Kuala Terengganu by-election: Raja Petra has gone overboard disrespecting Article 11 and Article 10

We are disturbed with the latest article “Does MCA support hudud?” by Raja Petra Kamarudin in Malaysia Today.

We have supported Raja Petra for his fearless opinions as freedom of expression is a right provided for under Article 10 and Article 11 of the Federal Constitution. (Article 10: Freedom of speech, assembly and association. Article 11: Freedom of religion)

However this time, we feel Raja Petra has gone overboard the provision of law as in his article he has trampled on rights of citizens on freedom of association and religion.

The below particular paragraph extract from Raja Petra’s article is particularly alarming,  highly intimidating, intruding and disrepecting the personal sphere of non-Muslim:

MCA, do you or don’t you support Hudud?
Speak up now or forever hold your tongue.
Are you pro-Islam or anti-Islam?
Please tell us now and make it very clear. Tomorrow we are going to Terengganu to campaign for PAS and we want to know what to tell the Kuala Terengganu voters.
And it will either be “MCA is anti-Islam” or “MCA is pro-Hudud”.

As law abiding citizens and voters, we are greatly disturbed and strongly object the method deployed in above article of Raja Petra which trampled on personal rights provided in the Federal Constitution.

Raja Petra’s shameful attempt of crass politicking by issuing above ultimatum to Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) to support hudud is a highly mischievous attempt to bully their non-Muslim community.

UMNO President aka Prime Minister of Malaysia: Fifth estate must lead!

Following the conclusion of the 12th General Election, news media hound’s attention is now focused on UMNO and fate of its future and its President.

Every Malaysians remembered how the rancour of the General Election’s campaign was covered. The amount of money spent was covered. But in this political season, nobody has yet to shout out about lack of information about the top UMNO proposed candidates’ vision, mission, priorities, policies, and leadership — and for that matter, important information that Malaysians will need to back up the next Prime Minister of Malaysia.

Was this why we always get the gut feeling that our political appointees too often did not make the cut or fit our aspirations?

Why? The vigorous press that was deemed an essential part of democracy in Malaysia is mediocre at best. The internet and the blogs have the tendency to spew too much flames, according to a tired BN operative (flame means hate). I am not suggesting that every journalist in the mainstream media is neglecting his/her duties as the fourth estate. There are still a sprinkling of good souls in newspapers and magazines who run analytical articles, and publicise longer, more probing segments.

And what did we learn from the 12th GE?

We found out that the mainstream media supplied faithfully a variety of analysis – that is shortened, taking every corner that is cut, which moves us further away from the truth until what is left tasted bland in our palate.

This problem has drove voters who take their responsibility to be informed seriously enough to search out information about the candidates in the internet. Even though there was not much substantive findings to be found in midst of the flames, as some may say.

Would you, as a non MCA member for example, ever know a single fact about Ong Ka Ting’s leadership values based plan? Anything at all? But let me guess, you know better about Chua Soi Lek’s sex escapade. We seem to forget the serious business about choosing political appointees, especially in the instance of the office of the Prime Minister, the next leader of the country. Are we buying pisang goreng or are we choosing a spokesman possessing speech ability or a leader with primarily leadership abilities? All are very different and not the same!

What’s troubling is that, the internet news media have shown instances where it has cut candidates like Tony Pua out of the process even before he got started. And then rushed to cover him as he won. Just to be clear: I’m referring to all serious contenders regardless of political affiliation and ranks who encounter the same prejudice. Voters are finding it harder and harder to have a 360 degrees overview, what more if they do not have access to the Internet.

And it’s not as if people didn’t want this sort of information of serious candidates with distinguished record.

Who is responsible for the veil of silence over the unheard of serious candidates?

The decision was probably made by the same people who decided that Najib or Muhyiddin were serious candidates. In the case of Najib, articles purporting to be news spent thousands upon thousands of words contemplating whether he would enter the race, to the point that before he even entered, he was already anointed the successor for UMNO presidency. Has he had not done or said anything that would allow anyone to conclude he was a worthy candidate. Whether the voters noticed the absence of leadership testimony, serious ideas or commitment to getting in progressive economic policies makes for another thesis altogether.

I join as one of the very few who noticed this shallow news coverage. An overseas report by the Project for Excellence in Journalism and the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy found that in the early months of the USA 2008 presidential campaign, 63% of the campaign stories focused on political strategy while only 15% discussed the candidates’ ideas and proposals.

Watching the UMNO party elections campaign unfold, I saw how the press gravitated toward a narrative template for the campaign, presenting stories of each characters as if for a novel: a man more comfortably fitted as a religious teacher, a second man who has no testimony of leadership qualities, a former chief minister who bettered his leadership skills and a respected royal who has not demonstrated new ideas to embrace the Rakyat Malaysia aspirations.

When the important issues will be presented to the rakyat as they watch on the sidelines of UMNO? Issues that could make a difference in the lives of Malaysians that didn’t fit into this narrative template and which was forced to take a back seat to these superficialities?

The state of UMNO’s political campaigning is not espected to be better: without a press to push them, candidates who do not have solid workable national proposals avoid the tough questions. All of this leaves Rakyat uncertain about what approach makes the most sense for them in the choosing of the next UMNO President aka Prime Minister of Malaysia. Worse still, it gives us permission to ignore issues and concentrate on things that don’t matter.

As UMNO move to gear up for its party contest, I want to propose the bloggers to know as much as they possibly can about what these men or woman would do as President of UMNO aka Prime Minister of Malaysia.

If the Rakyat want a vibrant democracy, the apparent mandate is for the fifth estate to demand it. By talking calmly, repeatedly, constantly for the ears of those in whom we have entrusted this enormous responsibility.

For starters, we the fifth estate, must fulfil our stakeholders’ rights to demand for the best UMNO President aka Malaysia Prime Minister.

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