SPLA: You Bring Shame To South Sudan "...the worst part of all ever was the one you did yesterday when you showed dead people on the ground in places of where I'm not quite sure." 18 March 2011
BY: Khalifa Ramadan Deng, SUDAN MAR.17/2011, SSN; Dear Gen. Malaak Ayuen Jok, First and foremost, I would like to hand you my full salutation together with the rest of SPLA general command in Bilpam and wherever they are diligently discharging their duties. I'm a keen follower of your Wednesday SPLA military programs and I follow it with a lot of interest and keenness. As I'm watching your programs in Juba, likewise somebody in Australia and Canada is watching the same program on Southern Sudan TV as it is on international waves. It is actually a very good program since it reminds us of our past struggle especially we in the Red Army who spent the whole of our lives in struggle while at a tender age. I'm a member of Intifada, Ahmer 4 in Bonga. I graduated in 1989 and posted to Pinyedu where I enrolled in school there together with the rest of Ahmer who were there. First of all, your show has hosted SPLA Chief of General Staff (COGS) Gen. James Hoth Mai on two occasions, and you also hosted Gen. Jok Riak plus several other shows you had participated in. My message in this as a journalist is that, it is not that bad to hear from our army generals addressing issues affecting the army but it would have been good that if you can only host them when not in military combats. Why? If you look around the world surrounding us, you can never and ever see senior military guys like ours on public TVs; the reasons being that it is one of the characteristics of rogue states like Iraq then, North Korea and many more others. They are also qualities of dictatorial regimes. You can only and only see them on international news while either in combats or giving a military position like saying while defending military budget in parliament. We are part of the global village, hence, whatever you do in Juba is being attended to in Canada and etc by not only Southern Sudanese but by other nationalities of different countries around the globe. In nutshell, it is bad and it ought to immediately stop because it portrays South Sudan as a region where armies intimidate civil population and the army has the superiority over them. Yes, SPLA liberated the country but know that other countries were liberated militarily and you don't see their bosses. If you insist in doing so, you personally have a very big rank greater than what you indulged in. So remove you military attires as well as your host and let only the public distinguish you from the rest by a caption written and saying Brig Gen Malaak Ayuen and etc. Globally, a rank of Brig Gen is too big to engage in media work. Besides that, the worst part of all ever was the one you did yesterday when you showed dead people on the ground in places of where I'm not quite sure. The dead people you were showing to public really portrayed you as unprofessional in areas of the media. It is not done that way, please sir. It is a very, very big mess that can hardly go away in your ethics. Moreover those were black people whose relatives are with you. Those are not truly enemies unless you fall short of definition of enemy. They are your brothers and you set yourself in world's shame of doing such thing. Well, in recognition to military achievements, we only show captives testifying but you don't show dead people. It is only done in news where they are shown as background but not as a program to signify the events, or in disasters like what happened in Japan, you can show the magnitude of the calamity. It is not anywhere in this world except in South Sudan. Stop that, it is totally negative to your profession and as an army man likewise a media personnel which I think is not your career because the military title you wear is too big for the job. Gen Malaak, I wish I had removed my eyes from seeing that when I saw dead South Sudanese being sprayed on the ground like foreigners, unless you don't understand the ethics of what you did. It is so bad that one cannot hide one's opinions and advises. You have set South Sudan on a flame by the shows or else you have portrayed SPLA as a cheap army that has no goal of defend. The dead ones are your own people that you took to defend. Indeed, militias are agitating the progress of peace and development but it is not done that way. They are only manipulated by the true enemy. Your work qualifies as a defamation to the people of South Sudan internationally because of being unethical. In summary: Bring your host in plain dress, you too in plain dress and as well reduce even the program and polish the language you use. It has to be of public relations prerequisite. Thank you, General, otherwise these are all nuances of a young nation. Guys are ready to forgive us because they assumed we don't know anything but that should not be used as a privilege to portray us negative. Thanks. Khalifa Ramadan Deng. 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