31 august 2008, 1 Ramadhan 1429

I feel a bit down today. Amongst the reasons is when i read the newspapers its really depressing, i dont know if others have the same observation-the star is actually a very racist paper, i have notice over the years that they would highlight apparent weaknesses of Malays and Muslims and glorify sucesseses of other races particularly of the Chinese. Its done quite subtly but the message is clear. Wonder if there are people monitoring them and taking note of the prejudices that they write in the print. The NST is no better, they are too pro-establishment and do not write objectively. The Malay newspaper are just as bad or worse,they might as well label themselves Utusan Umno and Berita Umno-other than that the intellectual content is less than 10%.

Im afraid that the Malays are not being projected correctly because the mainstream newspapers are either too concern about protecting their political or have their own hidden agenda (the Star). I do believe most Malaysians are disgusted with the print media,but the only alternative is the electronic media( i mean the internet) which is more free ( too free ? ) but not widely read enough, at least the reader can get different views. One thing for certain most Malaysians agree is that the country is going thru a very significant phase of Nation bulding.

This is where the role of the Media becomes important, to educate the public that all of us wants peace,wants accountability and that each of us should respect differing views,without giving the impression that ones view is superior to the others. Therefore news should be reported objectively and all views should be allowed equall space and time. If Sisters in Islam can be given space to air their view ( n projected positively-liberal etc) then views of muslimah must be projected positively too-but more often than not the Islamic point of view is always potrayed in a very negative way ( conservative,narrow world view etc). There are weaknesses in the way Islamic law is carried out in this country,the problem is not Islamic Law,but the implementors and the weaknesses in the system.

Im not doing justice to this discussion, it actually deserves more time and lenghty writings to discuss how the media can be a very positive tool for nation building. i pray and hope that the current young writers( and future leaders ) of all races in Malaysia will be able to find a way to work towards building a responsible and objective media vis a vis a truly Malaysian Malaysia.

Selamat menyambut hari kemerdekaan !! and to my muslims brothers and sisters selamat mengerjakan ibadah berpuasa in the coming ramadhan.

Salams...