Archive for category Media
Renewal of Makkal Osai welcomed – now for immediate release of Hindraf 5
The government’s about-turn to renew the publishing permit of Tamil daily Makkal Osai which it banned last week is welcome as it would have otherwise destroyed the credibility of all reform pledges of Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on the judiciary and the anti-corruption agency.
The Home Minister, Datuk Seri Hamid Albar should learn the lesson of the Makkal Osai faux pax and not repeat the same mistake of complying obediently and blindly the dictates of the “Little Napoleons” in the bureaucracy and to bring to bear his higher duties and responsibilities as the Minister ultimately responsible for all decisions made by his ministry.
Now, it is for Hamid to order the immediate and unconditional release of the Hindraf 5 from Internal Security Act (ISA) detention in Kamunting.
Hamid cannot again pass the responsibility of the continued detention of the Hindraf 5 to the civil servants as he must bear full and final responsibility for the government’s refusal to heed the voices of the people in the March 8 “political tsunami” that the Malaysian Indians have legitimate grievances about their long-standing marginalization of their citizenship rights in the country, and the Hindraf 5 should be rewarded instead of being incarcerated for bringing the plight of the Malaysian Indians finally to the attention of the government and nation. Read the rest of this entry »
Umno and BN’s post-March 8 schizophrenia
Umno and Barisan Nasional leaders should end its post-March 8 schizophrenia – claiming to have finally heard the voice of the people and yet still refusing to “walk the talk” of reforms like closing down the Tamil daily Makkal Osai, continued detention of Hindraf leaders under the Internal Security Act (ISA) and stonewalling the proposal for an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) to create an efficient, incorruptible, professional world-class police service to keep crime low and make the country safe for Malaysians, visitors and investors.
Such political schizophrenia seizing Umno and Barisan Nasional has become a daily staple in the mass media, as illustrated by the following two headlines today:
• Najib tells BN: Win over support from non-Malays (NST);
• Makkal Osai loses licence – Tamil daily’s application rejected (The Star)
Has it occurred to the Umno and Barisan Nasional leadership, including the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister, that the best way to ensure that the Barisan Nasional will lose even more support from the non-Malays are high-handed, arrogant and undemocratic actions like the closure of Makkal Osai, the refusal to release the five Hindraf leaders, P. Uthayakumar, newly-elected Selangor DAP State Assemblyman for Kota Alam Shah A. Manoharan, V. Ganabatirau, R. Kenghadharan and T. Vasantha Kumar or refusal to give Uthayakumar the best medical treatment while under ISA detention?
In fact, such political arrogance and contempt for human rights will also offend all right-thinking and justice-loving Malays, as illustrated by the March 8 “political tsunami” which saw Malaysians voting across racial and religious divides. Read the rest of this entry »
Tamil Makkalosai suspended for a week – beginning of crackdown post-March 8?
Posted by Kit in Human Rights, Indians, Media on Wednesday, 16 April 2008
Popular Tamil daily, Tamil Makkalosai, has been suspended for a week by none other than the Home Minister, Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar himself for giving too much coverage of Pakatan Rakyat news.
With immediate effect, Tamil Makkalosai will not appear in the streets until next week, awaiting the fate of its appeal to the Home Minister.
Is this the first sign of repression and crackdown on human rights and the little space opening up in the printed media after the March 8 “political tsunami”?
It is clear that the decision to stop the publication of Tamil Makkalosai, which is still awaiting for its KDN this year, has got the “green-light” from the Cabinet meeting this morning.
Why did the Ministers, particularly from Umno and other Barisan Nasional component parties, particularly from the MIC, who have promised to end their subsidiary and subservient role in Cabinet , agreed to such a repressive measure as to immediately close down Tamil Makkalosai?
