It’s Raining Again
May 3rd, 2007
do you guys have any idea how powerful that newspaper lying innocently on your coffee table is?
all my life, i grew up thinking that The Newspaper is the ultimate source of information. with it i become smarter, with it i learn better English, with it i know what’s going on in my country and what’s going on in the world. with it i become knowledgeable, with it my mind is opened, and with it i become liberated from the katak di bawah tempurung syndrome of the young and the naive.
you know how when someone admits they haven’t heard of a specific current affair or event, the retort they get from most people is usually, “you dont read newspaper wan ah”? such is the gigantic role that our newspapers play in mass information dissemination. the newspapers have become the first thing we turn to for updates and news. and with that, we expect them to give us the truth, the facts, the real stories, the lowdown on what’s going on.
but do we really get all that?
on usual days, i note with mild disgust the type of news that is deemed worthy of our front pages and page threes. and by that, i mean zoo staff carrying a crocodile in for mating, ministers of different races in batik shirts all smiley and muhibbah as they ‘lou sang’ together and random wonder kids who can do form 5 add math problems. i dont know, someone please tell me – is this the kind of stuff that should rightly take precedence in our mass media, a mass media that has a responsibility to educate and inform a country of 24 million?
April 17 2007’s front page touted our Customs Department success in uncovering a scam involving APs and luxury vehicles. ooooooh, a case worth 1.5 million!!! hoohah our Customs Dept so smart. but of course this is front-page worthy wat, any excuse to kiss govt ass. you realize how our newspapers just love to do that? nevermind that the Virginia Tech shooting took place the day before, nevermind that is a world-shaking event that should have principal attention, nevermind that THAT is what should have been on our front page in the interest of informing our public. but nooooo, let’s bury the report on the VTech shooting all the way in the back!!! let’s instead highlight how our Customs Dept is soooo good at busting scams, so that we may bolster public confidence in our government!!! because you know, government-glorifying is more important than a well-informed malaysian society!!! *rolls eyes*
on the same note, am i the only one tired of reading drugring bust after drugring bust? whenever our police force do anything remotely right, all the fanfare and trumpets and confetti are brought out. it’s always magnified in the newspapers whenever the police solve cases quickly, and it is all written to sound so completely FANTASTIC that they succeeded in doing their job. but hello??? is that not what the cops are supposed to do?! their JOB? it is a given that they should solve their cases with minimal time, and when that happens, yes there should be a pat on the back and all but they should NOT be revered for doing one time what they should be doing all the time. ultimately, SOLVING CASES IS THEIR JOB. it is not a fucking PERK.
and the fucking newspapers would do well to stop trying to doctor the negative public image of the cops, because we CANNOT live in a concocted utopia. it is so true that our cops are lazy good-for-nothings who have so much more to achieve before they start indulging themselves in stupid big-time bicentennial celebrations, but our newspapers try to persuade us to believe otherwise. why the heck do they keep seeing this need to tell us that our police force is very the good when it is actually very the not?? hmm let’s see! maybe to inject false confidence into the public about the way things are being run? maybe to make us think that there is nothing to complain about in our current administration? GEE I WONDER.
i for one personally think that our newspapers need to take some responsibility here. you know how all these mainstream media ppl are always on bloggers cases about responsibility… yeah well how about THEIR CIVIC DUTY??? dont they realize that if they decided to swing the other way (ie stop kissing ass) and run exposes on the shortcomings and deficiencies of certain parties (police, ministries), it would really pressure the aforementioned parties to get off their asses and start improving themselves? but because our newspapers DONT do that, and instead allow themselves to be gagged and silenced and censored by ‘atas’ people… that is why Malaysia is the way it is today; stuck in this unchanging cycle of forever repeating mistakes and never getting better. simply because our newspapers are irresponsible cowards.
i mean, tiu, might as well just wrap up and call it a day lah, if you are a newspaper but cannot report this, cannot report that. people over the centuries fight so hard for freedom of speech, and here are malaysian newspapers negating all that effort just by their very non-principled existence. it makes my blood boil just thinking about it.
hey but all of that is just on usual days. what REALLY pissed me off over the past few weeks and spurred me to sit at my computer ranting like an angry woman, is the despicable journalism that went on in regards to the recent Machap and Ijok by-elections.
