Deracialising M’sian journalism

by Eric Loo | Malaysiakini

We find strength in numbers. Shared goals prompt us to unionise for collective bargaining and associate for mutual affirmation. Hence, we have clubs and fraternities, guilds and societies, centres and institutes. We identify with the group’s creed, culture and calling. But when journalists’ associations are founded on racial positioning instead of editorial mission, it piques my interest in their political motivation.

In a democracy we’re free to associate and assemble along racial lines. I understand the motives for Perkasa’s existence; likewise the reasons for Hindraf and Dong Zong’s founding. But let not our journalists be defined by racial differentiation.

When media practitioners assemble under exclusivist racial umbrellas, when they see themselves first as Malay, Chinese or Indian journalists instead of journalists who happen to be a Malay, Chinese or Indian, it raises a range of ethical issues. The main being their professional integrity and capacity to report fairly and truthfully when they are confronted by race-related issues and moved to write about it.

For instance, the recent commentary in Utusan Malaysia by the president of the National Association of Malay Journalists and Writers of Malaysia (NAMJ). Dr Alias Mohamed, who is also president of the Kelantan Malay Journalists Association, wrote that if Malay leaders continued to accommodate the Chinese, they would risk losing their Malay authority and political leadership.

The president’s warped sense of ‘Ketuanan Melayu’ may not represent the views of all NAMJ members.

But it does legitimise a hegemonic framework that its members may see as acceptable in shaping their coverage of race and religion related issues, such as, of late, the preferential treatment policies, which for more than 30 years now have discriminated against qualified non-Malay students in accessing places in public universities, the child conversion (to Islam) bill, the usage of the word ‘Allah’ in Christian Bahasa publications, the post-GE13 power relations structure and a token suggestion by the prime minister on the night of the election results on May 6 of a ‘national reconciliation’ to unite the people.

Forming associations of journalists by race rather than professional mission gives the public the impression that racial attributes do shape and inform on the work of a Malay, Chinese and Indian journalist. Which goes against the nature of what ethical journalists do, regardless of their gender, race or religion – that is to understand and interpret events and issues in their contexts, and then writing about it.

Journalists should observe and reflect on what they’ve seen and heard, analyse and elucidate between right and wrong, then and write about it fairly, truthfully and responsibly for a discerning public.

Because race and its assumed attributes impact on what and how we feel, think and react to others different from us, the critical challenge for Malaysian journalists is to figure out how to not jump the gun when reporting on the grievances of “other” communities.

Because journalists do set the public agenda through the headlines, texts, story angles, dominant sources and selective quotes, the public should be more vigilant in engaging online with journalists to investigate into issues that matter and to expose the entrenched corruption in the system and its deleterious impact on the people’s socio-economic welfare.

Mainstream journalists know more than what they are able to report. They are hamstrung by in-house autocratic editorial controls, and hence a learned sense of self-censorship. It is easy to see why the stories we read in the mainstream papers are mainly based on statements by the government rather than investigative exposé driven by the journalists’ bold initiatives.

Increasingly unethical practices

These constraints, however, should not excuse the increasingly unethical practices committed by political mouthpieces such as Utusan Malaysia, which have regressed further to the right with their ethnocentric editorial culture.

In the long run, we need to find ways to depoliticise the media ownership structure and deracialise the editorial controls and contents in the mainstream media. However, a newsroom that reflects the racial diversity of Malaysian society, while essential, may not necessarily be sufficient to get us to talk across racial fault lines.

What is required is a fundamental change in the news culture, the capacity to talk honestly and respectfully across fault lines, and a renewed commitment to ethical and accountable journalism by media owners, editors and their journalists.

I cite below some principles on reporting about race that I’ve compiled in numerous journalism training workshops I’ve conducted over the years in parts of Asia. I hope Malaysian journalists, regardless of their ethnicity, will find these principles relevant to their obligations to report fairly, truthfully and accurately on the increasingly polarised Malaysian society we live in today.

*Factual accuracy in a single story is no substitute for the whole truth. A single story that is factually accurate can nonetheless be misleading. Journalists must always consider the contexts of the issues.