Devilish Star heading with two lies in 11 words – call for nation-wide firestorm protest without instant Star online apology
(Media Conference Statement 2 at DAP Ipoh Timur Ops Centre on Friday, 7th March 2008 at 12.30 pm)
The Star headline “Opposition senses victory – Anwar and Kit Siang confident of forming next govt with PAS” today are downright double lies.
This is the Star report (N 12):
PKR and DAP will form next Government , say Anwar and Kit Siang
By AUDREY EDWARDS and CHAN LI LEEN
KUALA LUMPUR: Buoyed by the large crowds at their rallies, opposition parties are now claiming they can win the general election and form the next Government.
PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and his DAP counterpart Lim Kit Siang both expressed confidence that their loose coalition, which also includes PAS, had the support of the voters.
In Rembau, Anwar said he was confident the Opposition would win and “our first duty to the people is to bring down oil prices.”
“God willing, we will win on March 8. You tell those Barisan (Nasional) boys we will win,” he saud.“And when DAP, PKR and PAS win on March 8, we will bring down the oil prices on March 9,” he said at a ceramah yesterday.
In Ipoh, Lim said a strong and powerful wind of change was blowing in the land and he was also confident of the voters’ support.
This, he said, was evident by the mammoth turnout, enthusiastic responses and generous donations of Malaysians at ceramah held in various states.
“The crowd numbered from several thousands to more than 10,000 at the ceramah I attended in Malacca, Negri Sembilan, Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Perak and Penang in the past three days,” Lim told reporters yesterday.
“But the question is whether the wind of change rising will be strong and powerful enough on March 8 to make it a day of history and a day of destiny for Malaysia,” Lim added.
There is nothing wrong with the report filed by the Star reporter Chan Li Leen but everything wrong with the heading given by the sub-editor or editor. Read the rest of this entry »
Freedom of the press
By Ishwar Nahappan
Dr Mahathir thrust a deep dagger into the heart of fundamental and civil liberties of Malaysia. This is the legacy that he will be known best for. Progressively under his rule the concept of “Free and Fair” elections were thrown out of the window.
The expression “Free and Fair” incorporates many underlying principles including legal, ethical, and internationally accepted historical conventions. It does not just mean the freedom to vote. An open free press to express its views without duress and manipulation is a fundamental liberty which is the absolute right of ALL MALAYSIANS OF ALL RACES.
The newspapers and visual media (government controlled) are blanketed and filled with goodies and ang pows from the barisan government and all opposition activities are blocked and blacked out by a pliant press and media under the control and ownership of the constituent parties of barisan. UMNO or UMNO members control the New Straits Times, Berita Harian, The Malay Mail, the Utusan, etc. MCA control the Star and Nanyang Siang Pow and Datuk Samy Vellu’s personal family members control the Tamil Nesan.
Freedom of the press in Malaysia is like a wayang kulit, now you see it now you don’t. Or a water tap which can be turned on and off or reduced to a trickle whenever the government so chooses.
The press deliberately ignores:
• Any mention by the opposition of continuing breaches of civil liberties, the incidents of endemic corruption, acts of wasteful expenditure, the list could go on and on but I will save that for another day.
• It now appears that Bukit Bintang has 5,000 new postal voters who have suddenly appeared without any logical or legitimate rhyme or reason. One should ask WHY and the reason being is to neutralise one community’s voting strength.
• The leadership of the MIC is fast losing any residual credibility with the Indian community. Its great leader Datuk Samy Vellu has been harassed on two occasions in the last few days and just yesterday with eggs and slippers. Consequently more and more Indians are joining the DAP, totally frustrated with Samy Vellu’s self-centered and self-aggrandizing leadership. Last Thursday evening, at a dinner I hosted in Klang, 250 ordinary Indians, many of them from the MIC openly joined the DAP.
• Samy Vellu can’t even speak out and on behalf of 300 men, women and children who were demonstrating peacefully and calling them criminal to boot. Perhaps he should look at a mirror himself and adjust his coiffeur (hairdo), it might help him see things more clearly. A meaningful response to this horrendous act by the police was made by Datuk Anwar yesterday. His speech was reported in The New Paper.