as we all know, it was BN vs DAP in Machap, and BN vs PKR in Ijok. and as we all know, in the weeks leading up to both elections, our main newspapers ran only like a few million articles on the total awesomeness of the BN candidates, and concurrently also ran many cleverly-guised attacks on the Opposition parties.
and as we also know, BN then won both elections.
when i was a kid, we never talked politics at home or in school. so the only source of information i had on local politics was The Star, which is the newspaper that my grandmother buys and places on the dining table every morning for our reading pleasure. The Star, which is majority-owned by MCA (and by extension controlled by BN), would obviously sing constant praises about BN and at the same time smear the images of the Opposition parties to the safest extent. but being a kid, i didnt realize they were doing that. i simply ate up all that propaganda because i thought the newspapers reported everything and the truth. so i grew up with the image of BN being the best future for our country, and that the Opposition were all lying, cheating, mudslinging politicans who used underhanded tactics to secure votes. i grew up thinking, when i’m old enough to vote, i’m going to vote for BN.
and that is what the Malaysian mass media is for, ladies and gentlemen : to act as propaganda tools for our current government, in order to sway 24 million Malaysians into voting for BN in every election. why do they that? because their asses are all owned by the government aka BN.
what, did you really think that newspapers were here to help inform and educate you? think again. that’s totally secondary.
what they are really here to do is to indoctrinate malaysians into believing that BN are the ‘good guys’ while the opposition parties are the ‘bad guys’. to those of us who read newspapers on a daily basis, all we read about is pro-government and anti-opposition propaganda (some subtle and some not-so-subtle), that inevitably we begin to believe that voting for the government is the way to go. the latest lies and dirty tactics of the Opposition are all we talk about at the coffeeshops because it’s the only interesting gossip on the elections that the newspapers specifically chose to publish. but CONVENIENTLY, we aren’t informed about any of BN’s lying and cheating and dirty tactics, even though it is the truth that they engage in such deceptions. instead, we are spoonfed glowing report after glowing report on how BN promises to do blahblahblah, the public is confident in BN blahblablah, publicity for campaigning BN candidates blahblahblah, and other biased blahblahblah that makes me sick to my stomach.
so with all this praise and glory for BN on one hand, and tarnished images for the Opposition on the other hand, tell me; who would you vote for in the upcoming election?
the newspapers skew and distort and manipulate our views and perceptions when it comes to voting, and the sad part is we dont even know it. well i’m here to fucking tell you. every day when we read newspapers, we believe that what we are reading is the truth, and that we are empowered by this ‘truth’, but the fact of the matter is, we are no more than manipulated pawns in the grand scheme of things.
they take our minds and they mould it. it’s up to you to take your mind and individuality back, and learn to make correct and informed decisions by not allowing the mass media to tell you what to think. learn to filter for yourself what is the truth and what is not, and learn to seek out that truth if your government-owned newspapers conveniently forget to provide this.
sigh. malaysia, malaysia, malaysia.
i have one more thing to say. i am sick and tired of people complaining left right center about how the government stupid lah, the government sucks lah, the government waste our tax money lah … but then at the end of the day, they VOTE FOR THE SAME STUPID SUCKY GOVERNMENT THAT THEY LOVE TO COMPLAIN SO MUCH ABOUT. hello?????? am i the only one who sees something wrong with this picture??
malaysians, malaysians, malaysians. our leaders are only as good as the people who put them in government.
Entry Filed under: Rants
41 Comments Add your own
1. k0k | May 3rd, 2007 at 5:43 am
Shades of 1984.
Politics, the government, the mass media; always let-downs, hardly lifts.
Unagi, on the other hand, never disappoints. Let us all migrate to Japan.
