaysians love to speak of “woes”.
A woe is a disaster that descends without discernible cause, mysteriously, and without anyone being responsible. Since they exclude human agency, the word’s connotations are exculpatory.
To call some systemic failure (of public utilities or services) a “woe” is to imply that it is a mysterious affliction, a metaphysical conundrum, for which nobody is, or may be held, accountable.
Whose interests does this implication, neatly smuggled unawares by the word “woe” into a reader’s response to the reported facts, serve? Read the rest of this entry »
Pak Samad – always the people’s artist
Posted by Kit in civil society/NGOs, Human Rights, Media on Saturday, 21 September 2013
By Jose Mario Dolor De Vega
Free Malaysia Today
September 21, 2013
A democratic society seeks to unleash the creativity of all its citizens and to celebrate the extraordinary achievements of its most gifted and dedicated, not otherwise.
COMMENT
I refer to the utterly insightful and undeniably powerful essay of Jeswan Kaur, ‘Pak Samad isn’t the problem here’, published in FMT on Sept 8.
I beg the indulgence of the reader and may I be allowed to add a few words of concurrence and to explicate my own take on the whole matter.
According to the National Cultural Policy of the Australian government, the role of the artist is as follows:
“A democratic society seeks to unleash the creativity of all its citizens and to celebrate the extraordinary achievements of its most gifted and dedicated. The value of creativity is something that is increasingly recognised and valued. Creativity is an essential attribute in an increasing number of occupations.
“The most gifted artists, however, take the ability to imagine, adapt, empathise and collaborate to another level through training, practice, discipline and courage. The extraordinary achievements that come when the most gifted individuals combine capacity and skill is something we recognise.”
From this description, we can deduce that artists are creative people and that their creativity is necessary for the development of one’s society. Further said, creativity is something that must be recognized and valued by the said society that produced the artist. Read the rest of this entry »
Relive history – with a modern twist
by Chester Chin
Star
September 15, 2013
PETALING JAYA: For the first time, Malaysians will see clear video footage of the late Tunku Abdul Rahman when he declared the country’s independence.
Not only that, local celebrities and politicians like Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, Nurul Izzah Anwar, Lim Kit Siang, Datuk Seri Nazir Razak, Datin Sofia Jane and Datuk David Arumugum could also be seen in the crowd at Merdeka Stadium in other footages.
The footage is just some of the many old clips from the 1950s and 1960s restored and doctored by local filmmaker Pete Teo and his team over a span of five months.
These clips will be featured in Teo’s latest Hari Malaysia music video which will premiere at midnight both on www.HariMalaysia.com and YouTube.
“Previously, you would not be able to see Tunku’s face in the footage.
“However, we have restored the footage to give Malaysians a clearer picture of the moment,” he said. Read the rest of this entry »
When is it patriotic to like crap?
Posted by Kit in Media, nation building on Wednesday, 11 September 2013
Erna Mahyuni
The Malay Mail Online
September 11, 2013
SEPT 11 — You would think I set fire to the flag and declared my allegiance to North Korea, judging from the vitriol I got for my “Tanda Putera” review.
Someone even said that I shouldn’t have been so hard on the film since it was “a local film.”
So if it is a local film, I shouldn’t expect it to have a coherent script?
So if it is a local film, I shouldn’t hope the actors are more than decorative furnishings that speak?
So if it is a local film, I should fully expect it to be bad and be pleasantly surprised if it does not suck
If a film is about any of our historical leaders, painting them in a beatific light then I have to like it before even watching it? Read the rest of this entry »
Tanda Putera, a replacement for Bukit Kepong
Posted by Kit in Media, nation building on Monday, 9 September 2013
— Ravinder Singh
The Malay Mail Online
September 9, 2013
SEPT 9 — “Tanda Putera” was not a natural birth. In contrast, I believe, “Bukit Kepong” was.
“Bukit Kepong” was a film made in 1981 and based on an incident in Bukit Kepong in 1950. It portrayed a historical fact and was not produced with any ulterior motive.
However, certain vested interests saw how it could be put to political use. It became the prime weapon in the election campaigns of the ruling coalition. For the next several elections it became “mandatory” viewing by the electorate starting a few weeks before each election, and almost to the eve of the election.
The TV screening of the film was calculated to “motivate” the voters into supporting the ruling coalition to ensure a “peaceful” future. If not, another Bukit Kepong could happen again.
Impulses reaching the brain through the sense of sight are very powerful. They account for about 80 per cent of all that the mind absorbs. So, screening of the film at the critical hour before the elections was a calculated strategy to condition the minds of the viewers to believe something and react accordingly at the ballot box. It was mind-conditioning.
