What do the recent attacks on Malaysiakini, the Federal Court, Teresa Kok and Comango tell us about what is going on in Malaysia? And how do we know that these attacks constitute an attempt at nurturing anarchy in the country?
Utusan Malaysia
The cost of saving Utusan
Shape of a Pocket by Jacqueline Ann Surin
IS there any incentive for Utusan Malaysia to stop reporting in a way that is racially polarising, defamatory and damaging to the nation? It would seem that the answer is ‘no’, not when Umno wants to bail out the ethno-nationalist paper, even at a cost to public interest and the nation.
Wishing for another 13 May
Shape of a Pocket by Jacqueline Ann Surin
There are groups who seem to be spoiling for another 13 May to happen in Malaysia. Whether they are politicians from Umno or non-state actors, the signs are mounting that another racial clash is what these individuals and groups want to have happen. What are these signs?
Uncommon Sense with Wong Chin Huat: Beyond GE13 (Part 1)
By Ding Jo-Ann
AND so the BN is still in power. Those hoping for a change in government are still coming to terms with the results of GE13. The Nut Graph asks political scientist Wong Chin Huat how the BN won, why it would racialise the poll results, and what needs to happen next.
Could hudud be a reality?
By Ding Jo-AnnThe BN attacks on PAS’s hudud agenda involve scaremongering of the worst kind. BN’s alarmist politics aside, can hudud law actually become a reality for Malaysians? And how likely is it that it will be implemented in the near future?
The print media’s failures in Bersih 3.0
By Ding Jo-Ann
IT’S been all about Bersih 3.0 this past week. Stories, tweets, photographs and videos have been shared. And numerous reports have been published by the national press. And yet, anybody reading just the national print media would be left with an incomplete picture of one of the most historic moments in Malaysia’s political development. Ding Jo-Ann shows how the press in Malaysia failed readers in their coverage of Bersih 3.0.
Insulting Muslims 101
Shape of a Pocket by Jacqueline Ann Surin
HOW does one insult Islam in Malaysia? And how does one insult Muslims in Malaysia? Over the past few years and increasingly over the past months, the state, politicians and pressure groups like Perkasa have demonstrated just how to do either one or both. For the most part, these incidents are an insult to Muslims […]
Theories of Bersih 2.0
By Ding Jo-Ann
The Bersih 2.0 9 July 2011 march drew thousands of Malaysians onto Kuala Lumpur’s streets to call for clean and fair elections. But according to Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders, the government-controlled press and the authorities, that’s not what the march was really about. In the aftermath of the Bersih march, The Nut Graph summarises some of the more popular theories by Bersih’s detractors of why it actually organised the march.
Perception vs reality: Who’s telling the truth?
Shape of a Pocket by Jacqueline Ann Surin
WHEN Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi declared that the new media was negatively spinning issues about the government, perhaps he was referring to examples such as this YouTube video by nasilemak2020. I’m certain the Umno vice-president, who is also defence minister, also had other examples in mind when he called on Umno cybertroopers to […]
Uncommon Sense with Wong Chin Huat: Government and the media
By Ding Jo-Ann
*Corrected on 31 May 2011, 10.30am: This was earlier published as “partly free”. THE Barisan Nasional (BN) government is hardly an exemplary proponent of press freedom. Its wide ownership and control of much of the Malaysian press probably contributed to Malaysia’s “not free”* rating in a recent survey by Freedom House, a global press watchdog. […]
