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Malaysia’s pendrive man denies links to ‘Red Bean Army’ fabrication

By Ida Lim
The Malaysian Insider
Jun 03, 2013

KUALA LUMPUR, June 3 — A Malaysian entrepreneur has denied accusations that he is funding or linked to the “Red Bean Army”, a “cybertrooper” group named by Umno’s Utusan Malaysia as being allegedly financed by the DAP to attack the government via social media.

Taiwan-based Pua Khein Seng, whose company Phison Electronics Corp was behind the world’s first single-chip USB pendrive, has rebutted what he described as a fabricated report in Utusan Malaysia last week and has not ruled out legal action against the Umno-owned newspaper.

“Firstly, this is a fabricated, baseless and malicious allegation and I honestly do not know how I should respond since it is an unfounded accusation,” Pua said in a statement that was read out by DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng today.

Pua, who was reportedly campaigning for DAP leaders in Johor during the recent general election, said he is ready to provide co-operation to those probing allegations on the online group of cybertroopers.

“Secondly, I hereby urge the authorities who are investigating this allegation to contact me as soon as possible for the truth to be revealed. I will fully co-operate with the authorities.

“I will not hesitate to take legal action against Utusan Malaysia when the investigations are completed by the authorities,” the Phison chief executive officer wrote in the brief statement. Continue reading “Malaysia’s pendrive man denies links to ‘Red Bean Army’ fabrication”

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Preliminary inquiry showed that a well-funded Umno/BN conspiracy was hatched 3 months before dissolution of Parliament to demonise DAP, which also spawned the outrageous allegations of a fictitious DAP-funded “Red Bean Army” of 3,000 cybertroopers

Preliminary inquiry showed that a well-funded Umno/BN conspiracy was hatched three months before the dissolution of Parliament on April 3 to demonise the DAP, which also spawned the outrageous allegations of a fictitious DAP-funded “Red Bean Army” of 3,000 cybertroopers purportedly with a budget of RM100 million to RM1 billion in the past six years to character-assassinate UMNO/BN leaders on the cyberspace.

The main purveyors of the lies about the “Red Bean Army” are the UMNO/BN owned/controlled print media, which include Utusan Malaysia, New Straits Times, Berita Harian and Star, both before and after the 13th General Elections on May 5.

The baseless allegations purveyed and perpetrated by Utusan Malaysia, New Straits Times, Berita Harian and Star must go down in their history as the lowest points they had ever plumbed in prostituting the journalistic profession for the basest of considerations and objectives completely nothing to do with facts and truth, which should be the staples of journalism.

How can so-called journalists in Utusan Malaysia, New Straits Times, Berita Harian and Star who had a hand in spewing the lies about the DAP-funded “Red Beans Army” of 3,000 cybertroopers which only exist in their wildest imaginations ever hold their heads high as honest, upright and God-fearing journalists? Continue reading “Preliminary inquiry showed that a well-funded Umno/BN conspiracy was hatched 3 months before dissolution of Parliament to demonise DAP, which also spawned the outrageous allegations of a fictitious DAP-funded “Red Bean Army” of 3,000 cybertroopers”

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Straits Times: Credibility of Malaysia’s mainstream newspapers at stake

The Malaysian Insider
Jun 02, 2013

KUALA LUMPUR, June 2 — Most of Malaysia’s mainstream newspapers appear to have taken a hit since the May 5 general election for perceived biased reporting, Singapore’s the Straits Times (ST) said today.

The broadsheet cited the examples of Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia and MCA-owned The Star newspaper.

“Star is in a dilemma of trying to be independent and yet pressured to boost BN’s image,” Shaharuddin Badaruddin, a political analyst at Universiti Teknologi Mara, was quoted as saying to the ST.

The Star is the largest English-language daily in Malaysia, averaging audited sales of 290,000 copies daily between January and June last year.

Umno’s network of media outlets is wide, according to the Kuala Lumpur-based Centre for Independent Journalism.