*In multicultural societies, editors must be highly sensitive of the danger of stoking racism by selective reporting and stereotyping. Generalisations based on the behaviour of an individual or a small number of individuals are invariably unjust.

*When there is potential for communal tension, journalists must take time to investigate and expose the underlying causes.

*Statistics can be used to excite passion. They should always be multiple checked and interpreted. This is particularly relevant to issues such as the institutionalised discrimination against non-Malay students in the annual intake by public universities.

*All stories of communal, racial or religious nature should be scrupulously ascribed to their sources. The authority of the sources should be properly evaluated, and where appropriate rejected as reliable sources.

*Where several languages are spoken, meanings are sometimes lost in translation. Words and phrases may have different connotations among different groups. Hence, journalists should always use considered language, especially in headlines and also in the display. No concession should be made to racial rhetoric.

*Statements should not be accepted at face value from any source, including government sources. Where necessary, these should be accompanied in the news columns by corroboration and interpretation.

*Pictures can distort reality. An unrepresentative picture may lie even more than a news story and add to prejudices.

*In mixed societies with underlying causes of tension – social, economic or religious – journalists should initiate investigative stories with sociological content. These would inform and educate the public. It also helps disperse an environment of resentment and suspicion.

*Place equal emphasis on stories of cooperation/harmony with stories of controversies and conflict.

*Avoid over-relying on official sources, particularly politicians and special interest groups. Get down to the grassroots and listen to the people who are affected by the issues.

*Journalists should not allow their stories to be driven by the public hysteria of the moment. Question the assumptions on which the hysteria is based, and always be sensitive to alternative views.

*Factual errors in a speech related to race and religion must be pointed out, where necessary, in the same column as the speech itself is published.

ERIC LOO left Malaysia for Australia in 1986 to work as a journalist. He currently lectures at University of Wollongong, Australia, and serves on the advisory committee of UPI Next, a journalism education and training platform run by United Press International. He edits a refereed journal Asia Pacific Media Educator and conducts journalism training workshops in Asia. Email: eloo@uow.edu.au

End impunity for the powerful, reform institutions

Josie Fernandez | TMI

Corruption with impunity is undermining democracy, socio-economic advancement and the independence of Parliament, state and legislature in Malaysia.

Corruption with impunity is a major challenge stifling efforts to reform institutions such as the Elections Commission, Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission, the Police and Political Parties. Election fraud is another indicator that impunity has been institutionalized.

Reforms proposed by civil society groups such as Transparency International Malaysia to restructure the Elections Commission, for a more independent MACC and for removal of laws that curtail the independence of the media have been ignored by the government.

Recent surveys such as the Transparency International Global Corruption Barometer (GCB) 2013 results have shown that approximately 70 percent of the Malaysian Public does not have faith in the government. Results from the GCB 2013 reveal that the public perceive the police to be the most corrupt, followed closely by political parties, civil servants and the Parliament/Legislature.

Bad behavior in Parliament is yet another strong indicator that impunity is the driver of such behavior. Often the prosecution of political and public officials is hindered by collusion, interference of government bureaus, personal influence and institutional pressures.

There has been little progress made into the investigations of allegations of corruption against political leaders such as the Sarawak Chief Minister, Abdul Taib Mahmud. In Sarawak actions have not been taken against civil servants failing to appear as witnesses in native customary rights (NCR) land cases. This is yet another example of impunity. (A recent case in point is the Long Terawan lawsuit in Miri, Sarawak involving an NCR case filed by members of the Berawan Community of Long Terawan Mulu. The Sarawak government had taken the land to build an airstrip and a road for a hotel affiliated with the Mulu National Park.)

Freedom from punishment for the powerful is a sign of a bad government. Everyone should be equal before the law.

Reforms can be affected through the passing of appropriate laws to deal with the issue of corruption with impunity. In the United Kingdom, public officials can be subjected to a judicial review at the discretion of individuals who feel the official acted outside of his authority or engaged in an illegal or unjust action.

To restore public confidence that the government is committed to the fight against corruption, it must end impunity for the powerful. – July 18, 2013

Malays rule, OK!