Having been used for campaigning purposes at a few elections, it had become stale. This is when someone got a brainwave to produce a designer movie to replace Bukit Kepong. This brainwave, I believe, did not originate in Shuhaimi Baba’s mind. It had to be the mind of a master strategist, as far as election campaigning goes, that came up with it. Read the rest of this entry »
In search of lost truth
Posted by Kit in Media, nation building on Monday, 9 September 2013
Aerie Rahman
The Malay Mail Online
September 6, 2013
SEPT 6 — The polemical Tanda Putera was screened a few days ago to mixed reviews. I dislike reading reviews before experiencing the said movie/book/concert myself as it conditions my mind to see things according to the reviewer.
However, since Tanda Putera didn’t make it to any cinemas in London and probably won’t ever, I read and listened to reviews to get a glimpse of all the fuss.
What piques my interest about this film is the brouhaha surrounding it. Some people are angered at the RM4.5 million grant it received. Some are angered at how it masquerades itself as a historical film when some parts are purely fictional. Some are just angry.
At the heart of the controversy there is actually a contest: a contestation of the truth as to what really occurred on that fateful day of May 13, 1969, the contextual considerations that triggered the violence and the subsequent events that unfolded after that day.
Most people are unsure and uncertain about this black spot in our history. Materials on this topic are insufficient.
Since the truth is unclear, people start to formulate their own versions of the truth. I can’t blame them; the truth is after all elusive and relative. The truth is liable to be subjected to various interpretations and manipulations to suit the ears of the hearer and wishes of the maker.
Films such as Tanda Putera are controversial because it is perceived as being intellectually dishonest by telling only one side of the story. The huge subsidy demonstrates the government’s power in the production of a certain historical narrative. Read the rest of this entry »
Institutionalised racism?
Posted by Kit in Media, nation building on Thursday, 5 September 2013
KJ John
Malaysiakini
Sep 3, 2013
I also have a dream. Martin Luther King Jr had the original dream for the US of A from 50 years ago, which we all remembered recently together with CNN; it was the same year we also became Malaysia.
As we move into the second half century, after 50 years of nationhood; my dream is that we may yet become 1Bangsa of Malaysians.
In other words, I have a dream of One Nation, One People; a nation-state made of one single class and category of Malaysian citizens; wherein the sun shines equally on every Malaysian without ethnicity, religious or cultural considerations; including all who are citizens, even if by the backdoor as we already heard from the royal commission of inquiry (RCI) in Sabah.
But, who or what is our greatest current stumbling block. I agree totally with Brother Haris Ibrahim about his premise and thesis: that it is Umno’s agenda to realise a Ketuanan Melayu nation-state which remains the most important and detrimental factor in realising our one Bangsa of Malaysians dream. Why do I say also this?
Let me simply review how this misdirected but strategic intent was “evolved into what is now called the Biro Tatanegara or National Civics Bureau (BTN) by all promoters of that skewed agenda.” Some fringe groups supported by a former president of Umno today already sing the same tune today, every day.
Where did BTN and Ketuanan Melayu agenda start? Read the rest of this entry »
Tanda Putera fails to honour Tun Razak
Posted by Kit in Media, nation building, Zairil Khir Johari on Thursday, 5 September 2013
by Zairil Khir Johari
5 September 2013
I am disappointed in Tanda Putera’s failure to honour Tun Razak’s achievements.
According to the Malaysiakini articled titled “Zam: DAP irate as its logo stands out in Tanda Putera” dated 4 September 2013, former minister of information Tan Sri Zainuddin Maidin is quoted as saying that the DAP is against the film because the party’s logo is prominently displayed in the film’s controversial May 13, 1969 racial riot scene.
I would like to state that I have seen the film, and having done so, I admit that I am sorely disappointed. However, my dissatisfaction against the film stems not so much from the fact that the DAP was constantly maligned (indeed, our logo appeared to be omnipresent in most of the racial riot scenes, although there was no direct reference linking the party to the riots). This is because I had expected nothing less than a perversion of reality, as how the DAP has been constantly victimised and misrepresented in recent times, most notably over the CEC election.
I was also not surprised by the grossly unfair and one-sided portrayal of the Chinese as the main instigators of the racial riots. That too was expected, considering the film was fully funded by a RM4.8 million grant from FINAS (National Film Development Corporation) and MDEC (Multimedia Development Corporation). After all, race-baiting and provocation is everyday fare for the BN-controlled mainstream media. Read the rest of this entry »
Tanda Putera: History or fiction?
Posted by Kit in Media, nation building on Thursday, 5 September 2013
Mahdzir Ibrahim
Free Malaysia Today
September 4, 2013
How can Finas justify this work by Shuhaimi Baba, investing millions of ringgit and in the process jeopardising our racial harmony. For what? The truth?
