1. Dr Mahathir Mohamad a few days ago declared Malaysiakini and DAP to be racist.
(a) The ex-premier is arguably the most hated man among Malaysiakini readers. If Dr M’s legacy is to be remembered through the reporting, opinion writings and subscriber-cum-Facebook comments contained in the said news portal, he would likely come across as a meld between Robert Mugabe and Pol Pot.
(b) As can be seen from a typical Malaysiakini home page (screenshot above), Dr M is the target of a dedicated hate campaign that is carried out almost on a daily basis. See how Malaysiakini readers want Dr M’s citizenship stripped as well Ibrahim Ali to eat the humble pie. [The latter is the president of Perkasa, a movement of which Dr M is the patron.]
Commenters in all the alternative media, and not only in Malaysiakini alone, constantly spew venom at Dr M. He is blamed for virtually everything that happens, from ethnic polarization in this country to the Tunguska meteoroid crashing in Siberia.
Mahathir Mohamad may even be soon held responsible for the extinction of dinosaurs — a point we’ll get to shortly.
2. Lim Kit Siang replied to the charge of DAP practising racism by tweeting that Dr Mahathir is “racist to the core – ultra of ultras”. Dapsters say the same too of Dr M all the time and everywhere.
(a) In response to the tweet by the DAP Mursyidul Am, an individual using the Twitter handle ‘Winds of Change’ tweeted a remark — “BN low class”.
(b) These pro-opposition supporters are merely mirroring the DAP 2.0 evangelical leadership whose favourite form of name-calling hinge on the words “low class” and “racist” … and now “ultra racist”.
(c) In another tweet, someone responded (see above) by raising a pertinent question. The Chinese community is closing ranks solidly under the DAP banner. What becomes of the MCA now?
3. The belligerence of Penang Chinese was clearly reflected in the climate at the BN open house featuring Korean pop star Psy yesterday. Hostile anti-establishment sentiments on display in Penang – the state known as DAP sovereign territory – have been read as a ‘A tight slap in the face for Najib‘.
(a) In the eyes of those who attended for the sake of watching the Gangnam performance, not only did the 4th PM and his successor the 5th PM do everything wrong but the 6th sitting PM can do nothing right either. Madu diberi, tuba dibalas.
(b) Former Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin observed in his blog how efficiently the Pakatan election machinery functions. He noted that the Penang crowd were asked if they were “ready for BN”, to which they shouted ‘No’.
Zam believes that the Pakatan [read: DAP] political operatives were well prepared and had strategically put in place cheerleaders all ready to embarrass Najib Razak with their loud ‘No’.
Other eyewitness accounts recount sporadic jeering where ‘boos’ could be heard from the back sections of the crowd.
(c) Thus Pakatan, or to be more precise Penang DAP, had successfully seized the public platform to amplify an impression that there is a thorough rejection of the BN. Although a crony had forked out millions for Psy’s gig, it is Pakatan that won the perception war at no cost.
(d) Najib’s humiliation is all but complete when on top of the “No, No, No!” video clip – dubbed ‘Epic Fail‘ which has gone viral on YouTube – the Malaysian prime minister was additionally snubbed by Mr Gangnam who refused to take part in a photo op alongside the BN bigwigs. [Psy reportedly refused to share the stage to toss yee sang with the VIPs — see Hannah Yeoh retweet below.]
4. Two screenshots of the BN Chinese New Year open houses coverage in Star Online serve to show the udang di sebalik batu (hidden agenda) pushed by The Star.
(i) The Star subtly conveys to its readers (see below) that even the newspaper itself does not believe that the MCA open house on the first day of the lunar new year received a warm reception from the general public.
Weren’t the Star reporters themselves at the scene? If yes, didn’t they see with their own eyes that the crowd was small or huge? If in the positive, then the headline could have read something like ‘MCA open house attracts big crowd’.
But if you look at The Star headline, the “overwhelming turnout” is merely a claim made by Dr Chua Soi Lek. The paper attributes to the MCA president the boast – “says Dr Chua” – that many people turned up. But you can choose whether to take his word for it or not.