Fortunately for us today and what makes this election a watershed is the power of electronic media communication both through the internet and the sms. The Thaipusam celebration which was boycotted by the Indian community at large resulted in the number of devotees visiting Batu Caves reducing to a generous estimate of approximately 250,000 people as opposed to the usual 800,000 – 1 million people. Samy’s days are numbered. It could not happen sooner. He will be the fourth of a pack of rotten apples who came to power in the seventies who so spoiled Malaysia. I wish him a peaceful retirement.
Sack Zam as “caretaker Information Minister” if he continues to misuse RTM/Information for BN propaganda and spread falsehoods against Opposition
I had commended the Election Commission Chairman Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman for fixing a 13-day campaign period for the 12th general election, which is longer than the previous five general elections between 1986 to 2004, i.e. 10 days each in 1986, 1990 and 1995, nine days in 1999 and eight days in 2004.
This is however only a small step towards conducting a free,fair and clean general election and there are many areas which the Election Commission Chairman must address to ensure that the Malaysian election system can be internationally acclaimed as of world-class standard in terms of its efficiency and being fair, free and clean.
For a start, I call on Rashid to address two issues:
Firstly, make nomination for the general election a disqualification-free process. At present, preparing for nomination is as traumatic as preparing for a major legal case for lawyers or sitting for higher degree examinations in universities.
Let us have a disqualification-free nomination process whereby no proposed candidate could be disqualified for any technical mistake in filling up the nomination form. There should only be disqualification of candidates for fraudulent claims but not for technical mistakes which should be allowed to be corrected during or even after the nomination. Read the rest of this entry »
RTM’s CNY misrepresentation of Malaysian Chinese
Posted by Kit in Letters, Media, nation building on Saturday, 9 February 2008
Letters
by Oldtimer
I am appalled by the way the government misrepresented
the culture of the Chinese. On the second day of
Chinese New Year, at 9pm, RTM broadcasted the Panorama
programme which showed what a “typical” Malaysian
Chinese family preparing for Chinese New Year. Instead
of showing a typical Chinese family, they purposely
showed a Muslim Chinese family and passing the family
off as a typical family. They showed the food
preparations and, of course, did not show any pork
dishes. How can you not show pork dishes for Chinese
new year? They also did not show the people going to
temple and worship their ancestors. Instead they tried
to show this Chinese Muslim family celebrating Chinese
New Year the Muslim way.
I have nothing against Chinese Muslim, but they are a
minority among Chinese Malaysians, and do not
represent the majority of Chinese Malaysians.
It is appalling the way RTM is trying to manipulate
the true picture of the Malaysian Chinese. They
purposely did not show the three key elements- pork,
temples and ancestors worship.
If the government is trying to promote Islam among the
Chinese population here they have in fact, created a
bad impression of Muslims in Malaysia. It just showed
how shallow the government’s commitment to plural
society and religious and cultural freedom. By passing
off the Chinese Muslim as a typical Chinese family in
Malaysia, they have gone to the extreme. Read the rest of this entry »
Zam – “Eminent journalist” who has “become predator of the press”
Posted by Kit in Election, Media, Parliament on Thursday, 6 December 2007
As former top journalist, Zainuddin Maidin should have blazed the path and expanded space for greater media freedom. Instead he has done the reverse.
Although the instruments of repressive media control are with the Ministry of Internal Security, it is Zam as Information Minister who presented the public face of the Barisan Nasional government of such media control. In fact, he is the Barisan Nasional ideologue for media control and censorship.
Last year, Zainuddin was awarded the Eminent Journalist (Tokoh Wartawan) in appreciation of his contribution to journalism in the country.
Who gave away the award to him? None other than the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak during the Malaysian Press Night 2006 organised by the Malaysian Press Institute (MPI) in November last year.
