Suspended DJ Jamal: It's a political conspiracy

Aidila Razak
Aug 23, 10
5:41pm

EXCLUSIVE Whatever MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek's explanation, suspended radio DJ Jamaluddin Ibrahim is unimpressed.

In fact, he said, Chua's claim that the decision to suspend him was a “management issue” only proves that it is part of some sort of “political conspiracy”.

“If you say it is not good for 988.fm's revenue and you want to change management, fine. That is fair. If the programme is not successful, you want to make it better, it's fair,” he said.

“But what has (988's immediate owner) Star RFM (Sdn Bhd) gained from this? They lost their audience, they lost revenue.

“The only thing 'they' gained is political mileage. 'Their' motive is to kill off the programme. It's very clear that 'they' don't want people to discuss current issues…for people to be woken up.”

But Jamaluddin, in an exclusive interview this morning, refused to speculate on who 'they' are.

The deejay popularly known as Jamal was suspended indefinitely from Aug 19, when the station received a warning letter from the Malaysian Multimedia and Communication Commission (MCMC).

In the letter, he was said to be “threatening to national security” and "compromising race relationships” during an interview with columnist Ouyang Wen Feng on the Hi Malaysia talk-show on Aug 13.

Chief executive officer Wong Lai Ngo and senior programme manager Tan Chia Yong, although not mentioned in the MCMC letter, were later also suspended, further strengthening Jamal's suspicions.

MCMC taken by surprise

The letter is by far the harshest warning the show has received from the commission since it went on air in May 2009, said Jamal, who was educated in Beijing and speaks fluent Mandarin.

In previous 'coffee' sessions with MCMC, the station had been verbally warned against using the word 'communist', he said.

Jamal is the son of Communist Party of Malaya activists, the late Shamsiah Fakeh (left) and Ibrahim Mohamad. He returned to Malaysia with his parents in 1994 after 10 years of waiting for permission from the government.

He said the MCMC also took issue when the show invited opposition party leaders to speak, or did not censor the harsh criticism from listeners who called in.

“I was told there is a certain person whose task is only to record, listen to and translate the programme, find out if there are certain 'problematic' points and to report to MCMC,” he said.

But according to the deejay, even the commission, which had apparently put the show on its radar, did not anticipate the multiple suspensions.

“The (MCMC) officer was surprised. (He said,) 'How? We just issued a normal warning letter',” said Jamal.

“'They' just want MCMC to issue the letter so 'they' can take action. This is the drama. The script has already been done, just need to (act it out).”

It is precisely this sort of 'shadow-play' that infuriates Jamal, who had publicly backed Ong Tee Keat (right) in the prolonged MCA leadership crisis.

Realistically, he had expected to be asked to leave after Ong lost in the presidential election but in a manner that is more up-front and gentlemanly.

“If Chua (had said), 'This is a political decision, I want you to leave' then I would not mind, meaning I won't be able to do anything about it…(Instead now) they do not want to bear responsibility,” he said.

Prohibited words

Despite a 10-hour meeting with MCMC, Jamal said he is still in the dark as to what he did wrong.

“(MCMC) just chose words out of the conversation, but not the context. Words like 'racism' and 'racial politics'. They only chose sentences where such words appear.

“Whether or not you are satisfied with the translation, if you admit that such words come out of your mouth, then you've made the mistake.”

Interestingly, he said, he knows of no actual list of 'prohibited words' passed to radio DJs.

“If there is a list, then news or current affairs programme cannot (take place) at all. All these words cannot be used - like racism, homosexual, comrade, communist - …maybe there's a lot, we don't know.

“It means everybody is making mistakes every day at every moment, but if 'they' don't like you, 'they' (find) you guilty.”

While he denies that the claims of conspiracy are part of a ploy to allow him to return to air a hero, the response he has received so far suggests otherwise.

The station received about 3,900 text-messages from listeners pledging their support on the first morning that he did not helm the show.

In fact, strong audience support was supposed to be the gauge for the management to decide whether or not to let him stay.

Jamal said Wong had asked him to go on leave in a bid to appease the MCMC, but planned to take him back depending on the support he receives from the audience.

But with the top officer's job now also on the line, the future of Hi Malaysia remains in limbo, despite Jamal's high hopes.

Tomorrow: Jamal's chequered ties with Chua