2. JustAnotherTragedy | May 3rd, 2007 at 7:44 am
We don’t call ourselves Malaysian for no reason at all one leh :P
3. songjun | May 3rd, 2007 at 8:15 am
hmm.. got a few points i would say that is not very fair… but im sleepy and tired and didnt really read it properly so not going to rebutt haha :P
sadly though, as ‘bad’ as our current government is, the opposition is not ready to rule the country if it ever did win really. i actually really cannot fathom anyone in the opposition that could possibly run it.
for now , its sole purpose is to serve as a check and balance. As u can see, only major city areas vote for the opposition where most of the ‘educated’ and well exposed ppl are. They know whats really going down despite all the hoo ha we hear.
its the same in like the US even. major city or liberal ‘educated’ areas are usually democrat backed and the more um.. ‘hick’ areas or christian conservative areas are pro republicans
as i think i mentioned before.. proper democracy would only work when a country has developed to the point where at least 75% of its population was properly intelligent and educated.
however we all know that the world basically is NOT made up of very intelligent ppl and a majority of them dont know squat. thus we get a lot of idiotic happenings in the world. the smart people go to industry and just not bother and make money off the stupid people lol. Illustrated by crack dealers, crack dealers dont do crack themselves.. they make money off the crack heads.
oh and about VT, UK also didnt get much news about it. I found out about it only thru a friend of mine who trolls internet news.
Although it is ‘world shaking’ , it is a domestic problem of the americas and usually do not take precedent in the front page local news because what happens there has no relevance back here. Because the UK has no issues about gun control.. because gun ownership outside of special purposes is illegal. Hence, the only country in the world that i know where gun shooting goes on in public schools is america. Heck, there was a riot in Paris by some workers but as it has no concern to the UK at all, it got a small column in the news.
I think it should get the message right about now of its gun control and ownership issues.
4. Daily misery » Blog&hellip | May 3rd, 2007 at 9:06 am
[...] A good read on the current state of news reporting in Malaysia. I guess the only sad part is we need a 18 year old to write and tell the obvious. But hey, at least we didn’t have Tomkat wedding on the front page. [...]
5. alvin | May 3rd, 2007 at 9:25 am
ah, this beats your transexual posting. :)
In response to the post above, I’m not going to pretend I am well aware of the state of our current opposition parties ability to take over the nation because i have spent less that 90 days back home for the last 5 years.
But then who can? Because frankly, they have never been the governing party no? Ever since merdeka, it has always been BN all the way.
I’m not saying they should – they have to earn the rights. But as citizens, we should start throwing out the mindset that DAP is a racist chinese-only party, PAS is an ultra Islamist party and Keadilan is ran by a sodomizer.
In reference to the larger context of the entry above, i think we owe it to ourselves to look around and ask whether all of these seem right? And if not, then maybe it’s ok to brief sigh and settle for what we have right now because the alternative is not reassuring enough? [/sarcasm]
6. melvin | May 3rd, 2007 at 11:41 am
again..Su Ann for MPship :)
7. Lisan | May 3rd, 2007 at 11:48 am
woman. lol. you macam, alot of anger vent up inside these days lah.
8. Jay | May 3rd, 2007 at 12:59 pm
You know, reading the paper here, it was kind of sickening reading about the VTech shooting everyday. I mean, just reading about that any chance I had to read the paper or watching it on the news, it was just unnerving to be reminded of that event every waking second of you life.
When 9/11 happened, sure, all of us in new york wanted to know what the bloody fuck happened, but we also wanted every fucking news camera and reporter to get out of our faces.
Although we all want to know what happened at VTech, I think the way the media handled it was wrong. But then again, I guess that’s the reason I don’t work for a paper (anymore).
9. dawn1o9 | May 3rd, 2007 at 2:37 pm
in our country, there is a god damn fanfair for every single dam opening, bridge opening, road opening, electricity plant opening, etc. Propagandas… propagandas… (noo.. don’t take me away.. I was just kidding! :P)
10. Kelvin | May 3rd, 2007 at 2:52 pm
You hit the hammer on the nail there. I used to “adore” the Government up till about I’m 18 when I started to have access to other information streams.
Now when I’m in Germany, looking in from the outside, the signs are much more obvious. Malaysia has a loooong way to go.
Also I have something to say, please, do not give in to the “if you don’t love the government, you don’t love your country” schtick, no matter what they say. “Love your country blindly, but choose a good government to run it.”
Don’t forget to vote when you turn 21!
P.S: Coincidently, I did a political satire piece recently. http://kelvin-lew.com
11. Kevin | May 3rd, 2007 at 5:48 pm
You see..that is why us Malaysians here in Wichita are planning to form our own party when we go back to Mas!!!!