I do not know how Zainuddin dared to accept the award of Tokoh Wartawan when he has become the “Predator of the Press” as the government’s chief hatchet man to suppress press freedom in the country.
In the last few days, there are already several cases of the screws being tightened to throttle press freedom and the fundamental constitutional right of freedom of expression of Malaysians.
Only yesterday, top editors of Tamil and Chinese dailies were hauled to a 90-minute meeting in Putrajaya for the latest dose of brain-washing — not not to highlight stories and photographs relating to the Hindraf rally on Nov 25 and on all other matters involving the coalition. Read the rest of this entry »
Boycott the newspapers!
Posted by Kit in Human Rights, Media on Saturday, 1 December 2007
(Turned off by the mainstream media treatment of the Hindraf demonstration on Sunday, 25th November 2007, Malaysiakini columnist Helen Ang has made the following call for boycott of the newspapers.)
by Helen Ang
MalaysiakiniNov 29, 07
I feel like I’ve just been slapped, kicked and punched. And I’m neither Indian nor Hindu.
The way mainstream media (MSM) have painted our fellow Malaysians black makes me thoroughly sick. MSM have assaulted Indians through their derogatory portrayal of the community and it stings me. Aliran Media Monitor’s Diary has effectively dissected MSM spin on the Hindraf rally to show up how unconscionable their coverage has been.
When a community with its back to the wall takes to the street, I sympathise. I do not mock the melodramatic form of their lawsuit and petition. I understand that the massive turnout on Nov 25 was a cry of distress. Nathaniel Tan’s ‘Why I will walk this Sunday’ is an eloquent peroration on why all Malaysians must wake up, now.
I wish I had read Nat’s piece earlier but it was only uploaded on his blog Saturday — a mere day before the gathering was to take place. His exposition is something to turn over in our heads and help us in our soul-searching because Nat spoke straight from the heart. Mighty MSM, I’m afraid, speak from the pay pocket.
There was a dearth of information in the public domain running up to the Hindraf rally, and later contradicting accounts of what really happened. Which only indicates MSM have long since lost any right to call themselves ‘newspapers’. A fortnight earlier, the Star had quoted police on a crowd segment of 4,000 at the Bersih march. This small number is deliberately misleading.
And again with Hindraf, MSM deliberately omitted an accurate depiction of the massive turnout. They failed to credit why Indians streamed into KL from all over the country. All they did was spin for their political masters. Read the rest of this entry »
Truth and justice are no longer Malaysian way
Posted by Kit in Human Rights, Judiciary, Media on Friday, 23 November 2007
By Michael Backman
The Age
November 21, 2007
THE Government of Australia will probably change hands this weekend. There will be no arrests, no tear gas and no water cannons. The Government of John Howard will leave office, the Opposition will form a government and everyone will accept the verdict.
For this, every Australian can feel justifiably proud. This playing by the rules is what has made Australia rich and a good place in which to invest. It is a country to which people want to migrate; not leave.
Now consider Malaysia. The weekend before last, up to 40,000 Malaysians took to the streets in Kuala Lumpur to protest peacefully against the judiciary’s lack of independence, electoral fraud, corruption and a controlled media.
In response, they were threatened by the Prime Minister, called monkeys by his powerful son-in-law, and blasted with water cannons and tear gas. And yet the vast majority of Malaysians do not want a change of government. All they want is for their government to govern better.
Both Malaysia and Australia have a rule of law that’s based on the English system. Both started out as colonies of Britain. So why is Malaysia getting it so wrong now?
Malaysia’s Government hates feedback. Dissent is regarded as dangerous, rather than a product of diversity. And like the wicked witch so ugly that she can’t stand mirrors, the Government of Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi controls the media so that it doesn’t have to see its own reflection. Read the rest of this entry »
An Indictment of Malaysia’s Media
Posted by Kit in Bakri Musa, Media on Friday, 23 November 2007
by M. Bakri Musa
Editors and journalists serve as nothing more than as chief errand boys and girls for the establishment.