Via proxies, Umno controls Media Prima, which publishes the New Straits Times, Berita Harian and Harian Metro. It also owns the Utusan Group, which publishes Utusan Malaysia and Kosmo!

The ST said Utusan Malaysia has been accused of biased reporting for years, and its circulation has fallen from 213,000 in 2006 to between 170,000 and 180,000 last year. Continue reading “Straits Times: Credibility of Malaysia’s mainstream newspapers at stake”

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Regressive polls reactions

P Gunasegaram
Malaysiakini
May 31, 2013

QUESTION TIME The reactions to the elections by Barisan Nasional and Umno in particular and related organisations is nothing short of shocking. It reflects an alarming and regressive move towards hardline stances which are blatantly racist and with complete disregard to what the election results themselves indicate the electorate wants.

Considering that the majority of voters were against BN and by implication Umno, the stance towards needless toughness and the callous appeal to base racial hatred will only alienate the BN from the public who have clearly indicated they want change for the better and which have by and large rejected race itself as an issue.

It reflects a belligerent, biased, boorish and childish response to election results by influential quarters, including ministers, a former prominent judge, Utusan Malaysia editors and others who have successfully drowned out a few reasonable voices within Umno and hijacked the so-called reconciliation process post-elections.

Persisting with these actions has not only put paid to the reconciliation process but unnecessarily raised tensions among all people. This may have been the intention of those who raised these issues in such a manner in the hope of keeping themselves and their ilk in power by perpetuating fear.

But in the end, those who play with fire are likely to burn themselves. Malaysians are already aware that the race card is repeatedly played to trump all manner of ills facing Malaysia, and especially Umno and BN patronage, corruption and cronyism which lead to a plethora of social ills.

If Umno goes on along this line and if the government machinery, including the police, continue to selectively prosecute only those opposed to them, they can expect a severe backlash from the electorate five or less years down the line. Continue reading “Regressive polls reactions”

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Immigration DG Alias Ahmad should be censured for professional negligence and ineptitude for allowing six days to pass before clarifying misquote

The Immigration Director-General Alias Ahmad should be censured for professional negligence and ineptitude for allowing six days to pass before clarifying that he had been misquoted about invoking a non-existing law to revoke passports of dissenting Malaysians.

Six days ago on 27th May, 2013, Berita Harian reported that Malaysians living abroad who participate in anti-government activities and activities to tarnish Malaysia’s image may be barred from returning home.

Alias was quoted as saying that his department is obliged to do so under Section 8 of the Immigration Act 1959/1963 and that actions that can be taken include blacklisting those involved in such activities and cancelling their passports for a period of three to five years.

Responding to Berita Harian’s question on actions to be taken against Malaysians studying abroad who participated in demonstrations to protest against alleged fraud in the May 5 general election, Alias said: “We are waiting for Wisma Putra’s report regarding Malaysians doing such things while abroad”.

When the Berita Harian report of Alias’ statement was picked up by Malaysiakini on the same day, I checked Section 8 of the Immigration Act 1959/1963 and found that the Immigration Director-General was talking rubbish, as Section 8 was about “Prohibited Immigrants”.

I found it totally irresponsible, unprofessional and unethical that Alias never sought to clarify the mischievous Berita Harian report in the ensuing days, not only that Section 8 of the Immigration Act does not empower the government to cancel any Malaysian passport from three to five years of any dissenting Malaysian abroad, but failing to correct the impression that the Malaysian government is cruel, callous and heartless to the extent that it could willy-nilly cancel passports of Malaysians abroad to render them “stateless” in foreign lands! Continue reading “Immigration DG Alias Ahmad should be censured for professional negligence and ineptitude for allowing six days to pass before clarifying misquote”

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Bawang: Red Bean Army reveals secret battle with Tau Foo Fah

By Terence Toh | May 30, 2013
Poskod.My

“Great Dessert War” originated over a fight over which side was more delicious, soldier reveals.

Red Bean Army

SUNGAI NIBONG: The so-called Red Bean Army was formed to launch a secret invasion on the Tau Foo Fah Kingdom, a soldier revealed yesterday.

