Saturday, November 25, 2006

Criticize Us, Najib tells Newspapers

"Leaders are only humans and if there is nobody to criticise us, then we may be carried away by our positions.In a democratic system, our fate lies in the hands of the people, as such it is best to be corrected early rather than be rejected by the people later." - the Deputy Prime Minister
But can the watchdogs still bark? Rather liberal of the DPM to ask the mainstream media to criticize the government. It's what the media are made for but will the editors rise to the challenge? Do they have what it takes to criticize and criticize constructively?
Click here for Mohd Najib Abdul Razak's invitation to treat.

20 comments:

  1. Anonymous11:05 pm

    This blog is yours brader, so its solely up to you what you want it to be, as long as you can draw the attention either as many as possible members of the public or peoples that matters, whoever and where ever they are.

    Suka atau tidak, kewartawanan akhbar di Malaysia sudah hampir mati. Ia tinggal nafas-nafas ikan. Saya baru bertemu seorang wartawan muda yang diperkenalkan kepada saya pada perhimpunan agung Umno yang lalu. Saya memberitahunya mengenai satu isu perbahasan yang agak menarik ditulisnya. Dia menjawab, tak perlu tulis isu itu sebab pengarang dia tidak akan menyiarkannya. Maka, timbul persoalan jika seorang wartawan yang hanya setahun jagung dalam dunia kewartawanan sudah boleh membaca keputusan dan fikiran pengarangnya, dia adalah wartawan yang amat hebat. Bagaimana seorang wartawan boleh menapis maklumat (self-censorship}tanpa perlu menulisnya dan menyerahkan kepada pengarangnya terlebih dahulu?. Wartawan ini sudah meletakkan dirinya sebagai seorang pengarang. Kalau kiamat ada tanda-tandanya, maka ini pula adalah petanda awal kehancuran dunia kewartawanan. Self-censorship memang wujud tetapi tahap hari ini sudah parah akibat munculnya pengarang-pengarang yang bersetuju dengan tindakan wartawan mereka.
    Saya juga tidak lagi melihat tulisan-tulisan yang boleh dianggap sebagai tulisan seorang pengarang yang prolifik, tulisan yang boleh dijadikan renungan untuk mengasah minda. Di mana pengarang besar yang mengulas mengenai perhimpunan agung Umno. Mengapa wartawan saja yang menganalisi suatu peristiwa yang begitu bermakna bagi orang Melayu. Pengarang hari ini jenis pengarang cari makan dan jaga diri, menyebabkan mereka langsung tidak mengasaah minda mereka. Mungkin mereka belajar dari keberanian pengarang-pengarang terdahulu yang dibuang kerana tulisan mereka yang menyinggung sesiapa juga. Sebenarnya, inilah salah satu prasyarat untuk menjadi pengarang. Kalau sekadar berfungsi menyunting berita dan rencana dan membuang apa juga isi yang boleh menyebabkan dirinya dipersalahkan dan tersingkir, lebih baiklah tinggalkan dunia kewartawanan. Pengarang yang tahu tanggungjawabnya, WAJIB mengeluarkan idea mengenai perkara-perkara atau isu yang menjadi persoalan semasa. Pengarang tidak boleh sekadar melihat dan memekakkan telinga, jika mereka faham fungsi media sebagai watchdog. Di mana-mana juga akhbar dikawal tetapi pengarang tetap menjalankan tugas mereka sebagai pengarang yang bermaruah.

    Untungnya hari ini, ada bloggers. Menariknya mengenai tulisan di blog-blog begini ialah mereka boleh memainkan peranan akhbar perdana. Ada 9 juta bloggers di dunia hari ini yang boleh memberi kesan kepada edaran media. Secara ekstremnya, hari ini orang ramai tidak memerlukan akhbar lagi. Jika membaca tujuh atau lapan blog-blog yang sedia ada, anda sudah cukup maklumat untuk menghadapi dunia luar. Sudah ada blog berbicara mengenai politik, hal ehwal semasa dan Pahit Manis pula dengan cerita-cerita masyarakatnya. Jika selepas ini ada blog yang menulis mengenai ekonomi, jenayah, mahkamah, sukan dan sebagainya, ia sudah lengkap sebagai pencarian maklumat. Pengarang-pengarang akhbar perlu ingat, saingan anda bukan lagi pengarang-pengarang kaunterpart anda, tetapi bloggers yang sentiasa melihat kelemahan anda, sekiranya mereka masih membaca akhbar.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous11:36 pm

    is najib having a laugh?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous2:39 am