If you were a Malaysian and had relied only on the mainstream media for news, you could be excused for being befuddled over what happened in Kuala Lumpur on the Saturday of November 10, 2007. You would be confounded too on the day before to see the normally busy streets eerily empty except for police trucks and personnel. Tourists could be excused into thinking that they were visiting a banana republic in the midst of another routine military coup.
It turned out that the only folks befuddled on both days were ministers and officials. The citizens knew exactly what was going on despite the news blackout by the mainstream media. That more than anything demonstrates the irrelevance of these mainstream editors and reporters.
No amount of post event editorial contortions could alter that fact. These editors and journalists have little left of their personal pride and professional integrity; they have completely prostituted themselves to being instruments of the state’s propaganda machinery. They may have fancy titles as Group Editor or Editor-in-Chief, their functions however are nothing more than as “chief errand boys and girls” for the establishment. They acceded only too willingly to orders from their political masters.
Their once informative news pages are today filled with nothing more than ministerial speeches and press releases. Their formerly critical and influential Op-Ed columns are today reduced to carrying unashamedly toadying pieces praising the current leaders.
Malaysians are fully aware of this reality and react accordingly. The mainstream papers’ declining circulation, readership, and influence attest to their lack of credibility. These papers are eagerly read only by members of the ruling party, where the obsession is on tracking which party operatives are being featured on the front page and which ones have been relegated to the middle. The paper is effectively reduced to being the ruling party’s newsletter. Read the rest of this entry »
Kee Thuan Chye interview (2) – A culture of fearing the truth
Posted by Kit in Election, Human Rights, Kee Thuan Chye, Media on Friday, 23 November 2007
Helen Ang
Malaysiakini
Nov 22, 07 12:45pm
{Last week, Kee Thuan Chye opined that many non-Malays have been conditioned to swallow wholesale Ketuanan Melayu propaganda from the exhaustive indoctrination and would probably vote Barisan Nasional again come the general election.
Part 2 of the Q & A continues. The views expressed here are strictly the interviewee’s own and do not reflect the stand of any organisation that he is with.)
Helen: Let’s examine the nuances of non-Malay support for the incumbency. Pundits are predicting that disgruntled Chinese will swing to the opposition this time around. So it may actually turn out that a large percentage of the community will indeed buck the status quo.
What I think is that while Chinese are prepared to secretly (they will refuse to tell anyone who they voted for) cast their once-every-five-years ballot in favour of the opposition, their mindset in the remaining four years and 364 days will remain as you say, conditioned: fearful, refusing to engage and self-centred.
But given the uneven electoral playing field and lack of proportional representation, popular disenchantment may nonetheless not translate into a diminished BN influence. Sadly true?
Kee: The gerrymandering that has been done has really made it harder for the Chinese to swing votes in many constituencies. I was in Balakong a couple of weeks ago and the residents there told me that their constituency used to be opposition-controlled, but lately with the redemarcation exercise, the BN has been winning.
There used to be about 70 per cent Chinese in the constituency but that has been diluted to about 50 per cent. The other 20 per cent has been moved to another constituency. They don’t foresee the opposition winning it back this coming election unless a huge majority of the remaining 50 per cent vote for them. Many Chinese, however, tend to vote BN.
Surely they can see that BN is a gross disservice to their community? Who are those still so blinkered? Read the rest of this entry »
Zam – Minister for Misinformation and Disinformation (YouTube on parliamentary exchange)
Posted by Kit in Media, Parliament on Tuesday, 13 November 2007
See on YouTube the parliamentary exchange during question-time this morning where I said it is a misnomer to call Datuk Seri Zainuddin Maidin Minister for Information when he is really Minister for Misinformation and Disinformation. I observed that Zainuddin had “made a fool of himself” in his interview with Al Jazeera over the mammoth peaceful 10-Eleven BERSIH rally and petition on electoral reforms to the King, and whether this was why Zainuddin dared not appear in Parliament during question time, leaving it to his Deputy “Misinformation” Minister, Datuk Zahid Hamidi to hold the floor.