In an exclusive interview, Sergeant Bobo Cha Cha, 43, shared that the army had drafted over 40,000 cyber-troopers, storm troopers, paratroopers and super troopers in a non-stop attack on the Kingdom.

“We were just boys when they recruited us.” A visibly emotional Bobo said. “Barely out of school. They took away our books, and pressed bean rifles and sweet potato grenades into our hands.”

“I’ve seen some horrible things. I wake up screaming in the night, remembering my friends, who were caught in the ruthless gula melaka bombings. One time, we were ambushed by syrup canons. We were forced to retreat.. and we ran right into their atapchi mines. Prisoners of war were forced to endless portions of tau foo fah.”

Bobo added that while their enemies were vicious, it was their superiors whom he and his fellow soldiers particularly hated, due to their utter disregard for their troopers’ well-being. Bobo then rolled up his trouser leg to reveal a prosthetic left foot.
Continue reading “Bawang: Red Bean Army reveals secret battle with Tau Foo Fah”

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UMNO/BN “war room” strategists and propagandists thought rakyat are suckers but it is UMNO/BN leaders like Zahid who prove to be real “suckers”

The 13GE UMNO/BN “war room” strategists and propagandists thought the rakyat are suckers who could easily fall victim to their lies and falsehoods concocted about the DAP and Pakatan Rakyat, but it is UMNO/BN leaders like the UMNO Vice President and new Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr. Zahid Hamidi who prove to be the real “suckers”.

Before I am accused of using foul or indecent language, let me give one definition of “sucker” which is “Informal. a person easily cheated, deceived, or imposed upon.” http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/suckers?s=t

A case in point is the lies the UMNO/BN “war room” strategists and propagandists concoct and weave about the DAP’s so-called “Red Bean Army” of cybertroopers to demonise the Umno/Barisan Nasional leaders.

The trouble about the allegations about the so-called DAP’s “Red Bean Army” of cybertroopers is that they are so wild and reckless that there is no effort on the part of the UMNO/BN “war room” strategists and propagandists to present a consistent and credible version. Continue reading “UMNO/BN “war room” strategists and propagandists thought rakyat are suckers but it is UMNO/BN leaders like Zahid who prove to be real “suckers””

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Zahid best example of being “own victim” of UMNO/BN 13GE “war room” lies about DAP spending more than a billion ringgit in past six years to employ 3,000-strong “Red Bean Army” cybertroopers to demonise him and other UMNO/BN leaders

The new Home Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is the best example of being “own victim” of the lies of UMNO/BN 13GE “war room” about DAP spending more than a billion ringgit in past six years to employ a 3,000-strong “Red Bean Army” of cybertroopers to demonise him and other UMNO/BN leaders.

This is again illustrated by today’s Utusan Malaysia, one of the chief instruments of UMNO/BN propangada in the 13GE, which carried a report headlined “Red Bean Army serang kerajaan – Ekoran DAP gagal peroleh kuasa di Putrajaya”, which states:

“Kuala Lumpur 27 Mei – Kecaman serta penghinaan berterusan yang dihamburkan oleh Red Bean Army terhadap kerajaan jelas membuktikan tentera siber DAP itu gagal menutup rasa kecewa kerana tidak berjaya memperoleh ‘kuasa’ di Putrajaya.

“Menteri Dalam Negeri, Datuk Seri Dr. Ahmad Zahid Hamidi berkata, walaupun beliau sendiri tidak terlepas daripada serangan tentera siber berkenaan, perkara itu adalah lumrah bagi mereka yang bergelar ahli politik.

“Meskipun tidak menyatakan bentuk tindakan yang akan diambil terhadap pihak terbabit, beliau dengan nada sinis memberitahu, mereka merupakan jenis manusia yang hanya tahu menyalahkan pihak lain berbanding diri sendiri.”

I do not believe Zahid suffers from any hallucination about the DAP spending more than a billion ringgit in the past six years to employ a 3,000-strong “Red Bean Army” of cybertroopers to demonise him and other Umno/BN leaders.