(ii) The Star sabotage flowed onto its next report (see below) the following day about the BN open house in Penang. Its headline said ‘Thousands at BN CNY open house’.
The most common dictionary meaning of “thousands” refers to the numbers ranging from 2,000 to 9,999. More than that would be in the “tens of thousands”.
By headlining the story, “thousands” attended, the MCA-owned paper appears to have deliberately diminished the size of attendance when it could have instead opted to title the story ‘50,000 throng BN open house’.
6. If readers of The Star were to participate in an attitude survey, do you think they will provide the same feedback as straw polls in alternative media with regard to public opinion on Dr Mahathir?
(a) The Star has been overt in its support for the DAP’s ‘Malaysian Malaysia’ (original recipe) and Malaysian First (updated version).
(b) The Star has been nothing short of gratuitous in its active promotion of the DAP personality cult. These DAP 2.0 ‘rising above Race’ proponents seek to define the Bangsa Malaysia terminology, a term which ironically made its debut in Dr M’s Vision 2020 blueprint.
The Star readers would also most likely agree with Kit Siang’s false dichotomy – see screenshot above – that Anak Bangsa Malaysia is good whereas ‘Malay First’ (a DAP-created taunt specially for Muhyiddin Yassin) is bad.
Bad news for the DAP is good news for the MCA but no news in The Star.
Take for instance how The Star downplayed the threat to burn down the Lynas plant made by Himpunan Hijau chairman Wong Tack. The Hijau environmentalists are closely linked to DAP.
The Star on the contrary plays up the activities of its favourite DAP 2.0 evangelist politicians and actively raising their public profile.
(c) Hence the public discourse on what constitutes ‘Bangsa Malaysia’ and who deserves to be Bangsa Malaysia have been controlled by the Firsters, thanks to the generous publicity and promotion lavished by the media, including The Star.
7. The relation between the MCA-owned paper and the DAP is so cosy that they’re hand in glove.
(a) So much so that Twitterjaya abounds with BFF tweets such as the one below where a Star senior editor tipped off the DAP Subang Jaya state assemblywoman to read his paper the following day.
(b) On Feb 1, The Star carried an article titled ‘Public invited to Chinese New Year open houses‘. It was wholly and solely about:
the “variety of parties organised by the Penang Government and elected representatives this Chinese New Year will be held for the public to enjoy. Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s political secretary Ng Wei Aik said there would be 32 open houses and public celebrations from Feb 8 until Feb 24.”
No mention was made in the paper about the BN-MCA celebrations. As a result, the MCA had to publicize its open house via Facebook at the same time that the DAP enjoyed the copious Star write-up (paragraph cited above).
(c) It is truly pathetic when MCA has become so irrelevant that its own paper does not think the party deserves any column inches.
The screenshot below indicates how Dr Chua has had to make a series of tweets to publicize the MCA functions himself. It is really, really revealing of the disdain with which The Star treats its “political master”.
The following tweets by Dr Chua:
- “Remember to join us at the mca #CNY open house on the 1st day of cny tomorrow in bandar tun razak!”
.
- “more n more r coming to our MCA #CNY open house! Gong Xi Fa Cai!”
.
- “PM @NajibRazak looking forward to watching Psy at BN do” retweeted by @drchuaSL
8. It goes beyond pathetic that Chua Soi Lek has to roll up his sleeves to do his own publicity work.
(a) Dr Chua’s tweets (screenshot above):
- “Glad to have our Prme Minister @NajibRazak joining the #CNY hashtag campaign!”