Malaysiakini had reported this episode as follows:
Kit Siang: Zam ‘minister of misinformation’
Yoges Palaniappan
Nov 13, 07 3:09pmMinister of Misinformation – this was the new title conferred upon Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin by Opposition leader Lim Kit Siang in the Dewan Rakyat today.
The issue started when Deputy Information Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (photo) answered a supplementary question posed by Raime Unggi (BN-Tenom).
Raime had asked Ahmad Zahid what action would be taken against the international media for their wide coverage on the mammoth rally held over the weekend.
The rally, organised by the opposition-backed Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih), saw some 40,000 people taking to the streets and the submission of a memorandum to the King.
“The media gave a very biased coverage of the illegal gathering until it indicated that our country is in a big mess.
“How would (state-owned television station) RTM straighten this out? And what kind of action would be taken against the media that reported inaccurate facts?” asked Raime.
Responding, Ahmad Zahid (BN-Bagan Datok) said RTM, in its coverage of the rally, showed that demonstrations must not be used as a medium to gain people’s support.
“Even though RTM used the gathering as its lead story, we used the story to send across the message that demonstrations are not the right way to gain support from the public. This is because demonstrations are very undemocratic and could ruin our country’s image and drive away foreign investors,” he said. Read the rest of this entry »
Whether Cabinet is “half-past six” will depend on its handling of two major current issues tomorrow
Posted by Kit in Election, Judiciary, Media, Parliament on Tuesday, 13 November 2007
Will the Cabinet meeting tomorrow prove that it is a “half-past six” one with no constructive responses on two major current issues – the BERSIH petition to the Yang di Pertuan Agong for electoral reforms for clean, free and fair elections in Malaysia and the Lingam Tape scandal on the perversion of the course of justice, dealing another lethal blow to the skyrocketing crisis of confidence in the independence, integrity and quality of the judiciary in Malaysia?
The mammoth peaceful BERSIH gathering and petition to the Yang di Pertuan Agong on Saturday for transparency and integrity of the electoral process had also highlighted the deplorable state of press freedom in Malaysia.
I said in Parliament during question time that Datuk Seri Zainuddin Maidin’s ministerial portfolio was a misnomer as he should be properly described as Minister for Mis-Information.
This was why when the Deputy Information Minister, Datuk Zahid Hamidi, who was representing his Minister during question time, demanded that I retract the statement that his boss was “Mis-Information Minister”, I refused, pointing out that Zahid is no better as “Deputy Mis-Information Minister”.
I made this remark during my supplementary question deriding Zainuddin’s criticism of Al Jazeera of “unfair reporting and conspiring with the Opposition to paint an untrue picture of the situation in Malaysia” on its coverage of Saturday’s BERSIH gathering when it was Zainuddin who is most guilty of the allegation, as he presided over RTM’s “unfair reporting” and “conspiracy with the Barisan Nasional to paint an untrue picture of the actual situation in Malaysia”. Read the rest of this entry »
Mammoth BERSIH gathering – People have spoken but will Abdullah listen or will he remain deaf, blind and mute?
Posted by Kit in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Election, Human Rights, Media on Sunday, 11 November 2007
Malaysians have spoken loud and clear in the peaceful mammoth BERSIH gathering yesterday to support the petition to the Yang di Pertuan Agong for electoral reforms for clean, free and fair elections – but will the Prime Minister, Datuk Abdullah Ahmad Badawi listen and act or will he remain deaf, blind and mute?
When he became Prime Minister four years ago, one of Abdullah’s first public pledges was to listen to the truth however unpleasant.
However, Abdullah had not been listening in the past four years. Last month, the Information Minister, Datuk Seri Zainuddin Maidin assumed the new roles as Abdullah’s “Truth Gatekeeper” and Press Censor, laying the law to the media that Abdullah’s pledge to hear the truth was limited to Barisan Nasional leaders and top government officials and not to the public or the press.