The kindest thing one can say about Zahid is to regard him as an “own victim” of UMNO/BN 13GE “war room” lies about DAP spending more than a billion ringgit in the past six years to employ 3,000-strong “Red Bean Army” cybertroopers to demonise him and other UMNO/BN leaders. Continue reading “Zahid best example of being “own victim” of UMNO/BN 13GE “war room” lies about DAP spending more than a billion ringgit in past six years to employ 3,000-strong “Red Bean Army” cybertroopers to demonise him and other UMNO/BN leaders”

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Claims that DAP spends RM108 million in past six years to employ a 200-strong Red Bean Army of cybertroopers a total figment of imagination of Utusan Malaysia and failed UMNO/BN propagandists

Yesterday, the UMNO “lies-paper” Utusan Malaysia front-paged “Perangi Red Bean Army – Pelbagai pihak gesa kerajaan pinda Akta Komunikasi dan Multimedia” while today another UMNO mouthpiece New Straits Times headlined “’Anwar using Red Bean Army to incite hatred’”.

Suddenly, the “Red Bean Army” has become the vogue of attack of the gutter press of UMNO/BN.

Even the truculent and belligerent new Home Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was roped into the propaganda “circus” with him declaring that the Home Ministry, via the police, will work together with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) as well as Malaysian CyberSecurityj to check immediately the channelling of contents by certain cybertrooper groups which violate social media laws.

How much I had wished that the police, the MCMC and Malaysian CyberSecurity had identified the culprits and cleaned up the racism and poison spewed by UMNO/Barisan Nasional cybertroopers on the Internet during the 13th general elections, in particular those which had targetted me and the DAP as either having caused the May 13 riots in 1969, or all the lies and falsehoods to paint a picture that I am anti-Malay, anti-Islam and anti-Malay Rulers.

But absolutely nothing had been done. Continue reading “Claims that DAP spends RM108 million in past six years to employ a 200-strong Red Bean Army of cybertroopers a total figment of imagination of Utusan Malaysia and failed UMNO/BN propagandists”

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Now anybody can stop reading Utusan Malaysia

— Mustafa K. Anuar
The Malaysian Insider
May 24, 2013

MAY 24 — The excessive reaction resorted to by Utusan Malaysia and other Malay-based groups over the fair criticism made by AirAsia X chief executive Azran Osman Rani is disturbing and worrying.

Azran had criticised what he rightly considered to be a racial slur in the daily’s post-general election coverage.

Utusan Malaysia columnist “Awang Selamat” even threatened that the daily would not hesitate to punish AirAsia by not accepting the budget airline’s advertisements.

Such a knee-jerk reaction sadly reveals an alarming inability and incapacity — displayed by the daily and other quarters concerned — to accept and appreciate the legitimacy of differing opinions and dissent in a democracy. Such behaviour suggests that there’s only one way of looking at things in Malaysia, and that is a perspective that necessarily aligns itself with that of Utusan Malaysia and its political masters — which must be denounced as bunkum.

Equally disconcerting is that this issue erroneously suggests that a Malay individual who holds an opinion that runs counter to that of the Malay daily and its political owners, i.e. Umno Baru, is regarded as having betrayed his/her own ethnic community. Continue reading “Now anybody can stop reading Utusan Malaysia”

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Utusan On War Path?

(Adoimagazine.com) – The Hammer
22 May 2013

It still puzzles me how Utusan Malaysia has censured AirAsia X CEO Azran Osman-Rani for his comments regarding the newspaper’s headline recently post General Elections 2013.

Now Utusan refuses to accept any ads from AirAsia until Azran apologizes; Azran had earlier threatened to pull out all ads from Utusan.

All this seems a little pointless to me.

Because for the whole of last year AirAsia spent slightly over half a million Ringgit on advertising in Utusan. And when you look at the paltry RM10,000 they forked out for Kosmo, Utusan’s sister publication, these are just drops in the ocean.

In fact, AirAsia spent more than RM700,000 with competitor Berita Harian last year.

However, these are Nielsen ad tracking figures based on published rates, which also means AirAsia’s spend is very much lower than stated above.