- “we are happy to receive our PM, DPM and former PMs to our #CNY open house” — in this one, Dr Chua had to tweet his own picture, just like how he had tweeted the photos of his walkabout in Malacca because The Star didn’t bother to assign any reporter and cameraman to cover the event
. - Dr Chua’s tweet – “video blog: Welcome to our #CNY open house! – is a blurb of his YouTube uploaded by the MCA headquarters. Despite the Star Media Group having its own online TV, it seems that Dr Chua has little share in the publicity stakes
. - It is beyond the pale when the MCA president has to resort to YouTube to promote his gong xi message, viz. “video blog: #CNY eve” to the Chinese community after failing to get mainstream media attention and notwithstanding that the most popular newspaper is actually owned by his party
. - The following tweet – “@MCAHQ: Chinese New Year message of MCA President Feb 9, 2013 #CNY” – links to the party website. The MCA website has barely a few readers compared to the 5.63 million audience of the Star Media Group
It is obvious from Dr Chua’s personal efforts on Twitter and YouTube that The Star is giving him the cold shoulder.
(b) Contrast on the other hand the archived screenshot below on how The Star provided saturation coverage for Hannah Yeoh with Past Week Google search results returning “20 hours ago”, “1 day ago”, “2 days ago”, “2 days ago”, “3 days ago”, “3 days ago”, “4 days ago”.
The Star stories mentioned ‘Hannah Yeoh’ in 7 separate articles over 4 consecutive days!
9. As a result of The Star diligently carrying out its personality cult free advertorials, Hannah Yeoh – a state-level politician – has managed to garner 57,676 followers on Twitter ahead of national leader Chua Soi Lek’s 16,248.
(a) While Hannah Yeoh can thank The Star for making her a Twitter celebrity, Wanita MCA and Beliawanis MCA are on the other hand almost invisible in the paper.
(b) In fact, the MCA ladies have been so demoralized by the deep bias of the so-called MCA paper that morale has dropped. Look at the photos below taken 3 days ago during the launch of Gelombang Biru which is to get the Wanita wings out to canvas the votes.
Below: The MCA women who attended the flag off – photos courtesy of Minaq Jinggo:
Aren’t there any young female members in MCA?!!
The above MCA senior citizens who will be campaigning door-to-door for the BN appear still in good spirits because they are not Star readers.
If they were readers of the paper, they would already feel so demoralized. Take for example the experience of Selangor Beliawanis chief Jessie Ooi who was given space in Sinar Harian but not by The Star.
(d) Jessie is the young politician bestowed the nickname “Ms Tow Truck” by Guan Eng’s fanboys for asking a question aggressively during the open floor session of the DAP sec-gen’s debate with Dr Chua.
“Ms Tow Truck” became an instant meme in cyberspace with the Dapsters carrying out the most vicious harassment against Jessie. But guess what?
The Star featured its interview with her under the most bizarre and insulting headline ‘Lesson well learnt‘. The implication is that anyone daring to criticize the Pakatan deities must be prepared to pay the price and this is the lesson that Jessie Ooi has been dutifully taught.
The MCA-owned paper has consistently sided with the Dapsters, for example in its coverage of the bullying of elderly teacher Simon Thong in Taman Kaya as well as the DAP SuperCyber Bully @hannahyeoh where The Star chose to bury the complainant Beliawanis treasurer Jessica Lai’s side of the story.
Below: Example of a Hannah Yeoh tweet. Malacca Chief Minister Mohd Ali Rustam is chided for mispelling Gong Xi Fai Chai [sic] in his festive greeting and told to “go home” because he is “drunk”.
It is the DAP 2.0 leadership by example where the behaviour of the opposition followers borrows from the offensive demagoguery of the party icons.
10. Dr Mahathir played a pivotal role in the collapse of the Abdullah Badawi premiership. The BN suffered losses of tsunamic proportions due to Dr M tacitly withdrawing his support in GE12.
(a) On the eve of GE13, Dr M has called out DAP and Malaysiakini.
(b) A major perplexity remains as to why there has been no successful counterbalance to the pro-opposition propaganda. Isn’t The Star supposedly the MCA mouthpiece?
If the MCA-owned paper has been properly explaining the BN message, then why does the alternative media hold the upper hand when the Star Media Group has an audience of 5.63 million?