A party full of engineers and we have a half chinese half malay guy here so we can win the Malay’s heart!
Parti Jurutera Malaysia, fuhh..damn innovative
12. entwined | May 3rd, 2007 at 9:52 pm
good god. i dont EVEN bother reading anything in the nation section beyond the headlines, cos i know the news content is going to piss me off anyway.
now that i am eligible to vote, i’ve already decided i will vote for the opposition, even if it’s just to make a stand and shock the ppl who are resting on their lazy ass laurels, getting all fat and comfy at the top.
13. Michelle | May 3rd, 2007 at 10:25 pm
Seriously lor, I WOULD NOT vote for BN. Something I’ve sworn since my dad told me bout May 13th incident.
Maybe you should try reading NST instead of The Star. Their VTech article features 2 pages. =)
14. Aimee | May 3rd, 2007 at 10:37 pm
su ann su ann, you know what’s really interesting? those people who keeps complaining about how the government sucks are those who DONT EVEN BOTHER TO VOTE! and by failing to vote, sure lah our dearest BN win year after year!
i love this entry.completely enlightening, for a person who wants to vote but is not of age.
oh and you know what pisses me off?? the tale of the two puppies who can sniff pirated dvds -.-”
15. HK | May 3rd, 2007 at 10:43 pm
Argh, this isn’t exactly the best time for me to write now, internet’s crap slow (until this page’s themes are all blank and I only see basic fonts and boxes) and I’m feeling rather sick of all this crap that’s coming out of the newspapers.
Everytime I open the TheStarOnline, it’s the same old sick news on politics.
Everything is politically motivated, racial politics, water politics, media politics, everything!
Pretty much explains why I turn to more centralised and unbiased magazines like The Economist and everything else that’s not mainstream media. UK’s media circle is pretty much controlled by a single person, more or less. At least it gives a more intellectual view on stuff, more depth and perspective.
Moot point, I prefer criticised views on the government, at least it stirs me up that they are doing something. Also shows why I occasionally cook up some issues in my personal blog, well, just doing what I can do to raise awareness at least.
I don’t even bother arguing with ultra-dumb-people-who-have no-idea-what-they-are-talking-about when-they-say-BN-rocks, it’s just so wrong!
Argh, I feel you deeply. At least mainstream media in UK allows constructive criticism in the press, rather than over here where everything is played down as sedition and nonsense. Oh for heaven’s sake, the damned politicians are not god, dammit! Still, I love M’sia, and missing it lots! =)
16. HK | May 3rd, 2007 at 10:46 pm
arrr.. lots of mistakes, grammatical and syntactical, in that last post. My apologies!!
17. george | May 4th, 2007 at 12:07 am
i learn more about malaysia each time i read your posts about our country..i haven’t picked up the newspaper in ages (picking it up from my mailbox and dropping it onto the table doesn’t count)
‘but hello??? is that not what the cops are supposed to do?! their JOB?’ i LOLed here :p
18. Sung | May 4th, 2007 at 12:25 am
I happen to be looking for another blog, through su ann’s blog, when i saw another su ann on her link. This is interesting…interesting..haha
19. kiasu andrew | May 4th, 2007 at 1:12 am
HAHAHAHA MUACKS!
20. Lalita | May 4th, 2007 at 1:28 am
Interesting post – as usual of course =) But I have to agree with some of Songjun’s post – are the opposition really ready to knuckle down and show the rakyat that they are worthy of their vote? Prepared to take on the mantle of giving us a just goverment (does that exist anywhere in this world??)
Also, I do think in our tanahair, that there are some who actually love BN so vote for them, some who don’t love BN and vote for the Opposition, some who think, why bother, BN is going to win anyway and Opposition is below par hence I worry what will happen if I vote for them so since I have no real choice, will not vote for anyone.
As for Newspapers, in this country, if you value your editorial ass, you will kowtow to what the government wants you to write because then it will be a repeat of that Sarawakian newspaper right, that ran the Prophet Muhammad cartoons and then got suspended. So people are too scared to write what they want to because they know what the government will do to them. Sad, but true.
Now I am not condoning them writing crap of course, because like you say, and very rightly so, police are paid to do their job as are the Customs Dept. BUT the truth of the matter remains – basically if you want to keep your ass, you have to kiss that higher ass. What to do, right? So disgustinglah this culture that the government has carefully cultivated over the years but that is unfortunate reality.
