The Pakatan Rakyat has just launched a campaign to boycott Utusan Malaysia and Mingguan Malaysia for their unfair reporting and racial sentiment.
It was a bizarre move by Pakatan… for all this while they are fighting for freedom of speech, and now they are, asking people to boycott the papers for their biasness. Such an irony.
I do read Utusan occasionally, and I know how pro-BN and racial biased they could be when reporting certain issues… but that doesn’t mean that they are liars.
Chinese papers are often bias when reporting some racial issues too… Hishammudin’s keris wielding for example was widely criticised in Chinese papers, while the Malay papers were more protective towards the same news.
Sometimes, there is no absolute answer to right or wrong in certain matters… it’s just about sharing different point of views, which is not really a bad thing for better understanding among Malaysians.
Besides, the blogosphere are more biased in favour of Pakatan than the mainstream media for BN… we are the worst when it comes to biasness. So, should BN supporters launch a boycott campaign against the bloggers in return?
So much so for freedom of speech.
Umno Youth Chief Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein yesterday (April 25) apologised to the Malays and non-Malays for wielding keris two years ago… but does it sound like an apology?
He apologised to the non-Malays that the keris wielding has caused unease, while apologised to Malays for failing to uphold the Malay emblem as their symbol of heritage (video below)…
Thing is, most of the non-Malays have never denied the importance of keris as a symbol of Malay heritage… the non-Malays are offended because it was used at the wrong place, wrong function, and wrong timing.
And to add fuel to the fire, Hishammudin has in numerous occasions ridiculed the non-Malays for being too sensitive towards the keris issue instead of looking into the responds seriously.
In fact in this so call apology, he is trying to say that the non-Malays are scared of the keris as a Malay symbol, and as if the non-Malays are trying to take away a Malay heritage. Yet again the non-Malays are being ridiculed while he is trying to make himself a Malay hero.
The next thing he would say is that he has apologised, but too bad some of the Malaysians are not that forgiving… yada.
Gerakan has initiated disciplinary action against its Youth vice-chief S. Paranjothy over his racially sensitive remarks against Umno.
Gerakan acting president Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon said Sunday (Dec 23) the party viewed the matter seriously and that the case has been referred to the Disciplinary Committee for a decision on the action to be taken before it was to be brought to the party’s Central Working Committee (CWC). [Bernama]
Paranjothy is alleged to have issued a press statement to Malaysiakini claiming that he was not happy with Umno and the way Indians in the country were being treated. Excerpt from Malaysiakini…
In an audacious move, a notable Gerakan politician has taken Barisan Nasional coalition leader Umno to task for inciting racial sentiments among Malays to gain political mileage.
“They incite racial sentiments among their community in a petty attempt to further their political career,” Gerakan Youth vice-chief S Paranjothy alleged today (Dec 21).
Such attempts, he said, include taking potshots at other BN component parties which draw their support from non-Malay communities.
“Umno leaders are very found of picking on component parties and use them as their punching bag or stepping-stone to gain popularity in their community,” Paranjothy said in a hard-hitting four-page statement entitled ‘Discrimination from Womb to Tomb’.
He singled out Umno Youth Chief Hishammuddin Hussien’s keris waving and his deputy Khairy Jamaluddin’s claim that non-Malays would take advantage of a weak Umno leadership, as prime examples of racial posturing.
He also cited Khairy’s speech at the Umno general assembly last month, during which he blamed newspaper vendors for not wanting to work on Deepavali day. He made a pointed reference to the fact that the sector is predominated by Indian Malaysians.
Read the rest of this post »
Keris can’t kill; a person with the keris can.
I accept that keris is a cultural symbol for Malays, for Malaysia in fact. Some people might not be aware, but we are seeing the keris almost everyday everywhere… with our Yang di-Pertuan Agong carrying it in his photo. There is nothing wrong with keris.
The issue lies in the person who carries the keris, and the agenda behind it.
UMNO youth chief Hishammuddin Hussein has made a decent statement at the 2007 general assembly that the kissing and hoisting of the keris symbolises the protection given to not only the Malays but also to other races in the country. [Bernama]
It could be a genuine statement, or probably just a PR stunt… but it doesn’t erase the fact that the ‘keris protect all Malaysians” ideology was not what he managed to portray when he played with his keris for the past couple of years.
I can’t blame too much on Hishammuddin though; it was a trend for UMNO youth to raise racial sentiment. Mahathir, Najib, Anwar etc. had all been criticized for their radical gimmick when they were in their early political days.
All these people need to build their network and support to move up the political rank… Hishammuddin won’t be the last person to play with sensitive issues in UMNO assembly.
Some Malaysians might not be happy about what Hishammuddin did, but there is nothing much to do against it besides ranting online or in coffee shops. Hishammuddin will march forward in his political career regardless of how we feel… we have to move on as well regardless of how he feels.