    Bru,
    It's good for the DPM to tell the media to citicise the Govt. But this has to be substantiated lah. If someone likeMukriz opens his mouth and give his opinion such as the one he did at the Umno assembly, then the whole gang jumped on him. Ok lah, you can say that Mukriz was criticizing his party boss. So does this mean the party boss can't be criticised? That no other views are welcomed?

    Macam mana ni Pak Najib? Or are you saying one thing but your boss says another!

    But then again, most if not all of today's media bosses are no longer giving a different view other than those echoing the govt. These editors are either promoting their own businesses, are afraid, or simply indifferent.

    ReplyDelete
  4. If NTR can get the mainstream papers to allow 'letters to the editor' section to include dissenting views from the public, he'd achieve a better result than to try and get back the horse which has bolted out of the barn into cyber ranch.

    On the other hand, if a certain a** of a donkey helming a particular english paper decides to high-tail out and retire in RedDotCom, it will be a step in the right direction for the fourth estate.

    Wonder if NTR have had a chat with his boss or will he be hauled up for making an audacious request.

    AAB: What were you thinking?
    NTR: Sorry, boss. I wasn't. Thinking, that is. UMNO GA syndrome still on overdrive.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous3:33 am

    How original!!! Najid can say whatever he wants, but does anyone believes him? Or is this just another pawn move in the game of political chess? Consider who has the de facto control of the newspapers, then we might begin to appreciate the implication of that statement. Who is going for the checkmate?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous4:02 am

    Bro Rocky

    Please do not take Najib and I Do Not Know PM seriosuly when it comes to invitation to criticise. They are just paying lip service to make the rakyat happy only. In actual fact, they abhored public criticisms of any kind. That's why Dato Mukhris had to apologise and face teh UMNO youth, the ba## carrier.

    If they are serious about acccepting criticisms with an open heart then why are the UMNO leaders especially Mr I Do Not Know PM were deadly against what TUn had been saying, to which they had not replied. They went on a character assination campaign agaisnt Tun in the NST and otehr papers including the Star - with the help of Wong Chun Wai.

    DPM please stop humouring us so much with your statement. We feel sick when we read such statemetn from BN leaders. Stop being a hypocrite.

    DPM and your boss, the Mr I Do NOt Know PM, are agaisnt free speech unless praising him, Khairy and Kalimulah.

    Mr I Do Not Know PM, please watch out the Rakyat will get rid of you in the next General Elections together with your son-in-law, Kalimullah and your other cronies..

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous4:14 am

    if the DPM is really serious and meant what he said...then full marks to him.

    it would really be ironic if this were true because the very people the "blog" community has been accusing of being very "sensitive" to criticism have come full circle to prove this "community" wrong.

    and the greatest irony is that I've been "blocked out" by Jeffooi.com!

    and why? you might ask?

    no, I didn't use foul language nor did I slander anybody...

    all I did was to "prove" to the writer that he "got it wrong!" (a bit of an understatement on my part.)

    talk about being "thin-skinned!"

    go
    here
    and decide for yourself.

    so, to all you "commentators" out there...remember the saying "beware of wolves in sheep's clothing!"

    there is also the Malay proverb "jangan kerana nyamuk kelambu dibakar."

    personally...I think it would be better to use a mosquito repellent!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous7:42 am

    Alahai Tok Najib. Betul ke boleh kritik?

    Jangan hanya cakap di mulut saja.

    Will the pembesar2 Umno welcome yr suggestion, Dato?

    Don’t think so, judging from
    what Pemuda is doing to Dato
    Mukhriz – yg dikecam & dihentam
    kerana memberi pendapat berlainan
    dari ahli2 Umno mengenai ucapan
    Pak lah.