But what really puzzles me is why a newspaper that has been experiencing a decline in readership and diminishing advertising revenue in recent years can be so bold and
blacklist an advertiser in clear daylight. Sources say that it is a tit-for-tat reaction to Azlan’s earlier threat. Continue reading “Utusan On War Path?”

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After GE13, what changed, and the status quo

— The Malaysian Insider
May 23, 2013

MAY 23 — Now that the dust has settled after GE13 and the Malaysian Cabinet has been named, it is time to test the pulse in the country and figure out what has changed and what has not changed.

What has changed?

● Umno and Barisan Nasional’s armour of invincibility and sense of confidence

Nothing punctures confidence and self-belief than the fact that most voters gave their support to Pakatan Rakyat. The official spin is that the Chinese betrayed BN but that party line suits a national leadership looking to absolve itself from any blame. Fact is that many Malaysians were unwilling to trade their precious vote for temporary gratification.

● Fear factor gone forever
There was a time when a police threat or a warning about a repeat of May 13 would have kept Malaysians indoors. Not anymore, it seems.

Thousands have defied threats to attend post-election rallies in Selangor, Penang, Johor, Kedah and have done so in an orderly manner. In fact, participants of different races have come away from these gatherings feeling as one. Continue reading “After GE13, what changed, and the status quo”

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Why, Prime Minister?

by Zaid Ibrahim
May 14, 2013

I have never seen as many vile and seditious statements invading the public sphere as I have in this past week. We’ve had Utusan Malaysia provoking the Chinese for rejecting the Barisan Nasional and UMNO leaders labeling non-UMNO Malays as greedy and easily misled. An academic suggested the abolishment of vernacular schools to encourage unity among the races and an old “historian” said that the Chinese are not actually keen on unity. To cap it off, a retired Court of Appeal judge practically made a call for “restoring” Malay rights and dignity by whatever means.

I never realised that retired judges are also involved in part-time politics, although I believe this case to be a serious aberration. In the meantime, have we heard anything from the Prime Minister expressing regret for these statements? Perhaps a promise to take some action to stop this dangerous game of provocation? None whatsoever; in fact, he defended Utusan by saying Chinese newspapers are playing the same game.

Is this the kind of Prime Minister we want? Certainly not. I have been very patient with him, as have so many Malaysians. We have always given him extra room to breathe because we thought he was surrounded by the worse ultras in UMNO. We allowed him to dabble in “double speak” because we thought it was necessary for him to maintain his equilibrium as UMNO President. But enough is enough. This man has to go. He is afraid to do the right thing for the country. His 1Malaysia is a sham. I blame him for allowing this mad, racist frenzy to pander to UMNO delegates so he can retain power at the party elections at the end of the year.

His conduct is inexcusable. Continue reading “Why, Prime Minister?”

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Cabinet ministers and spin

The Malaysian Insider
May 17, 2013

MAY 17 — The new Cabinet is not even 48 hours old and one can already see some of them sketching out an alternative reality of Malaysia.

In the last 10 days, the new Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has had the task of being the government’s spokesman with the foreign media — burnishing Malaysia’s image despite the rancour in local newspapers.

In an interview published by The Australian daily yesterday, Khairy spoke of a discernible change “among the Chinese community, particularly” and the urban middle class, pointing there had been internal discussions on engaging the Chinese community to understand the protest vote.

Sure. Tell that to Umno, Umno bloggers and Umno newspaper Utusan Malaysia which have been unrelenting in hammering the Chinese and those who voted against Barisan Nasional (BN).

If that is engaging the Chinese and others, it must be a new and sophisticated way of pummelling people into submission. Continue reading “Cabinet ministers and spin”

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Malaysia’s election – A dangerous result

The Economist
May 11th 2013 |From the print edition

After a tainted election victory, Najib Razak needs to show his reformist mettle

AT FIRST sight, the general election in Malaysia on May 5th, the closest-fought since independence in 1957, looks encouraging. A lively campaign inspired a remarkable turnout of 85% of the country’s 13.3m voters. The government’s victory seems recognition of Malaysia’s solid economic performance and of the progressive reforms introduced by Najib Razak, the prime minister. He has repealed some oppressive, colonial-era laws. He has even begun to dismantle the affirmative-action policies favouring the ethnic-Malay majority over Chinese Malaysians (about a quarter of the population) and Indians (8%). Those policies are at the root of the corruption and cronyism poisoning Malaysian society.