Mariam Mokhtar | Malaysiakini

What Rowena Abdul Razak, daughter of one of Malaysia’s most infamous toadies, said that minorities were incapable of ruling, it is not just an affront to Malays, but an insult to all Malaysians.

Rowena should know that when you raise your head above the parapet, you can expect it to be shot. It is alarming to hear a woman with a sound education, who has enjoyed a privileged upbringing, and is currently pursuing her postgraduate studies, talk about the governance of a country in terms of majority rule, Malay rights, protection and race.

It is disheartening to hear educated Malays talk in such a shortsighted manner and act as if they learned nothing from their times spent in civilised countries. They have learnt nothing of the outside world, nor of the fallacy of Malay supremacy.

Students like Adam Adli Abdul Halim have had their education curtailed, whereas children of Umno Baruputras enjoy the largesse of the taxpayer. Adam was trying to help all Malaysians, whereas Rowena appears to be selfishly championing Umno Baruputras.

At a Bar Council Forum on electoral reforms Rowena queried the ability of the minority to protect the rights of the majority.

Has she not heard of Benjamin Disraeli, Barack Hussein Obama and Alberto Fujimori? One was Jewish but became prime minister of Great Britain, the man who was of African extraction now heads America and a Japanese once ruled Peru.

Rowena talks like an Umno Baruputra. Most normal people want a country which is ruled by an able leader, who is prepared to look after its citizens with equality and fairness.

She said, “In Malaysia, you are proposing something where the minority would be empowered, how then do you protect the rights of the majority?”

How ironic that what she said is true. This illegitimate minority Umno Baru government has already broken many of the promises it made before GE13. It does not champion the interests of the majority but it excels in protecting the rights of Umno Baruputras.

By referring to “the majority”, Rowena presumably means the Malays. If the truth be known, the original Malays are a minority in Malaysia and it is the pseudo Malays, those who want to take advantage of the perks which were granted to the Malays, in the constitution, who form the majority in Malaysia.

Holding the rest of Malaysia to ransom

We once had a PM, Mahathir Mohamad, who was of Indian extraction. He sought to confuse the Malay mind by creating a dilemma within the Malay world. What emerged was another Malay species – the Umno Baruputra. In a sense, the minority Umno Baruputras could be classed as a minority species and it is they who are holding the rest of Malaysia to ransom.

In Syria, the ruling minority Alawite sect, to which President Bashir Al-Assad belongs, punishes and kills the majority Sunnis for opposing his rule. Rowena is right but conversely, we have seen that Mahathir’s policies continue to wreak havoc on the Malay psyche. Rowena is therefore wrong when she said that “the minority cannot even protect themselves”. The Umno Baruputras who govern, only think of themselves and jealously guard their turf.

If we allowed Rowena the benefit of the doubt, and assume that the Malay majority can protect others, why have we issues with forced conversions of children of another faith into Islam, why are Christians forbidden from using the word Allah, why is the Ambassador from the Vatican shown the door and why are certain people – Indians, Orang Asli and Penans having problems establishing their citizenship?

Why did Mahathir dilute the percentage of the true Sabahans with an influx of Muslim foreigners from the Philippines, Indonesian and Pakistan? The former majority Kadazan-Dusun population was cheated by a minority group.

Rowena criticised the NGO Tindak Malaysia for the low (10 percent) percentage of Malays in the organisation which she said was not representative of Malaysian demographics. Is this a fair criticism? Are Malays averse to volunteering? Do they avoid corporate social responsibilities?

It is wrong of Rowena to publicly admonish Wong Piang Yow, the Tindak Malaysia chief, for something beyond his control. Malays may form a majority in some other NGOs, like Perkasa, but this is not necessarily a good thing.

In November 2006, when Rowena’s father, Razak Baginda, was charged with abetting two police personnel in the murder of the Mongolian national Altantuya Shaaribuu, observers were shocked when Mazlinda Makhzan, Baginda’s wife, screamed, “Why charge my husband, he does not want to be the prime minister…”? What was Mazlinda insinuating?

