NST: It just regained credibility in my eyes
29 September, 2008While the Sunday Star front page was all about cars, the New Sunday Times published the best journalism I have come across in years. It published several articles wholly relating to the race relations act, including TWO two-page interviews with Datuk Professor Dr Shamsul Amri Baharuddin, and Unity, Culture, Arts and Heritage Minister Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal.
Every one of us should know his limits, says Shafie Apdal, Source: NST
[/caption]Click on pictures for link to article.
Congratulations Tan Choe Choe and Elizabeth John, for doing these two WONDERFUL articles, they’ve really gave people something to think about. I’d nominate both of you for a journalism prize. Suck eggs The Star! NST is back in the game. (Don’t throw molotov cocktails at me)
Then NST complemented the two interviews with follow-up articles:
Tan [Lian Hoe]: Law on race relations not necessary
She said there were many laws to deal with the matter, such as the Sedition Act, and another piece of legislation would be redundant.Tan said the proposed law would also give the impression to the world that Malaysia was a racially-divided nation.
Seriously, really.
Race discrimination laws worldwide
EDITORIAL: No haste in race relations
and finally, another piece of good news for political science students:
Race Relations: Pilot study to monitor status
The institute’s founding director, Datuk Professor Dr Shamsul Amri Baharuddin, said the project would do this by looking at the country’s 222 parliamentary constituencies and analysing their state of ethnic relations.It will use the quality of life index as the measuring tool.
“What is the unhappiness in this country if not about quality of life?
Totally awesome! Researching Malaysia and making assertive claims about Malaysia has been so difficult because such on-the-ground evidence is absent. It’s going to fill a very, very, large void.
Sadly, ALL OF THESE ARTICLES NEED to be in Bahasa Melayu. Sorry folks, but that’s the sad truth. I was wondering what the Malay newspapers were saying instead, so I went out to buy a Berita Harian (Berita Minggu on Sunday).
Instead, I got this editorial.
Di Luar Lingkaran: Berfikir waras mengenai masa depan by Johan Jaaffar
Demikianlah sindrom Melayu baru yang melanda kita. Semua ini kerana kita lemah. Lemah kita kerana kita tidak bersatu. Sekiranya bersatu menjadi kesalahan dalam konteks hari ini, maka orang Melayu harus menerima hakikat bahawa mereka lambat laun akan hilang di dunia. Hari ini untuk mengajak pada perpaduan sudah menjadi semacam kesalahan.
DUN DUN DUNNNN! I’ll have to write about these things another day because I’m out of time. More commentary on Shafie Apdal, Shamsul AB and Johan Jaaffar coming to here soon.
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Old Straits Times must learn from them ah
Depends. Here’s a hypothesis: the level of media freedom depends on how much freedom the current political order can concede. That means more competing power centres, more freedom, as the government or power holders have less attention or concrete ability to control the media.