Look again, however, and Malaysian politics seems near breakdown. The opposition coalition led by Anwar Ibrahim alleges electoral fraud and has refused to accept the result. Whether that is true or not, it is certain that the ruling coalition, Barisan Nasional, has huge inbuilt advantages. Gerrymandered constituencies meant that with less than 47% of the popular vote, its worst-ever electoral performance, it still won 60% of the 222 parliamentary seats. The state has dispensed cash handouts and other goodies, while much of the civil service works as a party-political tool, and the election commission has long brushed aside allegations of malfeasance. Add in an obsequious mainstream media, and it is rather remarkable that so many Barisan Nasional campaigners still felt the need to resort to blatant vote-buying. Continue reading “Malaysia’s election – A dangerous result”

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Malaysia’s general election – Tawdry victory

The Economist
May 11th 2013 | KUALA LUMPUR |From the print edition

The government scrapes home—allegedly aided by vote rigging

ON MAY 5th Malaysia’s Barisan Nasional coalition, led by the prime minister, Najib Razak, was re-elected for the 13th time in a row. Barisan won a majority of seats in parliament, 133 out of 222, against 89 for the opposition, a three-party coalition called Pakatan Rakyat and led by Anwar Ibrahim. The turnout was a record 85%. And so the same government which has ruled Malaysia since independence from Britain in 1957 is set for another five years in office.

Within Barisan, the overriding sense is of relief. It did slightly better in terms of seats than some had predicted. Scratch the surface, however, and in almost every respect this was a lamentable result for the ruling coalition, its worst ever. Not only did it lose a further seven seats to Pakatan, but it won with only 47% of the popular vote. It is further evidence of how the electoral system is skewed in Barisan’s favour, allowing it to stack up seats in the rural Malay heartlands with far fewer voters than Pakatan needs to win seats in more urban areas. In many places the opposition increased large majorities. For instance, in Penang in the north of the country the Barisan defeat was so humiliating that its candidate for governor, Teng Chang Yeow, resigned from all his party posts. Several government ministers lost their seats.

Most striking was that ethnic Chinese (about a quarter of the population) shifted their votes away from Barisan towards the opposition. The Chinese party of the Barisan coalition, the Malaysian Chinese Association, won just seven seats, down from 15, whereas the opposition’s mainly Chinese Democratic Action Party (DAP) picked up ten seats, for a final tally of 38. Continue reading “Malaysia’s general election – Tawdry victory”

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What more does Kit Siang want? At least five things – clean, free and fair elections; Malaysia as a normal democratic country; restoration of rule of law; world-class education and a safe, green, healthy and united Malaysia

Utusan Malaysia today carried its campaign to demonise me as an ogre and monster to a new height when in its main article on its editorial page by its senior editor Zulkiflee Bakar, posed the question: “Apa lagi Kit Siang mahu?”, launched a series of baseless attacks and insinuations against me.

Let me first answer the Utusan question: “Apa lagi Kit Siang mahu?”

My answer is: At least five thing – a clean, free and fair elections; Malaysia as a normal democratic country; restoration of rule of law; world-class education and a safe, green, healthy and united Malaysia.

If there is a clean, free and fair elections system, the Prime Minister in Malaysia today after the 13th general elections is Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and not Datuk Seri Najib Razak, as Pakatan Rakyat would have no difficulty in winning 125 parliamentary seats distributed among PKR 45, PAS and DAP 40 each with a comfortable majority of 28 out of 222 parliamentary seats.