Malaysia doesn’t have the rep of being the one country that practices Open Discrimination for nothin’ ya know.
21. Lalita | May 4th, 2007 at 1:34 am
I forgot to add one comment – what you said about blaming bloggers for everything! Yeah, that is really sicklah. I mean, does the govt think people cannot think for themselves? They must do, and they must believe that their sad indoctrination has created millions of stupid Malaysians who will just blindly believe without question. Everytime something happens, just blame the bloggers. Don’t actually try and even find the root of the problem.
Aiyah!!! Come on opposition, step up the game and put your efforts into trying to win that vote of confidence.
22. nat | May 4th, 2007 at 1:48 am
lets just say the Comic section gives so much more of what’s going on. far much more realistic, and er, sarcastic in a sense. Its not only Singaporeans who live up to the term ‘kiasu’. In fact, we do too. Everybody’s so afraid of being the odd one. They wouldn’t be able to cheer and celebrate with all the other kiasu friends of thiers when BN unsurprisingly wins again. The kopitiam uncles and aunties who hold meetings every morning, they look at you differently. So even if they didn’t vote for BN, they have to force a lie and insist they did. Something like that. Its more of a ‘muka’ thing.
Or maybe, they just have no idea what the motives of the other oppositions are. All they know is BN BN BN. and because its so overrated.
everybody wants a piece of the last LV pouch on the rack.
23. tze | May 4th, 2007 at 2:59 am
i was talking to pugin about your post and he said that the opposition are not good enough to run the country also wtf.
and i dont necessarily agree with nat, i feel that a lot of people are very outspoken about who they vote for. a lot of people around me anyways. there is no(t enough) freedom of speech in msia but there are quite a few who dare speak up. the lv pouch theory does not ring true for me but to each its own.
oh ya su ann hahaha the other day at my place there was this mca guy who gave us free food for some gathering and used it as an excuse to run a political rally. my brother got so pissed and the next day, went to him and started questioning him about mca’s policy wtf. telling him that mca is make chinese angry wtf. u should have a talk with my brother, he is one smart ass guy who’s like u. me? im only interested in whether lv will release lv mini lin speedy in 25 or not T_T
24. mrbherng | May 4th, 2007 at 7:06 am
Song Jun, VT is on many newspaper in the UK. Headlines on most of the free papers in London ( I was there then) and Metro has it as it’s headlines too.
newspaper had always been a propaganda media for the political parties worldwide. Just looked at the current French presidential election, most newspaper in France eg Le Monde. Supports Sarkozy while the left wing Liberation goes all out for Royal. It’s the same in the UK, nearly all papers are inclined to a certain party.
The problem with Malaysia is that the media is controlled by one party. The opposition do not have the financial ability to get hold of any of them.
I am not supporting the current pathetic press freedom in Malaysia, but it’s happening everywhere. Malaysia will need many more years before a strong opposition party will arise.
Oh enough, you just made me wonder why have I not been shooting the newspaper in my blog for quite sometime now =/ *pondering*
25. smiley | May 4th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
funny, thinking all this coming from coffee stains underneath that mug. A good read though.
26. Asyraf Lee | May 4th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
welcome to Malaysia
27. bs | May 4th, 2007 at 5:16 pm
aiya sudahlah. i read newspapers just for the comics n interesting columns. totally ditch the headlines. call me ignorant. ignorance is bliss.
28. Yun | May 4th, 2007 at 5:31 pm
yeah, im really annoyed at how our newspapers are so pro government. this was especially evident during the ijok and machap by elections.
and i do agree with songjun about how the opposition is not ready to rule the country yet…however, i believe it is much more constructive for the country to have healthy competition between the opposition and the government. right now, i just think i government is too complacent about their position. They know they will win anyway, so they continue doing the things that benefit themselves more than the country.
and if youre tired of reading the newspapers here in malaysia, there are some websites around that are not controlled by any party.. :)
29. bubbles | May 4th, 2007 at 9:45 pm
I thought it was 25.6 million at the banci survey bout 2-3 years ago???