COMMENT
I’ve watched Tanda Putera. Aside from wanting to know what the hype was about this film, I considered the price of the ticket as my contribution in support local filmmakers. Hopefully, the small amount I paid, to some extent, will be able to help develop the local film industry.
According to media reports, Tanda Putera cost around RM4.5 million, with the National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (Finas) contributing RM2.5 million and the Multimedia Development Corporation RM2 million, excluding sponsorship from GLCs such as MAS.
With that huge amount of investment, the technical aspects of the film was far from satisfying. The quality of computer generated images were messy. The settings, props and costumes also fell short of capturing the atmosphere of the 60/70s era, unlike Bukit Kepong or Leftenan Adnan. Is it because the producers wanted to save on budget?
After watching it, I wondered if the film was about the history of May 13, or something else?
There were the infamous scenes depicting youths urinating on a flag pole. But, it’s not clear if this incident really took place or derived from historical facts. If true, where and what is the source? Before this, we never heard about it. So we want to know the facts, either from police reports or notes by historians.
It is not clear from the scene where the flag pole is located. Was is it in the compound of Harun Idris’ (Selangor Chief Minister) residence or at the government office or a hawkers area? If it is linked to the residence, it’s probably an assumption just because the pole is flying the Selangor flag. Or, is the urination scene a figment of the director’s imagination?
According to an eyewitness account by one Habib Ahmad, based in Kampung Baru at that time, it is almost impossible that the incident took place in the Menteri Besar’s residence. Read the rest of this entry »
Regime crisis, not just a ‘race riot’
Posted by Kit in Media, nation building, NEP on Wednesday, 4 September 2013
— Clive Kessler
The Malay Mail Online
September 3, 2013
SEPT 3 — A regime crisis, a complete implosion of the then existing national ruling formula and framework: that, and not a “race riot”, was what occurred in May 1969.
And that fact, that distinction, needs to be emphasised and repeated.
Even now.
Especially now.
Now that Tanda Putra is being widely screened, amidst heated and acrimonious controversy.
A regime crisis, not just a “race riot”: that is a truth that has long been denied and is still routinely resisted.
But is it an essential truth that cannot forever be evaded.
Tanda Putera – Filem sejarah atau fiksyen?
Posted by Kit in Media, nation building on Wednesday, 4 September 2013
Oleh Mahdzir Ibrahim
Roketkini.com
31.8.13
Filem Tanda Putera telah pun saya tonton di pawagam. Selain mahu melihat sendiri gembar-gembur tentang filem ini, ia juga saya anggap sebagai sumbangan peribadi saya kepada penerbit filem tersebut demi menyokong kemajuan filem tempatan. Mudah-mudahan dengan wang tiket yang saya bayar itu, sedikit sebanyak akan dapat membantu memajukan lagi filem tempatan.
Saya sebagai penonton mempunyai pandangan sendiri, saya akan cuba berlaku adil menilai filem ini.
Menurut laporan media, kos filem ini sekitar RM 4.5 juta, ia dibiayai oleh Perbadanan Kemajuan Filem Nasional Malaysia (FINAS) sebanyak RM2.5 juta dan RM2 juta lagi daripada Perbadanan Kemajuan Multimedia (MDeC). Tidak termasuk penajaan dari syarikat kerajaan seperti syarikat penerbangan Malaysia (MAS).
Dengan kos tersebut, saya fikir hasil dari aspek teknikalnya tidaklah begitu memuaskan. Penggunaan teknik CGI atau Computer Generated Image yang digunakan tidak sempurna dan tidak kemas malah jika difikir-fikirkan, ianya tidak perlu bagi filem sebegini. Namun terpulanglah kepada pengarah kerana itu haknya.
Begitu juga dalam dalam aspek rekabentuk produksi, props dan costume. Ia tidak cukup sempurna untuk menggambarkan suasana di zaman tersebut sedangkan filem ini berlatarkan suasana diera 60/70an. Jauh bezanya dengan props dan costume filem Bukit Kepong atau Leftenan Adnan. Adakah kerana penerbitnya ingin berjimat, kita tidak pasti.
Selepas menonton, saya tertanya-tanya adakah filem ini mahu bercerita tentang sejarah 13 Mei atau apa? Read the rest of this entry »
Fit for Golden Raspberry Award
Posted by Kit in Mariam Mokhtar, Media, Najib Razak, nation building on Wednesday, 4 September 2013
Mariam Mokhtar
Malaysiakini
Sep 2, 2013
What happened on May 13, 1969 was terrible, not just for every Malaysian, but also for the armed forces and the police. If the country is to move on and start the healing process, then the May 13 demons must be exorcised, once and for all; but first, the truth must be freed.
The National Operations Council (NOC) which was created in the aftermath of the disturbances by Najib Abdul Razak’s father, sought to return the country to normality, by restoring law and order, as well as re-establishing trust between the races. Its scope was limited and it did not seek to provide a definitive account of the tragedy.