    Tak puas dengan kenyataan Mukhriz yg mengatakan beliau menyesal, kini beliau dikehendakki berhadapan dengn sepupu Dato, Kerishamuddin, serta exco Pemuda
    pada 30 Nov untuk menjelaskani pendirian beliau.

    So Dato, masih boleh kritik para pembesar Umno & Kerajaan secara "konstruktif" ke?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous8:01 am

    Talk is cheap, Dato.

    We'll see if you mean what you say - not mere rhetorics - and not another "cakap tak serupa bikin."

    ReplyDelete
  10. Is the DPM inviting criticism from bloggers too?

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous3:42 pm

    Hahahahahahaha Rakyat Biasa -- Kerishammuddin!

    Very original.

    Najib apa pula?

    Dia pun pernah cabut keris.

    KerisNa?

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous4:53 pm

    Najib is playing the sandiwara and he must be a joker in the eyes of Malaysians.He knew that the entire machine of UMNO's youth would do the opposite if anyone dares to criticise the government.Umno is like the Jekyll and Hyde and only fool would believe them.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous6:26 pm

    critcise us? is najib having a laugh? or is najib having a giraffe? as we would say in cockney slang here in london.

    through what? the NST?

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous8:33 pm

    All of you,
    I don't see it as an invitation to criticize. I see it as a challenge to all editors of the mainstream media to recover its soul and its spirit as, aptly put by bro Rocky, watchdog of government. You cannot fault a man for throwing a challenge. I think Najib the DPM should be hailed for making that point, for reminding the media of its forgotten responsibility.
    The STAR, Nst, Sun, Berita, Utusan, Bernama and the others, including the many radio stations, RTM and the private tv stations, Astro included. You are all mainstream media and you have not been doing your job. Basically, that's what the DPM is saying: you guys have been shirking your duties.
    Three years. Pak Lah our PM has been PM for three years. Enough of those sugar-coated news and commentaries about how great Pak Lah's intentions are and how good the man's heart is. It is time to get things moving, it is time to get Pak Lah to really start delivering.
    That is what the DPM is saying.
    Look at the New Sunday Times today. Still trying to spin issues to make the Prime Minister look holy and good. Come of it! The paper should praise him for throwing that wet blanket over the Umno big-mouths at the general assembly but surely, surely, Pak Lah ought to be told that the monkeys should be thrown back into the cage, not OUT OF THE CAGE (which happens - sorry Rocky - to be the PM's son-in-law's column in the paper!).

    It's up to the editors of these mainstream media. As I see it, the DPM has given them a great chance at redeeming themselves. If they don't take this opportunity, then nobody can fault them if in the future the government and the so-called political masters of these editors expect them to polish their shoes all the time.

    ReplyDelete
  15. What Najib said is for kampong folks consumption. It will be real foolish to believe him.
    Even the previous prime minster has been ostracised for criticizing the government and his comments completely blacked out by the media, both electronic and print.
    Najib, do yot think we are that gullible?

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous9:25 pm

    Bru, kalau kita tak bertanggungjawab, kita biarkan saja apa yang berlaku di dalam media hari ini. Biarkan bila sampai masanya kerajaan akan terperanjat dengan tindakan rakyat. Buat apa nak tegur pada orang yang degil atau bodoh sonbong..edia di negara ini dah layu. Apabila Khalid Mohd tidak menulis lagi kita pasti tau apa sebabnya. Editor surat khabar lain tak tulis pun tak apa sebab tulisan mereka tak menggambarkan kematangan daya fikir. Sebagai editor. Kepada Dato Najib kita nak bagi tai bahawa perbezaan pandangan adalah baik. Kalau dengar lagu Siti Nurhaliza saja pun, tentulah jemu juga. Walau pun ramai suka suara dia, ramai juga yang tak suka. Begitulah juga dalam politik. Jadi jangan sensitif bila ada orang kritik pemimpin.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous10:06 pm

    yaanaamsidi, i have heard of Datuk Kalid Mohd from Utusan. it was said that he was quite a critic of the government and of Dr Mahathir when he was the Prime Minister. could it be that he has stopped writing because he does not agree with the current Prime Minister? or he is not allowed to criticize? what are you implying, Sir?