30. MichelleSY | May 4th, 2007 at 9:55 pm
Having a mother in the media ranks, it makes my blood run cold to hear what the ‘gahmen’ is capable of.
If this persists, the powers that be might as well take up permanent residence in newspaper offices across the nation and personally edit every single effing word that gets to be published these days.
I never, ever read Msian newspapers anymore. I can’t do that and maintain my sanity.
My sister does, and after every perusal her blood pressure spikes another couple of points and she’s grumpier than usual for the rest of the day.
Q: Would you love someone who doesn’t love you back?
A: Only if you’re a crazy masochistic SOB who delights in unrequited, unconsummated relationships.
ps: Do they still do those glorious, oh-look-at-us, aren’t-we-da-shit photocalls, where they crush oh, maybe a couple of thousand pirated dvds with a steamroller?
Cos that’s like, so important right? And those DVDs, they’ll, like affect the future of the nation right? And those pirated movies, will, like bring rack and ruin to the GDP right?
Of course we’re, like, totally going buy into that right? Cos we like, have as many brain cells as like, Paris Hilton right?
Wtf.
31. Miracle | May 5th, 2007 at 2:07 am
Song Jun: Sometimes it’s not a matter of whether the Opposition can overthrow the current ruling coalition. We know that’s not going to happen for many reasons. Political stability affects economical stablity. Most businessmen are pro-BN because political stability encourages foreign investors to invest in our country. Political stability also means that Malaysia has a strong foot in the international arena. Political stability also affects social security. Give any opposition party the chance to rule the country for one year, of course things are going to go wrong. BN has been ruling for 50 years and “how far have we come?”
But if the Opposition has a lot of votes (like 35-49%) it shows that there’s one third to half the nation who is unhappy with the current ruling coalition. Places in the Parliament where they can voice their opinions and act as a check and balance for whatever plans the BN wants to impose also means that there will be a certain level of democracy maintained in Parliament. Also, knowing that there are so many people who are unhappy with them (BN) will mean that they should buck up, keep to their promises and actually pay attention to real problems instead of bitching about each other. Monopoly has never been good in anything. A healthy competition is always good as it makes each party progress to garner votes.
And truth be told, the opposition doesn’t exactly have a space to inform the public what they want to do or can do for the country. The newspaper is still and will always be the main source for information until every single person in Malaysia is computer-savvy and has access to the Internet. And then comes the questions of whether they will look for political information on the opposition parties. Given that ALL forms of mass media in Malaysia is controlled or somehow regulated by the government, it is almost impossible for them to inform the public about their agenda.
32. Miracle | May 5th, 2007 at 2:15 am
Su Ann: You should probably consider the many repressive laws the journalists are “bounded” to. Not to mention us bloggers. Or more like, every single person in Malaysia la. Sedition Act, Printing Presses and Publications Act, Defamation Act, Libel something or other… ISA.
That’s also another reason why journalists do not write the things they should. The government has instilled so much fear in everyone, that if we dare so much as move, we can be chucked in the ISA.
The journalists are actually told what they can or cannot write in the newspapers. I’m sure you know this already though. They cannot raise any “sensitive issues”. Under this is the mention of the word “suicide”, discussing religion (a ban by Pak Lah last year), criticizing the ruling coalition (a “threat” to national security).. among others. It’s an actual policy which they have to adhere to. Or they can be tried under the Sedition Actor ISA..
It’s a sad life for our journalists. They basically have nothing to talk about.
33. Stephanie | May 5th, 2007 at 2:41 am
I remember once during my primary school years, there was a general election and i told my mum as she was going off to vote; “vote for BN ah”. Newspaper propaganda can work on the mind of a primary school kid.
But really, there is no “very outstanding local political party” if you’re looking at it from the point of the ability to govern. There are some outstanding political figures in the parties but not the whole party itself. Shahrir Samad and Lim Kit Siang are good examples.
34. jonathanlim | May 5th, 2007 at 1:50 pm
i havent read the papers for a year now…theyre kinda expensive here…i didnt finish up with readin ur entry either. i wanna remain as that katak.
35. songjun | May 5th, 2007 at 3:43 pm
miracle : yes i know, i just mentioned that to many its a system of check and balance. and the people have proven that they CAN be pissed at government. Terrenganu defected to PAS and then 5 years later decided that they’re the worst of the 2 devils then went back to BN. So did kelantan constituencies just managing to hold 1 or 2 above BN.
and no, i dont think the business leaders vote BN, look at the demographics of opposition held areas, they are city centers with high income groups, usually owning businesses of their own.
heck,i’d say lot of business leaders hate how BN is doing with the way they do things,especially with all that cronism and who u know before things get done attitude. i had an interview with scomi the other day.. omg i wouldnt want to work with them. They have such ‘old guard’views and ways of thinking. Speaking to them just made me feel like talking to those air head politicians we have. Our central bank intrigues me though, they’re open enough to admit they have to change and are changing when i was going thru an interview with them.
U see, our government and u know who mindset are slowly changing..slowlybut surely. Does NEP work?Yes. Is it biassed? Yes. So what? Its not like we really need their help anyway.
and its good living in a strong opposition held area..my housing area gets really pretty when election time comes around ;) gahmen paves the road and trims the trees HAHA SEPUTEHHH!!! :D
36. Vicnan | May 5th, 2007 at 3:56 pm
On the bright side, it isn’t just Malaysian media. On the down side, it isn’t just Malaysian media.
The media’s role as a fourth estate isn’t one that translates globally, as much as people wish.
It’s something learnt very quickly; you know I’m on my internship now, and it still amazes me how many of my year-mates are astounded by the fluffiness of the industry – no duh?
37. Alex | May 5th, 2007 at 4:02 pm
it is the very first time I see you blog about political stuff, i think you will end up an activist like her when u grow UP :P
http://elizabethwong.wordpress.com/
38. blitzkrieg | May 6th, 2007 at 1:09 am
there is this strange and classic scenario, where people constantly ridicule BN, vote for them anyway, and give the excuse that the “OPPOSTION ARE NOT READY OR RICH ENOUGH TO PROPAGATE THE COUNTRY’S DEVELOPMENT”. in this case, it is clear that the basis of politics is misconstrued. at the end of the day, minus all that “shady business” the enlightened citizens know of, and tags like “satu lagi projek Barisan Nasional”, we have to understand that the development of a nation depends on the TAXPAYERS’ money. that is the basis of it. Fair enough, opposition parties will take a long time to reverse unnecessary budgets placed on unnecessary projects; projects which i do not need to mention, *cough* istana *cough*. at the end of the day, we do not know how opposition will fare and whether or not their perceptions and ideologies are merely empty words. Still, at the current state we are in, this country is going to the dogs, i tell you. It happened to Phillipines during the 70’s and look where they are now, it’ll happen to us too.
39. sweat | May 6th, 2007 at 6:42 pm
that’s why, ladies and gents, that’s exactly why i don’t read the paper.
i rather read my murakami books
40. Anonymous | May 8th, 2007 at 3:55 pm
fuck yourself. i voted keadilan, dap and pas.
bn still wins. but at least i don’t whine about it. go vote :P
41. nickie | May 13th, 2007 at 3:18 am
true to the core. i was just thinkin bout blogging the same stuff and here you spoke my mind. and yes, there is much anger in me too.
but here’s the thing. what can we do about it? think of one way or ways to change the malaysian situation and i’ll support you till the end. cuz i’ve exhausted my brainpower trying to come up with one but failing so far.
girl i hope you’re still passionate bout our country and care bout her enough to do something bout it 5 to 10 years down the road. a lot of people i know let the disappointments bury their passion and love for the country as time goes by, and cynicism is what’s left in them. which i find it really sad becuz there are actually things that can be done, even though we might not be able to see the results in our lifetime. but u know – even the little things matter, in a long run. and perhaps if we start now, our great grandchildren will enjoy what we fight for. so are you willing to fight for what you believe? or do you rather close one eye and enjoy Cosmopolitan or US weekly in a coffee house at a posh neighborhood and pretend everything is okay?!
pls dont be offended by my last question. it is, by no means, intended to make it sound like the latter choice is wrong or bad. but that’s just the way it is, human nature. we tend to take the easier path. but i love what you wrote, and really hope that you’d become one of our future leaders who’d make a difference. the country needs more ppl like you! but of cuz, it all boils down to what you want or who you wanna be.
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