After Baginda was acquitted in 2008, he held a press conference, and stressed throughout the 50-minute-long media briefing that Najib Abdul Razak, the deputy prime minister at the time, and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, had nothing to do with Altantuya’s murder. Why did Baginda blame bloggers for misleading the public?

It is curious that Rowena and her mother, Mazlinda, attended this Bar Council forum on electoral reform and attracted attention with their remarks.

One would think that a family, with a chequered past, such as theirs, would want to be as discreet as possible, especially as large sums of the taxpayers’ money were stolen under the guise of commission, a woman was murdered violently and a cover-up involving the judiciary, police and immigration allegedly followed.

Stuff of spy-thrillers

The trail of sex, corruption and scandal which Baginda weaved with his alleged lover across Europe and Asia is the stuff of spy-thrillers. There was no romance involved, just plain deceit and lust. The rakyat demand answers and justice.

Why would the Baginda family be interested in electoral reform, especially as a change of government could trigger a re-trial of Altantuya’s alleged murderers and force Baginda to return the millions he sequestered? More importantly, Najib’s true role might be exposed.

Rowena should realise that the sins of her father have cast a shadow over her. Is the rakyat being misled by remarks made by her and her mother? Is this a distraction designed to dissuade people from attending Suaram’s Scorpene fund-raising dinner, to be held on July 19, at which new revelations about the progress of the French lawyers could be revealed?

Has Rowena been pressured into becoming the new “Ummi Hafilda”; another sexton charged with burying news that are detrimental to Umno Baru?

Conversely, having been betrayed and having to endure the wrath of the public, there is a slight possibility that both mother and daughter want justice to be served. They must know this can only happen if Pakatan forms the government of Malaysia.

MARIAM MOKHTAR is a non-conformist traditionalist from Perak, a bucket chemist and an armchair eco-warrior. In ‘real-speak’, this translates into that she comes from Ipoh, values change but respects culture, is a petroleum chemist and also an environmental pollution-control scientist.

Red Bean Barmy

Dean Johns | Malaysiakini

Lying by the BN regime seems to get more radically ridiculous every day, and nothing better illustrates this than persistent allegations that the opposition has been funding a 3,000-strong ‘Red Bean Army’ to spread its message in cyberspace.

As many have commented before me, there is no way that the DAP or any other Pakatan Rakyat party would have hundreds of millions of ringgit to spend on such a ludicrous exercise even if they wanted or needed to.

And of course there is no need whatever for them to pay their cyber-supporters so much as a single sen, as there are countless Malaysians who are more than happy to take the time and trouble to cyber-criticise BN and cyber-support Pakatan at their own expense, and out of their sheer love of truth and loathing for lies.

In other words, while there is no such thing as an organised and opposition-funded ‘Red Bean Army’, there is certainly a massive, volunteer force that could justly be dubbed the Rid-BN Army. And with the 51 percent popular vote for the opposition in the May 5 general election, it won a momentous moral victory.

If ever there as a telling demonstration of the proverbial wisdom that ‘the truth will set you free’, it was this triumph of countless unpaid, individual voices over the might of the publicly-funded regime propaganda machine.

The triumph of the veracity of the virtual media over the vicious, venomous lies of the regime’s regiments of venal operatives on television and radio, in the press, and via advertising and public relations.

And not to forget the massacre of BN’s so-called ‘cybertroopers’, all those running-dog bloggers paid with public money to try and kid the innocent and ignorant into voting for five more years of BN crime, corruption and incompetence.

So comprehensively outgunned was this Has-Been Army that it should by rights have slunk away in defeat and disgrace. But instead it had the effrontery to invent a ‘Red Bean Army’ allegedly funded by the DAP to “raise political tensions and created political instability”.

This was clearly a typically shameless attempt by BN and its Has-Been Army to get their grubby paws on yet more of the rakyat’s money, as it claimed through 180 regime-friendly NGOs that it needed RM350 million to counter the threat that had been invented.

Who believes BN any more?

Now, Shahidan Kassim, the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, has tried to render the fiction into fact by calling for a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into the imaginary Red Bean Army.

DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang reportedly gave this idiotic suggestion the scornful reception it deserved, commenting in Malaysiakini that “if the cabinet sets up an RCI on the alleged DAP-funded ‘Red Bean Army’, Malaysia will make history as the first country in the world which establishes an RCI on a fictitious allegation”.

Lim is right, of course. BN’s custom is not to hold RCIs on fictitious allegations, but to hold fictitious RCIs on factual allegations on which it needs to buy time or bury altogether, as in the ongoing RCI into the corrupt granting of identity cards to foreigners in Sabah, and the long-ago RCI that recommended the formation of a yet-to-be implemented Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission.

Thank goodness that there is a Rid-BN Army if not a ‘Red Bean Army’ to report such regime malfeasance, as there is little or no likelihood of an honest report of this latest regime idiocy by either the Dead-Head mainstream media or the cyber Has-Been Army.

Nobody in his or her right mind believes a word from any BN source any more, and no amount of money plundered from the public purse to pay professional liars will restore this rotten regime’s credibility.

And as if to underscore the dire depths to which BN has sunk in the fake-news and failed credibility department, Malaysia has slid to 145th out of 179 or its lowest score ever on the Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index.

In a lame attempt to shrug-off this disgraceful state of affairs, however, Communications and Multimedia Minister Shabery Cheek has told Parliament that Malaysia’s pathetic press-freedom ranking is just a matter of “perception by foreigners”.

“Different countries have different values,” he was quoted as claiming, “and Malaysia’s values are suited to its laws and culture.”

“As proof that liberal attitudes and rights to expression are implemented well in this country, all opposition parties are free to publish their own newspapers without any restriction,” he lied, in light of the regime’s regular seizure of such opposition newspapers and its failure to license Suara Keadilan.

‘Transparent’ Najib

Meanwhile, Malaysia’s one-man Smarmy Army, minority Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, was taking time out for a ‘working’ trip to London to pollute the UK media with his customary litany of lies.

According to BN ‘news’ agency Bernama, Najib told BBC interviewer Jon Sopel that “we don’t think there’s a basis for the people to go to the streets to protest against the government” in order to achieve change.

“If people want change, what I’m saying is that we can deliver change but from within,” he said, despite the clearly evident fact that his ‘transformative’ premiership has seen nothing but change for the worse.

On the much-vexed subject of the general election, in which BN fared worse than ever before in its history despite massively illegal gerrymandering, media monopolisation, vote-buying and other alleged illegalities, Najib claimed that “the election was true, fair and transparent”.

Adding that the government is “prepared to be scrutinised on this matter according to the constitution and laws of the country” and that “we have nothing to hide,” he then repeated that “we’re transparent”.

Najib certainly is transparent in the sense that anyone with half an eye can see right through this and indeed his every lie. But he and his regime accomplices are as far from transparent in their misgovernment of Malaysia as the Official Secrets Act and the muzzled mainstream media can manage to make them.

But if they imagine that all these machinations plus the invention of a mythical ‘Red Bean Army’ will save them much longer from the wrath of the Rid-BN Army, they must be stark, staring Red Bean Barmy.

DEAN JOHNS, after many years in Asia, currently lives with his Malaysian-born wife and daughter in Sydney, where he coaches and mentors writers and authors and practises as a writing therapist. Published books of his columns for Malaysiakini include ‘Mad about Malaysia’, ‘Even Madder about Malaysia’, ‘Missing Malaysia’, ‘1Malaysia.con’ and ‘Malaysia Mania’.

Implausible Nonsense: Malaysia’s Political Theatre

By Dr Lim Teck Ghee | CPI

There are two types of nonsense – plausible and implausible. Plausible nonsense is when someone spins a story to children, which although implausible to adults is plausible to young minds. Though not believable to adults, most children stories have the redeeming value of being educational and entertaining.

Then there is implausible nonsense which does not make any sense at all. Clowns and buffoons engage in implausible nonsense for the purpose of entertaining audiences and bringing comic relief.

In Shakespeare’s plays, his clowns and fools did not only invite laughter but they often had something profound to say. The Shakespeare fool, who is usually a person of low or common birth, provided insights into the main characters belonging to the nobility as well as shedding light on the central themes of the play.