It is significant that in my parliamentary exchange with Zainuddin on press freedom which is accessible on YouTube, thanks to RTM website, Zainuddin did not specifically deny that he had become the new “Gatekeeper” as to what is the truth to be conveyed to the Prime Minister.
This has resulted in all the printed media today playing down yesterday’s biggest peaceful public gathering during the four-year premiership of Abdullah to petition the Yang di Pertuan Agong on electoral reforms for the simple reason that the Prime Minister had refused to listen to the voice of the people.
No newspaper dared to publish photographs of the mammoth peaceful gathering, which is a tribute to Malaysians for their love of peace and commitment to democracy. This is because of Zainuddin’s directive to the printed media that no such photographs were to be published. All that the newspapers could print were pictures of massive traffic jams!
The mainstream media were not allowed free and independent reporting of yesterday’s gathering, which was completely peaceful except when marred by excessive force by police in firing tear gas and water cannons.
Newspapers dared not give an estimate of the mammoth peaceful gathering, and were forced to use the official figure by the Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Musa Hassan putting the gathering at 4,000 people.
If the Inspector-General of Police had not been misquoted, then the country’s top police officer suffer from the grave ailment of innumeracy or difficulty with numbers — as there is at least one zero missing when Musa said only 4,000 people responded at the mammoth Bersih peaceful gathering yesterday. Read the rest of this entry »
Challenge to Zam – Update regularly the RTM website on my blog postings
I challenge the Information Minister, Datuk Seri Zainuddin Maidin to regularly update the RTM website with my blog postings to let the Malaysian public evaluate their quality and veracity.
Yesterday, on the sidelines of the Umno General Assembly, Zainuddin announced the RTM website www.rtm.net.my will publish selected comments from blog.limkitsiang.com to let readers judge for themselves my blog.
Yesterday, the RTM website started a new “Media Baru” section which carried a YouTube video of the parliamentary exchange between Zainuddin and myself on press freedom and two of my blog postings, Zam – Info Minister under coconut shell or bidding to be Mat Rempit “Godfather”? (26th October 2007) and Zam sees red in being called “monkey” in this blog (November 7, 2007).
Let Zainuddin state where I had made “sensationalized, racist and chauvinistic comments” in these two blog postings. Read the rest of this entry »
Zam sees red in being called “monkey” in this blog
On Monday, in the winding-up on the Information Ministry during the 2008 Budget policy debate, Information Minister, Datuk Zainuddin Maidin saw red at being called “monkey” in this blog.
At first he accused me for calling him a “monkey” — but when confronted, he backed down and admitted that it was a comment left on my blog. But he said I must bear responsibility as moderator of the blog.
I said I regretted that such a term was used but it was definitely not used by me. I did a search of the reference which he had objected to and found it was a post by ENDANGERED HORNBILL on 28th October 2007 in the thread “Zam – Info Minister under coconut shell or bidding to be Mat Rempit “Godfather”?”, viz:
“ZAM is behaving like a BN monkey that’s gone bananas over NUTs.”
ZAM has legitimate grievance at being called “monkey” but it is no justification for him to become the Cabinet’s premier anti-blogger, and this was why I told him in Parliament why he should not behave like a “frog under the coconut shell” in expressing satisfaction at Malaysia’s 32-spot plunge in the Freedom Without Borders (RSF) 2007 press freedom index, from No. 92 last year to 124, which is the nation-worst ranking in the RSF annual worldwide press freedom ranking since it was started in 2002. Read the rest of this entry »
Zam – Info Minister under coconut shell or bidding to be Mat Rempit “Godfather”?
Datuk Seri Zainuddin Maidin has provided proof that he runs the Information Ministry like a frog under the coconut shell blissfully unaware that in the era of globalization and international competitiveness Malaysia cannot turn a blind eye to complaints, whether by Malaysians or foreigners, about misgovernance.
