I just like to share this is a letter I wrote immediately after the 2008
General Election Tsunami.
Unfortunately, it seems not much has changed since then; gutter politics,
character assasinations, highly biassed third world class main-stream media,
journalists who has no qualms about lying, reporters who do not bother about
ethics or sins, editors who stoop so low wagging the dog, ..the list is
endless.
=====
OPEN LETTER TO ALL MEDIA ORGANISATIONS
11th March 2008
Dear Sir,
Let’s Embrace this Wind of Change, Lets start with a Credible and Respectable
Media
Most people in the country were taken aback by the trouncing of Barisan
Nasional (BN) by the loose coalition of non-BN parties two days ago.
However, I am also surprised by the way the media covered the elections
results and their refusal to change their ways
even after sensing the ground swell or tsunami.
For one, it should be noted that one of a
very significant paradigm change the media organizations need to be
familiar with is the phrase "Pembangkang/Opposition". Previously when BN
held control in all DUNs and the Parliament, the phrase was clear-cut.
But now, we cannot refer BN as kerajaan and the other parties as
pembangkang anymore since BN is now pembangkang in five states with a
sizeable number of voters.
It seems until today, most media organizations have missed that point. To refer
the parties as non-BN parties will be more appropriate.
Secondly, during coverage of election results, most of the TV commentators
were not neutral
in their commentaries. Although the TV stations invited
non-politicians, their commentaries were just like any one of the BN
leaders; talking about "they" when referring to PKR, PAS or DAP and
"we" when referring to BN . The TV presenters were also using similar
vocabularies.
Because of this inability to shift the paradigm,
the analyses given by most commentators during the TV and radio
coverage, and in newspapers the past two days were shallow, bias and
some based on conjectures. They have failed to gauge and identify the
actual reasons for such shifts in allegiances. At one point, I realized that
the commentators, reporters and editors were and are still in a state of
denial.
The above inability of the media organizations to distance itself from BN, was
actually one of the contributing factors to this debacle. In the run-up to the
election, the television channels not only failed to
give a fair coverage to the other parties, but continued to carry lies
and negative reports on them. It is one thing if
you do not want to report their side of the story, but you should not
have allowed yourselves to be a BN mouthpiece spreading wrong
information.
The print news media particularly the Malay dailies were also to blame. If
you were to flip through Utusan Malaysia for example prior to the election,
you will find not a single mention of the non-BN parties except in the negative
light or rebuttal of their views which
were never published in the first place. It seemed that the newspapers
reporters and editors have been turned into BN spokesmen. I am still at a loss
at trying to understand why they sacrifice the sacred
principle of ‘being truthful’ and willing to breach basic ethic of
journalism of reporting the truth.
These blatant breaches of religious commandment and ethics of journalism are
pathetic.
By stooping so low in generating lies and propaganda on behalf of the BN,
the electronic and print news media have lost their credibility as
respectable media organizations. When honest reporting have been thrown out
of the window, how can you compare yourselves to reputable organizations such
as the Singapore Channel News Asia, let alone the BBC or CNN? I think it is
like the Malay saying “Seperti langit dengan Bumi”. Even the Indonesian news
media organizations are ahead of us in this matter.
It seems that the dinosaurs within BN have not realised that time has
changed. Such tactics might be useful and successful in the sixties and
seventies. However, in this age of the Blogs, Yahoogroups, Youtube and Ipods ,
intelligent voters no longer rely on the BN-controlled media which are proven
to be unreliable sources of information. Why should they rely on the media
which reports nothing but lies?
What is more damaging, the voters also see the unfair use of the media as
further proof of gross misuse of power and injustice by the BN. In other
words, the blatant use of the media for party propaganda has indeed backfired!
Again to quote a Malay saying “ Senjata makan tuan”.
This brings us to the main issues underlying the rejection of BN by voters
across the board. Contrary to the superficial observations from the
commentators and reporters, the issues are neither racial nor religious per
se.
DAP, PAS and PKR went to the voters with one clear message, that although BN
has brought good development for the country, it has
abused its power, forming a feudalistic patronizing culture based on
corruption and scandals of enormous proportions. The non-BN parties contended
that while failing to tackle the woes of the
common folks who are being hard-pressed with unbridled rise in prices of
goods, petrol, toll charges and education expenses, the BN leaders continue
their lavish lifestyles in contrast to the image of simple and austere
lifestyle of leaders of the other parties, particularly the Kelantan Menteri
Besar.