If Najib is sincere in wanting reconciliation, one of the first things he should do is to hold an inquiry into the May 13 riots. Investigators will be hampered by Umno Baru’s unwritten rule, which is that anyone who disagrees with them is either Chinese or communist. Read the rest of this entry »
Travesty of truth and distortion of history for Nazri to claim that Tanda Putera is well-researched movie and May 13, 1969 riots was caused by Chinese
Posted by Kit in DAP, Media, nation building on Monday, 2 September 2013
It is a travesty of the truth and distortion of history for the Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz to claim that Tanda Putera is a well-researched movie and that the May 13, 1969 racial riots was caused by the Chinese.
No well-researched and historically-faithful movie would have succumbed to flights of wild imagination as to create the fictitious urination scene by Chinese youths at the flag-pole of the well-guarded Selangor Mentri Besar’s residence as one of causes provoking the May 13 racial riots – reckless of the racial misunderstanding, hatred and conflict that could be generated today after 44 years by this totally fictitious episode and downright lie.
Similarly, no well-researched and historically-faithful movie would have concocted a total lie, noted by Free Malaysia Today journalist K. Pragalath in his film review “Tanda Putera falls flat”, where he observed:
“Tanda Putera opens with a dramatic scene of an incident where DAP campaign workers kill an Umno campaign helper two weeks prior to the general election then.”
This is not history but pure fiction – nay, it is unadulterated evil, wicked falsehood and a treacherous and treasonous tale, for there was simply no such incident in 1969 where “DAP campaign workers kill an Umno campaign helper two weeks prior to the general election then”. Read the rest of this entry »
At best Umno should try not to be ‘Chinese hunters’, says Zaid
Posted by Kit in Mahathir, Media, nation building on Sunday, 1 September 2013
By Ida Lim
The Malay Mail Online
September 1, 2013
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 1 — Former Umno leader Zaid Ibrahim today said that the party would be unable to flush out those joining the party to enrich themselves, but said it should at least refrain from hunting down the Chinese.
Zaid’s comments this afternoon appeared to be aimed at Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s call for Umno to shed its corrupt image, where its leaders are viewed as allegedly lining their pockets.
“Umno surely can’t clean themselves of fortune hunters. At best they should try not to be Chinese hunters,” the former de-facto law minister said on Twitter today, likely in reference to Dr Mahathir’s column in Utusan Malaysia’s weekend edition today.
Dr Mahathir had today written in Mingguan Malaysia that the injection of new blood into the Umno leadership this October through polls would counter views that it is corrupt. Read the rest of this entry »
May 13 was not a racial riot
Posted by Kit in General, Media, nation building on Sunday, 1 September 2013
– Stephen Ng
The Malaysian Insider
September 01, 2013
Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz said that it is “a historical fact that the riot was sparked by Chinese, (like the fact) that Nazis killed thousands of Jews during the Second World War”. I beg to differ.
When May 13 broke out, I was a young five-year-old boy living in a New Village. My father was away working either in Kelantan or Pahang. My sisters and I were the only ones who stayed with my mother in Jinjang Selatan. Although we were supposed to have moved to a new home in Taman Kepong, the family decided to stay put.
As a boy, I was listening in to every conversation that took place between my mother and other relatives and friends. There were horror stories of Malays killing the Chinese, and Chinese killing the Malays. But a phone conversation between my mother and my father that has never escaped my attention was that everything was peaceful in the East Coast.
My Father said that the Chinese and the Malays were having breakfast together. There was no riot in the East Coast. It was business as usual for them. Muthusamy, Ali and Ah Chong were still friends, when things went awry in Selangor. Why is that so, Datuk Seri Nazri? Read the rest of this entry »
A review of ‘Tanda Putera’, a film that takes liberties with the truth
Posted by Kit in Media, nation building on Sunday, 1 September 2013
By Erna Mahyuni
The Malay Mail Online
September 1, 2013
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 1 — For Merdeka, I watched Shuhaimi Baba’s docu-drama “Tanda Putera”. Fourteen other people were in the cinema at GSC Paradigm Mall in Petaling Jaya at 11.30am.
I am unsure if any of them enjoyed the film, though an elderly Chinese gentleman in the audience walked out halfway. My one regret is that I could not do the same. The heart of “Tanda Putera” is the friendship of the late Tun Abdul Razak Hussein and Tun Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman, played by Rusdi Ramli and Zizan Nin respectively.
Sadly, neither of the actors was up to the mark, but more on that later.
To call this revisionist history would be too kind. “Tanda Putera” is a poorly written, abysmally researched train wreck that makes our local soap operas look like arthouse films.
What amazes me is that it cost RM5 million to make this schlock. Read the rest of this entry »
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