Malaysian Press….You decide!
Edit: some portion written here is invalid now as Malaysian newspapers did give coverage on this issue.
It will come as no surprise to you that only good things are reported in our country, especially when the good this is something that will increase our country’s good standing in the international community.
Well, if you check local news coverage and international coverage, you will sometime get two completely contrasting peace of news. For instance, in todays BBC website, it was reported that half a dozen European Union diplomats walked out of a Human Rights Convention , led by the UK High Commisioner Bruce Cleghorn.
Our honourable former PM, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad was reported to have said
“The British and American bomber pilots came, unopposed, safe and cosy in their state of the art aircraft, pressing buttons to drop bombs, to kill and maim.
“And these murderers, for that is what they are, would go back to celebrate ‘mission accomplished’.
“Who are the terrorists? The people below who were bombed or the bombers? Whose rights have been snatched away?”
Well, regardless of your political bearing, you got to admit that the former PM has lots of guts to say such things. Ofcourse his guts is no different than the famous US Vice President Al Gore(who also claimed to have invented the Internet) whom after the removal of Datuk Seri Anwar, voiced his support of the Reformasi movement in a convention which the former PM attended.
So to some people, he is a great leader(for developing Malaysia) and to others also a great Human Rights violator.
But if we have to give him credit, the least he did was to bring up our country. I know, more could have done but let’s hope PM Badawi would be able to bring our beloved country even to loftier heights.
So about the Malaysian press ? What do you think. Spineless ?, as not to inform the masses about this walk out ? (At the point of writing, I could not find any resources on the net about this on the malaysian news websites).
The American press was said to be without a spine until recently where all of a sudden they have lambasted Bush for his woefully less than stellar control of the situation. It is supposed to have regained some sort of back with their latest coverage. We know that the American press are partisan (so I heard from hearsay and from reputable news outlets like BBC, AFP,etc). And let us not kid ourselves, our press are also partisan. With most(if not all) leading newspapers are owned or have links to the ruling government.
But the Malaysian newspapers are improving. It’s only recently that sensitive comments that otherwise would not have been published a few years ago are now being published. This is one good start. Now comments about NEP and other sensitive policies are being mentioned in the newspapers. This is good as this shows that the country is heading towards the right direction. Internet so far has not been regulated. Which is something we should all be thankful. I hope it remains that way.
Well folks, what do you think? Malaysia…towards Cemerlang, Gemilang, Terbilang in slogan(and name only) or towards greater prosperity and unity throughout her land)