    if an editor is off tangent with his publisher or political bosses, i suppose he should move on. or let it be known that he is no longer writing as a matter of principles.

    or, perhaps he is indisposed for health or other reasons?

    thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous10:47 pm

    Bru, kalau kita tak bertanggungjawab, kita biarkan saja apa yang berlaku di dalam media hari ini. Biarkan bila sampai masanya kerajaan akan terperanjat dengan tindakan rakyat. Buat apa nak tegur pada orang yang degil atau bodoh sonbong..edia di negara ini dah layu. Apabila Khalid Mohd tidak menulis lagi kita pasti tau apa sebabnya. Editor surat khabar lain tak tulis pun tak apa sebab tulisan mereka tak menggambarkan kematangan daya fikir. Sebagai editor. Kepada Dato Najib kita nak bagi tai bahawa perbezaan pandangan adalah baik. Kalau dengar lagu Siti Nurhaliza saja pun, tentulah jemu juga. Walau pun ramai suka suara dia, ramai juga yang tak suka. Begitulah juga dalam politik. Jadi jangan sensitif bila ada orang kritik pemimpin.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous11:20 pm

    Untuk perhatian Dato' Najib, janganlah harapkan sangat editor-editor media nak kritik pemimpin atau kerajaan. Pada mereka pemimpin dah macam wali, tak ada cacat celanya. Tanpa kritik akan menyebabkan pemimpin dibuai mimpi indah. Dato' Najib dah pun merasa bila nyaris-nyaris tumbang di tempat sendiri. Untuk pengetahuan di mana-mana saja kita pergi, mauduk perbualan ialah perkara inilah. Sekarang cakap rakyat tak dihiraukan. Dah tau rakyat menyampah dengan orang-orang tertentu dalam media tetapi orang ini jugalah dipertahankan. Orang ini hanya ada satu undi tetapi undi rakyat belum tau berapa ramai. Nak pertahan satu undi ke atau nak ikut cakap rakyat. Di akhbar tertentu umpamanya, keadaan dah teruk hinggakan staff dah naik meluat tengok lagak editor-editor hari ini.Mereka ni tak tau banyak benda tetapi berlagak pandai. Mereka lah yang akan merosakkan segalanya.Yg pelek tu ada menteri yang berbaik-baik dengan mereka untuk dapat ruang berita dan gambar mereka. Penilaian bukan kepada news value tapi siapa yang berbaik dengan editor. Datuk Tengku.Sharifuddin tolong nasihatkan Dato' Najib supaya melihat keadaan ini dengan tulus hati. Jangan nanti sudah terantuk baru terngadah.Bacalah tulisan editor-editor tu dan buatlah penilaian taraf mereka. Apa pun Dato' saya amat pelek apabila Dato' sendiri yang minta supaya pengarang-pengarang mengkritik kerajaan. Cakap siang perhati-perhati Dato', cakap nmalam intai-intai lah. Kami ni sayang kat Dato" dan sanggup bantu tapi kalau tak boleh dibantu, kami pun akan beralih jkiblat politik lah nampaknya.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anonymous10:57 am

    King-Essential,

    I believe, Khalid Mohd of Utusan made his decision to stop writing his columns on many reasons and possibilities. May be, Dato' Najib can ask him why. I think there must be something bordering him for taking the decision, even to write about Mat Rempit. I believe it must have something to do with Tingkat 4 or someone thinking that he is superior that Khalid. They must have called him, giving orders and instructions not to write this and that and write only this and that. I don't expect other editors from other Malays newspaper to write like what Khalid did. They are not his match, anyway.I don't read Berita Harian because it is not a Malay newspaper and nobody there equal calibre or at par with Khalid. Good decision Khalid. Its better for you not to do anything or write anything. You don't have to play politics. Every month take your salary and just keep quite. Why should you leave your job, unless they sack you with handsome compasation. There is no prinsiple involved. What principle that we talk about?Ask other editors in other newpapers, what principle that they got? