3rd of May marks the world press freedom day. Back in 1991, the United Nations general assembly declared this day as World Press Freedom day to increase awareness of the importance to freedom of press and also as a reminder to all governments regarding the freedom of expression. It is one's right to voice out something that is real and report if without biases. However, as far as I'm concerned, Malaysians do little to practice this freedom issue. 3rd of May might just be the day of world press freedom but the main idea is to create awareness for people to exercise their rights about facts, unlike baseless political scandals in Malaysia done to tarnish the image of another guy.
Rewind a few days back where i found this very interesting video posted on YouTube. It has been 21 years since the world press freedom day was declared but, as I said before, Malaysia is just simply out of bounds. And now we are in the hot water as BBC issued a warning and even took a swipe at us of for censoring what they had recorded. The media is controlled by the government and sensitive issues were not to be disclosed to the public. This were among the few methods that kept the opposition at bay for the past 50 years as the media only portrayed the flawless side of our government.
It's not difficult to spot what was lacking when played on our local media
Dr Chua Soi Lek voiced his concern about press freedom in today's The Star, urging the media to report news as it happens. On the other hand, Minister of Home Affairs Datuk Seri Hishamuddin also called for a special committee to investigate into the riot that caused injuries to the general public and to the cops as well. However, I always doubted their actions. 'Words always speak louder than actions' is something the Malaysian government are pretty fond of. Well, we will see about it.
Turning our focus on the just concluded Bersih rally a week ago, it is not difficult to notice that our government yet again employed dirty tactics to divert the attention of the nation. With reference to the anti-Lynas gathering in Penang a couple of months ago, there is always one similarity during rallies: They start off peacefully, and then in a sudden, the crowd starts to go wild. Riots and crowd disorder immediately scream over the headlines of our dailies. The government is 'clever' to notice that if the rallies ended in peace, the message would be clear: To protest against some movement. However, with crowd violence in the frame now, papers are reporting about crowd violence, injuries here and there, and some big names calling for a committee to investigate into it. Seems that the committee that investigated about the anti-Lynas movement in Penang has just gone behind the scenes again. And did the papers report any genuine ideas regarding the Bersih rally for a change? You should know the answer.
On the other end, we can see Myanmar evergreen leader Aung Sun Syu Kii swearing into the parliament yesterday. Now, that is what I call democracy and liberality. The junta ( or so called military government) is willing to abide the citizen's call for a change in the country. Although the nation might be a little disappointed as Aung Sun Syu Kii was deprived the chance to take office, she still views it as a pride to stand in the parliament. 'Politics is not give and take. It's about yielding the wishes of the people', she siad cheerfully when questioned by reporters on her sudden U-turn from what she said on Monday.(She refused to swear in due to some issues regarding her party and parliamentary members in which the government would not tolerate) Malaysia is much more developed and has a higher education status than Myanmar but in terms of politics and sociology, we are nothing compared to them. I bet the Bersih rally and anti-Lynas movements just fell on deaf ears. But no matter what the government thinks about those activities, at least it has achieved its target of instilling awareness to the nation of the need of a change.
Signing off
Yik Ping
130pm
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