Ex-988 Jamal's unkindest cut to the Chinese media
The "Say Hi to Malaysia" radio talk show of 98.8FM recently came under the scrutiny of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), resulting in the sacking of DJ Jamaluddin Ibrahim, chief executive officer Wong Lai Ngo and senior programme manager Tan Chia Yong by the station.
Jamaluddin and his supporters then launched a series of talks on “A look into press sovereignty from Jamal's removal”. The talks should have been on the government intervention in press freedom, but, instead, they turned out to be a smear campaign on the reputation of Sin Chew Daily and other Chinese newspapers in the country.
Jamal and company have accused the Chinese newspapers published under the Media Chinese International Limited (MCIL) group of blacking out news on their talks.
The 98.8FM incident is so obviously a continuation of the MCA crisis, and those involved in political infighting should know that no one is indispensable and invincible, and some will be casualties.
During factional conflicts, certain quarters would exploit the media to their advantage, and it is the responsibility of the media not to fall prey to their game. So, a responsible newspaper would handle news of such crisis in a rational, objective and impartial manner.
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According to what Jamal and his friends said in the talks, the Chinese newspapers not giving their cause prominent coverage are more sinful than the MCMC that took actions against the radio station and restricted the freedom of speech. In a forum on "Malays Are Muted Too," Jamal lashed out at the Chinese newspapers published under the MCIL group.
Jamal alleged that the MCIL is trying to dictate the thinking of the Chinese community by creating some discontent, and arousing their dissatisfaction towards the Malay community.
Such unjustified malicious verbal assaults by Jamal et al are a gross disrespect for Chinese community leaders.
As the mouthpiece of the Chinese community in Malaysia, the news content of Chinese newspapers is focused mainly on the statements by leaders of Chinese associations, political parties, religious bodies, and Chinese thinkers.
The dissatisfaction they have voiced in the Chinese newspapers is aimed at getting the attention of the authorities or evaluating government policies, not to "create dissatisfaction among the Chinese towards the Malays."
Two days ago, I was told by an insider that some senior Umno leaders were furious over some news reports and editorials carried in the Chinese newspapers, in particular the Sin Chew Daily. They inferred that the Sin Chew Daily was hostile towards Umno.
Although I have tried not to believe it, it simply reminds me of what I used to hear in the past, that Jamal seems to have a special agenda.
I also remember what Jamal once said in his "Say Hi to Malaysia" programme that Chinese Malaysians should send their children to national schools as a means to promote national unity, which I regret to say the Sin Chew Daily is strongly opposed to.
No wonder Jamal would lament that “it is very unfortunate for the Chinese community to have such a media organisation."
Veteran journalist Zhang Muqin has done an in-depth analysis on Jamal's personality and what he did. Let me to quote some excerpts from his writing:
"We have had no freedom of speech for a few days now. The 98.8FM incident has been blown up from the virtual world to the real world. In the town, we saw the flash mob turn the newspapers upside down to protest a ‘muffled’ Malaysia.
"This serves to tell the world that there is only one voice in the whole of Malaysia, that of Encik Jamal and none else. When a DJ is silenced, all voices are quelled. Before he was asked to take leave, it used to be a world of flourishing opinions. He used to write a series of articles on Chinese culture which genuine Chinese scholars rebuked as nonsense. He didn't even have the gut to respond to them.
"But now he calls himself the champion of speech freedom! As a matter of fact, no one can stay in power forever, be it an office-bearer in a partisan corporation or the government. We have seen a lot of such instances in our midst. Isn't the Utusan like this? Or NST? Or The Star? But why is the 98.8FM thing blown up to such proportion?
"If a person rises to power because of some unseen forces behind, he should also get ready to call it a day when such forces are waning. If he claims the "evil forces" have been behind his departure, I would like to know what kind of forces brought him to power back then?
"It is reasonable to assume that the person in question is under tremendous stress, but then even the writers now begin to feel the pressure.
"I myself get confused. The reason is this issue has been abused as a tool to advance their political motives, and once politics has a hand in it, it will be difficult for anyone to speak up.
"This is another form of pressure outside the evil laws, which like the atmosphere is invisible, but is omnipresent and heavy.
"This is perhaps what people call speech hegemony. He who commands such hegemony is insurmountable.
"Such a force is called 'right of speech.' Only what I say counts, not yours. Isn't this another evil force outside the evil laws?
"Do you feel that a 'more valuable thing than morality' in our society at this very juncture is 'anti-BN'?
"While morality is good, there is something even better, that is to topple the BN. Toppling the BN is a political motive, not morality, but it has a much higher value than morality.
"As such, even though that Jamal is no God of Speech Freedom, his incident could be manipulated to wipe out the MCA, or the BN for that matter. So, it doesn't really matter that he openly defiles his colleagues in the media industry, and it doesn't also matter that he trashes Chinese education.
"Are we not on our way to a world that is occupied by political objectives but no moral values?"
I cannot claim to be a very knowledgeable person, and I lack Jamal's eloquence that can paint anything black into white. All I can do is quote a senior journalist to illustrate my points.
P.S.: As journalists, we are firmly against evil laws that attempt to clamp on press freedom, and this is a different thing altogether from whether we support or not support Jamal. - Sinchew
Read more at http://www.mysinchew.com/node/44841?tid=14
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