The BN strategists must be scratching their head as to why the MCA not only fails to command the confidence of the Chinese but is tottering on the verge of extinction.
Above: Ong Kian Ming is the DAP strategist and a likely election candidate for Parliament.
(c) The alternative media throws everything and the kitchen sink at Dr Mahathir. Not satisfied with that, the insults from readers extend even to Dr M’s former Chinese political secretary who is mocked as a “mongrel” and “pariah dog” (source: http://malaysia-today.net/mtcolumns/guest-columnists/54389-general-election-2013-bn-shifting-from-strategic-defence-to-strategic-offense)
(d) You must be wondering how is it that public expression has degenerated to this depth. Where has The Star been the last 5 years and has it got no influence at all on the direction of civil discourse?
(e) Well, the truth of the matter is that the MCA newspaper has been part and parcel of the rise and rise of the kind of behaviour which we see today through its support for the DAP evangelistas.
Helen Ang 
Mca deserves that. No newsworthy events so why should The star feature people like Ms “Tow Truck”.
The Star is not toilet paper like Utusan or Nst. The only sad thing they are housing a whore called Joceline Tan.
Joceline Tan is the only writer with gravitas in that paper, in my humble opinion.
She’s the one who’s a ‘must read’ for me and whose column I make it a point to look out for first thing in the morning on the days that it appears.
Is the problem Joceline or is it her haters?
Helen,
You had said it all. May I add that for vast majority of Malays, the level of distrust towards DAP is increasing. Along with it is the sheer perception (among malays) that sizable section of Chinese community is ungrateful. No offense but that is the perception.
Which is why many Malays often advise UMNO to stop pampering chinese community. Engage with them but do send the message that both need each other. Or in other words, if Chinese still refuse to vote for BN, then do expect that there will be no Chinese minister should BN win.
Many of my Chinese friends are in total surprise when I told them that in general Malays are “leaning” towards UMNO. Not so much from UMNO’s action but rather the disillusioned and disgruntled PAS members who are unhappy with PAS’s principle or rather lack of it.
The problem with chinese is that they overestimate their influence. They may form the 2nd biggest community with control on economy. But as goes the saying, there is a limit to everything. Meaning they alone cant dictate the local political scene.
I was born in Kedah. Many malays there are asking why put a MCA candidate in Alor star which has 66% Malay voters. Already Ketua Bahagian are facing increasing difficulty in pacifying UMNO members who feel why such tolerance accorded to non Malays when they are perceived as ‘ungrateful’.
Perhaps it is time to “bury’ MCA. No point in throwing lifeline to MCA if it still insist on paying hefty sum to editors when the MCA owned newspapers are perceived as waging war against UMNO. It will serve another purpose. It will send message that goodwill needs to be appreciated and nurtured. It will send message that nobody is invincible.
In fact that has been the sign of time. Pasir Panjang, Kuantan, Bandar Tun Razak, Port Dickson, Teluk Kemang, Lunas, Kota Raja were won by Malay candidates as Malay voters are upset that Malays were accused of etnic cleansing.
Maybe it is time MCA battles DAP in Chinese majority areas. So, Dr Chua go and battles Guan Eng in Air Puteh. Should you win, you will earn the respect of the Chinerse community. and Chinese community will be hard pressed to choose.
To be a part of govt or vote yourselves out of govt.
Hi Shamshul Anuar,
It’s sad to hear your post that “Along with it is the sheer perception (among malays) that sizable section of Chinese community is ungrateful.”
Can you elaborate what does it mean by ungrateful? Have you considered what is the percentage of people who have contributed to the income tax and hence, the money the government is able to use for developments and other “developments”?
Taxpayers do not want their money to go to waste and we want competent Ministers. Does that sound ungrateful?
And your line of “Or in other words, if Chinese still refuse to vote for BN, then do expect that there will be no Chinese minister should BN win.”
Wah, is this a threat? Souded like someone who said “you help me I help you” in the Sibu by elections.