I am astounded that the former veteran journalist could be so mischievous and irresponsible as to issue a formal statement yesterday accusing me of acts akin to being “anti-national” for bringing a foreigner to Parliament “to express his views on the democratic and security system in the country”.
He said such things would not have happened in any other country, especially when the case mentioned was still under police investigation .
Zainuddin cannot be more wrong. I have no doubt that in developed countries which Malaysia aspires to become in 2020, using the Parliament to ventilate the grievances of nationals and foreigners in the country would be common occurrence and would not be the subject of any official comment.
What would be eye-raising is having the Information Minister of the country disgracing himself, Parliament and the nation by making myopic and xenophobic statements as if foreigners have no rights in the country and Malaysia has no duty and responsibility to protect the safety and security of foreign tourists, visitors and professionals working as consultants in the country.
Let me clarify from the outset that the Canadian consultant, Manjit Sokhai did not come to Parliament on Wednesday “to express his views on the democratic and security system in the country” but to complain to the Parliamentary Caucus on Human Rights and Good Governance about the menace of Mat Rempitism, of which he was the most recent victim. Read the rest of this entry »
Shame on Zam for hypocrisy and chicanery – hiding behind Lee Kuan Yew to reject RSF press freedom index
Shame on Information Minister, Datuk Seri Zainuddin Maidin in hiding behind Singapore’s former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew to reject the 2007 worldwide press freedom index of the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) which saw Malaysia recording two “worsts” – the sharpest plunge of 32 spots from 92 last year to 124 placing, which is also Malaysia’s worst ranking in the RSF annual worldwide press freedom ranking since it was started in 2002.
It is a public slap in the face of the Zainuddin as Information Minister as well as the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi who had promised to allow greater press freedom in the country that Malaysia has now been given a worldwide press freedom ranking which was even worse than under the era of former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad.
However, instead of courageously addressing the widening deficit between the promise of greater press freedom and the reality of worse media control and censorship, Zainuddin has decided to outdo himself in his inveterate state of denial, even hiding behind Singapore’s former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew to call on Malaysians to ignore the the RSP press freedom index.
Zainuddin’s chicanery and hypocrisy were immediately obvious, for he never had any good word for Kuan Yew before.
Is Zainuddin prepared to be consistent in his current pastime of singing praises for Kuan yew and support the Singapore Minister Mentor’s endorsement of Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI) which repeatedly listed Singapore among the world’s top five among the least corrupt nations while Malaysia’s CPI ranking had plunged further in the past four years of Abdullah’s premiership — again to a new low never plumbed during the Mahathir administration! Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysia’s worst-ever ranking in RSF worldwide press freedom index – could be even worse!
In the latest worldwide press freedom index released by Paris-based watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Malaysia scored two “worsts” — the sharpest plunge of 32 spots from 92 to 124 placing, which is also Malaysia’s worst ranking in the RSF annual worldwide press freedom ranking since it was started in 2002.
In the past six years, Malaysia had been ranked poorly in RSF’s annual worldwide press freedom index —
RSF Worldwide Press Freedom Index (Malaysia)
2002 – 110 (out of 139 countries)
2003 – 104 (166)
2004 – 122 (167)
2005 – 113 (167)
2006 – 92 (168)
2007 – 124 (169)
Last year, when Malaysia jumped 21 spots to 92nd ranking from the previous year’s 113rd position, the New Straits Times crowed:
“This is the best ranking that the country has achieved since the global media watchdog first introduced the Index in 2002, when we came in 110th. In fact, this is the first time the country has scored higher than all the other Asean countries. Last year, we were fourth, and the year before were fifth.”
The New Straits Times today did not report the 2007 RSF worldwide press freedom index released yesterday and Malaysia’s worst ever ranking and plunge. Read the rest of this entry »
-
You are currently browsing the archives for the Media category.