Our substandard political theatre

In Malaysia we have political clowns dominating the national stage but unlike in Shakespeare’s plays, they provide no entertainment or anything of merit or significance to our conflict-ridden society. Instead, they simply push up our stress levels.

The three most recent examples of political clowns are our deputy prime minister, Muhyiddin Yassin; the Malacca chief minister, Idris Haron; and the parliamentarian, Bung Moktar Radin.

Why the ‘child conversion’ ambush now?

When given the opportunity to say something sensible about the controversial Administration of Religion of Islam (Federal Territories) Bill tabled in parliament recently, the DPM defended the government action by claiming that “the cabinet has discussed this in detail and … in the current situation, there have been several guidelines that we used. One of them is the court’s decision on a previous case and the second is the Malaysian constitution. So that is the jurisdiction of power we have today.”

Unlike his colleague, Nazri Aziz who has been consistently principled on the issue, Muhyiddin has conveniently forgotten that the new Cabinet decision is overturning an earlier decision of which he was a party to. He could have used the press conference occasion to demonstrate his Malaysian and not Malay leadership qualities but chose instead to cloud the issue even more by providing spurious legal and constitutional arguments.

We have had more than enough public discussion and debate during the past few years on the issue of the conversion of children under the age of 18 as well as other cases of contested conversion to Islam.

Not only is there a broad consensus of opposition against forced conversion – whether of minors or adults – among our population of non-Muslim faith and religions but Islamic organizations such as Sisters in Islam and the Islamic Renaissance Front and many concerned Muslim individuals have spoken out with regard to the conversion of non-Muslim minors.

Now that the elections are over, perhaps Muhyiddin is trying to pander to the Umno delegates whose support he seeks in the party’s coming general assembly meeting. If he is doing so, he is not helping the cause of Islam in Malaysia and its avowed message of fairness and tolerance.

What is really behind Jonker Walk closure?

Just as big a political clown – though at the state level – is the Malacca Chief Minister who has decided to show to the locals the stuff he is made of by making traffic congestion his first priority on assuming office.

One would have assumed that he would devote his time to more important state matters such as raising the state’s productivity or attracting high value investment than traffic congestion in Jonker Walk. But no, a fight with the area’s street traders who are mostly Chinese and presumably supporters of the opposition seems to be his strategy for grabbing national attention and notoriety.

As with Muhyiddin, Idris will have his eye on the coming Umno general assembly meeting which will see the election of party supreme council members, a position which he is clearly aiming for. What better credentials to win the votes of delegates than a reputation as the man who single-handedly destroyed the rice bowl of opposition-inclined traders?

This would also embellish his international reputation further. Idris, during his first years in Parliament, made news headlines for complaining that the body-hugging outfits worn by stewardesses on Malaysia Airlines would result in male passengers sexually harassing the stewardesses. One wonders if this observation could have been provoked by his own response to the dress wear.

“Leave Malaysia” if you don’t like

The last in this group, Bung Moktar, the MP for Kitabatangan had previously made the headlines with various political antics and a polygamous marriage which did not meet the procedures and conditions required by Islamic law.

This time around when debating the motion of thanks on the Royal Address, the Sabah Umno representative lowered his standard of buffoonery to engage in character assassination of AirAsia X chief executive Azran Osman Rani. Calling Azran a “Melayu biadab” (rude Malay) who did not deserve to be a citizen, he is reported to have yelled, “Leave this country and go live anywhere else you like.”

His outburst led the Speaker to point out to Bung Moktar that he should not use the privilege to speak in the Dewan Rakyat to criticise civilians and government officials who were unable to use the same platform to defend themselves.

The Speaker should have also reminded the member of the House that such acts of political cowardice will live forever in the pages of Malaysian political history through our Hansard records.

Consolation for us

There is however one solace. In Shakespeare’s comedies, fools are called upon to encourage a more serious examination of the situations and characters of a play. Fools not only amuse and entertain, but they also help the audience to ponder on serious social, religious and political issues.

This is so true in the prolonged wayang kulit and the performing political clowns that invariably take centre stage before Umno’s big day, the party election due this year in November.