Looks like people who have a mentality like this is the reason why Malaysia is still far behind in the area of democracy and puts PM Najib’s “best democracy in the world” a sheer mockery. Nothing but the famous words used in this blog, “cakap tak serupa bikin”.
When does a ministerial position be determined by race and not merits? Looks like it’s still a long way for Malaysia.
Brownny,
You’re talking to people like shamsul, who has selected himself as Spokesman Of The Malays. To him, everything needs to be turned into a binary Malay vs. Chinese issue. Black & white. 1 or 0.
If that was the case, we would not have an over 75% Malay crowd flooding the Dataran Merdeka on 12 January, to the extant that many of them could not enter the stadium. Even Najib’s failure in the Psy gig was mocked by Malays & not just a non Malay crowd.
To Shamsul, all other ethnic groups in Malaysia must be subservient or they’re labelled en bloc as ‘ungrateful’. Its this sort of ‘Tai Kor’ thinking that turns away people from BN.
If Shamsul thinks UMNO should take mixed seats away from the other coalition partners, go ahead. He’s only digging his own grave.
JohhnyMalaya,
Nope. I never claim to be the spokeperson of Malay community. I speak for myself. and i write . I Know how Malays feel as I am one of them.
I never ask non Malay to be subservient. i just remind them especially the Chinese that they alone cant dictate politics. I just advise them that they may end up voting themselves out of govt instead of voting the govt out. Remember Sarawak state election. This is not a scare tactic. It is just an advice. As goes the saying, generosity has its limit. sooner or later, Najib will be forced to “lean’ to community that supports him or he may lose his post for not taking their opinions seriously. Already Malays said “padan muka ” to Najib for the perception of giving too much to the point he is seen as “terhegeh hegeh” with regards to incident in Penang 2 days ago.
Contrary to what you may say, MCA, MIC or Gerakan would be wiped out if not for Malay voters. Yes. sir. that is the truth. But UMNO while still unable to get Chinese votes can battle PAS and still win handsomely.
Actually, short of saying it out loud, Malays in general have given out hope on lasting friendship with Chinese community. You may not want to hear what Malays say about Chinese while they catch up in mosques, or “kenduri”.
Another issue that may escape attention is PAS ‘u turn” with regards to “allah”. The U turn partly was attributed to massive unhappiness among Malay folks. I dare not think what PAS will fare on this coming election short of being annihilated. to put it “mildly’.
re: “You may not want to hear what Malays say about Chinese while they catch up in mosques, or ‘kenduri’.”
Errr, yes I’d like to hear. Tell us please.
Shamsul, you deny that you act like an ethnic spokesman, then contradict yourself in the next paragraphs.
Browny, you are wrong. We are developed nation if compared to Laos, Bhuttan dan Cambodia.
We have world class education facilities and faculties and hence we managed to attract a lot of students from Nigeria and other African countries.
We have almost all the natural resources and what do Singapore has? Nothing!
Our government ” subsidizes ” our fuel from our own country to feed to finance the umno ministers and supporters’ lifestyle and wants.
Getting an ic from this country is as easy as goin to toilet, for some of course.
Just ask the new immigrants from Sabah how easy they got it during the kutty era. The NRD people then were super efficient in issuing such ICs and indeed it is one of Kutty’s legacy till today.
So Browny, as can see, I don’t agree with your questions for shams
Hm..no wonder no reply from Shamshul Anuar yet. Perhaps he could not handle such questions which requires intellectuality. Pandai goreng orang tapi bila digoreng, diam-diam makan ubi kat tepi :-)
Shamsul, it is not that the Chinese community is ungrateful but the Dapsters who are the ones.
I saw the videos. Najib’s whole multi-million dollar stunt blew up in his face. Psy goes laughing all the way back to Gangnam-Gu with RM2 million for only dancing to one song.
Now we have claims that DAP had infiltrated secret agents into the crowd. If this were the case, their NOOO!! would have been drowned out by the opposite response. However, this wasn’t the case.