Even despite the dirtiest election in the nation’s history, with UMNO/BN resorting to three main dishonest and unscrupulous strategies of “Money Money Money”, “Lies Lies Lies” and “Fear Fear Fear”, Najib is a minority Prime Minister winning only 47% of the popular vote while Anwar and Pakatan Raykat won the majority of the 51% popular vote, first time in the nation’s 56-year history of 13 general elections.
Continue reading “What more does Kit Siang want? At least five things – clean, free and fair elections; Malaysia as a normal democratic country; restoration of rule of law; world-class education and a safe, green, healthy and united Malaysia”

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Can’t divide and rule, dear PM

— Fikry Osman
The Malaysian Insider
May 12, 2013

MAY 12 — One week after GE13, you get the feeling that some Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders, especially in Umno, are in denial about what went wrong with their campaign.

Instead, they first blamed it on the Chinese for rejecting them, and then told the Chinese they were stupid enough to be duped by the DAP into rejecting them. In not so many words, the Chinese are ungrateful and stupid.

“Umno was not defeated, in fact it added more seats. If not for some quarters playing race issues, we would have won more seats,” Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Razak said in his speech at the party’s 67th anniversary celebration at the Putra World Trade Centre here last night

“We are not a racist party, we are a party that is moderate. We have been serving other races for a long time,” he added.

One of the harsh realities of the new world is this: you cannot tailor your message to different race groups and get away with it.

Umno and BN tried that in Election 2013 and failed, Umno’s Utusan Malaysia tried to scare people with DAP being the master and PAS the puppet, while MCA’s The Star did the opposite.

The NST, well, it couldn’t do really much because its sales and readership, is shrinking and it could only rely on bloggers for its news content. Continue reading “Can’t divide and rule, dear PM”

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The Star and being Malaysian

― The Malaysian Insider
May 10, 2013

MAY 10 ― Nothing is more nauseating than hypocrisy.

After weeks and months of driving a wedge between races in Malaysia and contributing to the “Chinese tsunami” myth in its coverage, The Star has now decided it is time for reconciliation and unity.

So, today, it has a front page montage of many happy faces of Malaysians, topped off with a headline “We are Malaysia”.

Are we now expected to forget the attempts by The Star and its owner MCA to pit Muslims against non-Muslims through its hudud-bashing articles and advertisements? Didn’t they realise that the hudud bashing was offensive to Muslims and other God-fearing people? Didn’t the editors bother about national unity then?

Are we expected to suffer from amnesia and forget reports by The Star’s editors and columnists aimed at portraying the DAP as a chauvinist party and PAS, extremists?

Now that its slavish adherence to MCA’s strategy has resulted in a near-complete rejection by Malaysians, the party-owned newspaper has decided to play the unity card and talk up reconciliation. Continue reading “The Star and being Malaysian”

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Rapprochement tough after BN’s ‘divisive’ campaign, says The Economist

By Clara Chooi
The Malaysian Insider
May 10, 2013

KUALA LUMPUR, May 10 ― National reconciliation appears a distant dream post-Election 2013 for a country scarred by the “nasty, divisive” electoral campaign led by Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN) in the rural heartlands, The Economist has said.

The international current affairs magazine observed that Umno, to shore up its base of rural Malay voters, had alienated the Chinese and other communities already fed up with the alleged cronyism and corruption associated with affirmative action policies that favour the country’s largest ethnic group.

“Mr Najib has said he wants to be prime minister for all Malaysians. Sadly, however, he presided over an ugly campaign by his… Umno, the main component of Barisan,” the magazine wrote, referring to Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who was sworn in for his second term as prime minister after BN emerged victors again for its 13th general election running.

“In the rural Malay heartlands, Umno was as negative, racially divisive and pro-Malay as ever,” it added.

Adding salt to wound, The Economist said blaming BN’s losses on a “Chinese tsunami” had been unwise of Najib as the vote trend had clearly shown a massive swing in votes from the young and rising urban middle class, which cut across racial lines.

“Casting the election in such racial terms is neither wise nor accurate,” the magazine wrote in one article titled “A dangerous result”. Continue reading “Rapprochement tough after BN’s ‘divisive’ campaign, says The Economist”