The abuse of power by BN leaders can be seen in terms of misusing government
assets for party use, continuing to equate the BN with the government. From
electronic media to newspapers, schools to mosques, balai-raya to stadiums,
official cars to official aircrafts,
various government facilities were (mis)used prior to and during the
election campaigns. The sight of the Deputy Prime Minister having a cozy
cuddle with his daughter aboard a government
aircraft during a campaign trail provided an irrefutable proof of this
particular grievance.
According to the non-BN parties, the culmination of this power abuse is in the
meddling with the Election Commission (EC). This started with the
insistence of reappointing the retiring BN-friendly EC Chairman even to the
extent of amending the laws to accommodate his age.
The EC then made rules which could only be interpreted as favouring the BN,
changing them at last minutes, again in what is perceived as trying to
salvage a sinking BN ship. The change in rules
with regard to the stamping of the statutory declaration and the
cancellation of indelible ink usage could easily be interpreted as proof of EC
collusion to retain BN in power.
The second big issue in the minds of voters is the rising cost of living. The
BN through the various media has tried in vain to tackle this issue in
two ways, first by warning of the potential bankruptcy faced by the
government if it increases the subsidies of goods, petrol and
toll-charges and secondly by comparing local prices of basic goods with
those of our neighbours. But the BN-linked media have all lost any credibility.
It seems the voters rejected the bankrupt argument outright, citing increase
exports in petroleum and palm oil exports,
whose prices have risen sharply bringing in more income to the
government which in turn should have been used to further reduce the
prices of basic necessities.
On the other hand, the other parties successfully convinced the voters
that the so-called bankruptcy will be more likely if BN is allowed to continue
in power, quoting previous
examples of scandals allegedly involving many BN leaders such as PKFZ,
PV project, IKBN, Scorpene and Sukhoi purchases.
It was contended that besides palm oil and Petronas income, the total
amount of ‘illegal money’ involved in such scandals could easily be used to
offset any rise in basic goods and petrol.
The voters also did not buy the hollow argument of price comparison with
neighbouring countries. PKR leaders brought out data which conclusively prove
that the so-called price comparison was flawed since it did not actually take
into consideration the buying power of
neighbouring countries.
The petrol price comparison fail to impress voters because it is natural that
prices in a petroleum producing country should be lower than in
non-producing neighbours.
These intelligent voters were also particularly angry by suggestions by BN
leadership for people to adapt and change their lifestyles to more
austere ones while the BN leaders continue with their extravagant
lifestyles buying new official aircraft, buildings and cars as well as
building personal palatial homes and purchasing unique car registration
numbers.
The above weakness of BN’s defence of price rises, coupled with PAS’s offer
of a welfare state resonates well with the voters.
Of course, there was also a tinge of racial gripe. The Indians were
particularly fed-up with BN because they claimed the MIC leadership are
not doing enough to fight for the welfare of their people. The economic
cake did not reach the grass roots in rubber estates and construction
sites. Instead, the leadership is seen to be obsessed with power struggle and
collection of personal wealth. On the other hand, the MCA
and Gerakan is seen to be too timid in standing for Chinese right, for example
in the issue of teaching of mathematics and science in English.
To cap it all, there is the image problems of the BN President himself. One
concerns his tendency to doze off during events and meetings, the other his
image of being ‘absent when disaster struck’. One particular complaint was his
petty trip to Perth when heavy floods hit the country in early 2007. But none
is more
damaging, particularly among devoutly Muslim voters, than the image of
his family’s unIslamic attire and his ‘a bit over-friendly’ gestures to
his female guests and well-wishers. For someone being portrayed as
Islamically-inclined with his version of Islam Hadhari, the President
needs to be more sensitive to such issues. Some voters were also wary of his
family’s and friends close relationship to Singaporeans at various levels.
Until and unless the BN start to make a soul-search and recognise the above
issues and make a concerted effort tackle them head-on, the party risks
of becoming obsolete and extinct, just like the dinosaurs of old.
To reinvent itself, BN has to leave the ways of old of third-class
politics. We vividly remember that after the hotly contested 1999
elections, the BN did not take that route of self-criticism and
soul-searching.
Instead they went on the rampage, cutting off aid to Terengganu, serving a
gag-order on government servants and university students, strengthening the
grip on the media
and government institutions, stopping support for religious schools, and
taking punitive actions on non-BN supporters. We hope this time BN will not
resort to such kind of third-class politics.
The message sent by the voters on Saturday was clear. It is a vote for change
of culture and paradigm. It is a signal for the government not to take the
rakyat for granted. After 50 years of independence, it is time for the
country to embrace the new kind of politics; a politic free from intimidation
and patronage.
Let’s Start to Embrace this Wind of Change, Lets start with a Credible and
Respectable Media
Yours sincerely,
Ismail Nor,
Johor Bahru.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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