All the Star newspapers will not be able to cover up this epic failure, not even with their today’s cover page…
re: “Now we have claims that DAP had infiltrated secret agents into the crowd.”
I saw photos of Jeff Ooi, Ng Wei Aik and other DAP politicos at the event. So it’s not like they and their downline weren’t present.
As for ‘agents’ making noise, it certainly does happen in some of the blogs where the DAP troopers (Komtar squad) are the first to leave their comments.
Agree with you that Najib was stepping into ‘enemy’ territory and the Penang crowd would naturally be pro-DAP. While it’s not that they necessarily have to be orchestrated to be hostile but Zam’s theory that ringsleaders were strategically planted to lead the chorus of dissatisfaction is more than plausible (normal in politics lah).
Just because you’re loud don’t mean the electorate will support you. Just because a majority of the crowd remained silent don’t mean that they will follow your lead.
If it is true that Penangites are still opposed to the federal government, that is their right as we are a democratic country. At the same time, don’t come running to the government everytime His Tokongness unveils his grandiose plans to cement his legacy that results in Penangites being collateral damage & eventually drives them away in favor of expatriates & wealthy fat cats. They deserve all that is coming at them
Calvin,
Re: Just because you’re loud don’t mean the electorate will support you.
You’re right and I have to agree with you in just your one sentence. PM Najib was sure loud in the mic and the crowd responded with a loud NO. So you’re right, just because you’re loud don’t mean the electorate will support you :-)
Zam? The man who embarrassed himself on AlJazeera [YouTube]?
Also the man who upset the Indonesians with his comments on BJ Habibie.
I think we can do with a more credible source than the former Misinformation Minister.
If the crowd was for BN, then we would have heard a loud cheer to Najib, drowning out the so-called secret agents. But that wasn’t the case.
Helen,
It is OK Helen. It happens many times. May this incident makes Najib realises what the malays have been saying all this while:that there should be a limit to Najib’s reaching to chinese.
That Najib should naturally concentrate on those who appreciate him. That Najib should not forget the time tested saying ‘it takes two to tango’.
Perhaps it is time to send message to chinese community that there is a limit to Malay’s generosity.
What about hooligans coming and disturbing PKR’s ceramah?
The video [YouTube] is just one example. How about stones throwing incidents?
Even if there’re “purported agents” there’re still better off compared to primates that come and disturb PKR’s ceramahs.
I use to read The Star, but not anymore.
Dinosaur who? What about Lim Kit Siang, Nik Aziz , [AnWar] & Hadi?
DAP + Dynasty Action Party. PKR too. No wonder, nowadays never heard ‘nepotism’ coming from them.
With regards to the PSY performance, the DAP’s critical comments and heckling of the concert and party’s host smacks of sour-grapes! They can’t have PSY but they want to spoil the party. How Hannah Yeoh (low-class) can you get?
And for the Penangites who went there for the free food and free show, but jeered at the host, that’s in extremely bad taste and goes to show how cheap they are. Thus, let Penang keep DAP and vice versa. They deserve each other.
Yes I totally agree with you. let DAP keep Penang, since they are so low class.
Hello… You’re back… Hope you had a good rest with lotsa good food, drink & company!
I really find it nauseating that these so called beacons of hope & purveyors of change for Malaysia are just like street thugs intent on imposing themselves upon others. They’re no better than gangsters who pushes others around & glorifies their triad chiefs as infallible & perfect. How often have we seen their supporters freely using uncouth words that they wouldn’t use on their mommas at those who opposes their points of views?
As for Hannah, she will not escape judgment by the God she glorifies so much in her words & deeds. Oh, to be present at the day of her judgment.
They would have no qualms at insulting their own mothers actually.
The guy questioned by police in Penang for flashing the lewd hand signal at the DYMM Raja Permaisuri Agong apparently gave the lame excuse that the gesture was made at his own father and not directed at the Queen.
What an idiot. How on earth did the Queen deserve what I suppose is the middle finger anyway? Didn’t the “enlightened” bozo know that the King & Queen are apolitical?
no they did not know… that’s how these faggots roll!!
The prick probably saw & heard the sirens & outsiders from a distance thinking it was the PM or maybe some minister thus the “up yours”. Even by such perverted logic, it shows how uncouth these opposition supporters are.
As Helen mentioned, they’d not think twice about insulting their mothers. It cannot be a collective failure of parents in bringing up their kids right? So who influenced them to the extent that their despicable acts are considered par for the course & justified?
Tepuk dada tanya selera la… (Hint: A certain party’s youth membership increased threefold since 2008 *wink wink*)
All of us will be in judgement one day. Don’t worry about other people’s. Worry about your own because when judgement day comes, it’s just between you and God :-)
Oblivious to the irony eh?
Macam biasa, DAPster shj yg bukan RASIS. Melayu semua RASIS. WTF..
one thing the Dapster and Malaysiakini might not know is that majority of the Malays (even some from PAS) love Dr M for what he did.
It’s always better to report the truth than half truths or lies :) Sometimes truth hurts isn’t it? I guess The Star is fed up of constant non-ethical writing directions from the “top”. Perhaps it doesn’t want to be akin to Utusan and NST :-)
Not really. The articles in Star are still blatantly pro BN, as can be seen in yesterday’s paper on the Psy show. No word, of course, about how Najib ‘kena Psy’ (pun on a Hokkien bad word) on stage
MCA need to learn to be relevant to young people like DAP. Maybe that’s why you don’t see many young people in the pictures above but only senior citizens. As compared to DAP’s event, you can see a mixture. My point is MCA is no longer relevant to young people.
Happy CNY Helen.
I managed to give some thought on the possible explanations of the gunting dalam lipatan phenomenon. It doesn’t really add up, does it? I mean MCA owns direct stake of the Star for over 40%, you know the figures and story.
What is the game, really? Let’s speculate, shall we? MCA took over from Huaren in 2010 because the people at the party already realized that they are losing control of the direction of the paper, which historically, to be fair, has strong anti-establishmen roots? Was it some quid pro quo that was agreed upon? Lets assume MCA is trying to clean its stables, but how can they risk the purge without jeopardizing the financial viability of the paper? I doubt it. The closer thing to the truth (my guess) is that MCA nor Huaren has the right people to manage the Star (keeping it straight and non-partisan), and left to their own devices, the team on the floor simply picked their own slants and biases.
The minutae of any reporting is beyond the Editor-in-Chief, so like you once said, probably the top echeleon couldn’t rein in the sentiments of a pro-DAP journo-room.
The real question, for me personally, why DAP? Why not PKR or PAS? Readership? Racism? Elitism? Minority religion? I am sure people at the Star knows what sells so you will never be able to avoid stories about sex, murder and celebrities. The paper we have, in a way like the government we have, is reflective of the reader/people who picks them.
I would like to suggest this. Perhaps the old hands in the Star at the top (or near the top), are too fond of their journalistic integrity and independence to allow themselves to be ridden like NST or BH. So, some compensational balance tilts the reporting in favour of the anti-establishment. I mean, isn’t it the same with Oriental Daily and the Chinese press? They have a reputation to keep and it is a reputation built on healthy skepticism towards the government. By nature, doesn’t the press automatically leans to the left, like academic institutions, as they love to undress the authorities and powers-to-be?
Whoever is the government of the day, I think the MSM will tend too slant to the left, except the ones that were too cowed or cleansed. I think if some media studies were performed, those sitting on the right will be a minority. Just some thoughts.
Happy New Year to you too.
Your appraisal is altogether most sensible and I quite agree.
The Star won’t naturally be pro-PAS due to the ethnic composition of its staff just like Utusan won’t naturally be pro-DAP regardless of whether there are any orders from the top or not.
Spot on about the “compensational bias”.
Who works in The Star is a self-selecting process. Obviously they didn’t choose (or are not qualified) to work in Sinchew or China Press. Hence the leaning to Jerusubang and Firster ideology.
The Entertainment section of The Star is telling of the kiblat embraced by the reporters and of the gaps in their knowledge like how all the gatekeepers missed the alif-lam-lam-hah tattoo on Erykah Badu’s shoulder.
However what outsiders (unfamiliar with the media industry) ought to realise is that if the Chinese are generally regarded as 80 percent pro-oppo, the percentage is even higher in The Star.
The general consensus is that DAP has got the Christian vote locked in. English media is dominated by Christians.
An empirical test can be made on The Malaysian Insider. Just look at their columnists and the opinion features that TMI airs. A good number of them in their own writings state that they’re Christian just like how in my writing I categorically state that I’m not Christian.
Just ‘Who’ is selected to be in the stable of writers takes the cue from the editors preference, just like how the evangelical faction in DAP is pulling in like-minded people to join DAP as new members.
Wong Chun Wai wears his Christianity on his sleeve. It’s no surprise what colour shirt The Star is wearing — for sure it ain’t the BN blue.
WCW is making sure all his bases are covered. If status quo remains after the GE, fine. If the “oppressive regime” is replaced, he can say that he never did run them down. WCW of old was a journalist first & everything else second. But apparently the Datukship bestowed on him & the appointment to MACC’s panel probably got to his head. His writing showed a marked shift in direction somewhere since then.
Today you can see that he’s trying hard to project the sense of neutrality. At the same time, the editorial team throws curve balls at MCA & BN with their slanted reports. As for your earlier assessment on Joceline’s writings, I do agree that she stands well ahead of a number of columnists on that count. She probably does her research well for the weekly column. Even Baraddan’s column comes across with as more out of malice or perhaps hatred towards the opposition.
So much for MSM being anti opposition. With a reach of over 5million Malaysian which is about 20% of Malaysian, the Star is a potent propaganda tool for DAP ain’t it?
WCW has got 3 Datukships as far as I’m aware – federal (Datuk Seri) and S’gor + Malacca.
I really think what PM Najib did was a brave and the right thing to do.
If he really want to know the grass root then he need to meet them directly.
He gathered the people and ask them a direct question and he got a straight answer.
Now there is no other excuses can be given on the failure of MCA and Gerakan and they wont have a say if they are being sidelined in the next government if BN still in power.
Another point scored by our PM is by being in this situation he had made himself a victim of the chinese and DAP and thus gather more support from the Malay and other races.
This can be a great political mileage if used wisely. To all BN supporter please be honest… The Chinese already made up their mind and we need to except the fact that this coming GE its Chinese vs BN.
I agree with you to some extend. Historically the Malay leaders depended on their counterparts amongst the rest to carry out their duties for their segment of the community. What happened? Semua jaga pocket sendiri including the Malay leaders.
The bold attempt taken by the PM in dealing directly with the aggrieved communities needs to be applauded. The complacency of political power above people’s power can be divulge and be forceful for the truth and reality for the aggrieved ones as seen with Hindraf when humane cause arises.
The agenda run mainly by DAP in their cheapskate thrills in taunting the PM in Penang is unpleasant & crude as it is a hate agenda for political endeavor. You don’t hear much hate agenda from PKR as it is after all a half way house whereas PAS is quite astute and matured because I think any Malay leaders whether from BN/PR are a reasonable lot unless it is self serving. My two cent thoughts.
” Now there is no other excuses can be given on the failure of MCA and Gerakan and they wont have a say if they are being sidelined in the next government if BN still in power. ”
What a good way to threaten the voters. Good to have such mentality. We will keep in mind this message and remind our friends about the consequences for not voting BN.
You reap what you sow…
Newton Law of motion…
‘every action has an opposite reaction’
We are govern by humans and not angels and repercussion of any action cannot be avoided.
Kini baca apa jenis akhbar pun sengaja untuk menghabiskan masa lapang. Bab politik bagai satu cerita Luncai (folklore). Bab business ok lah. Bacalah harga cuma RM 1.50/2.00 sahaja.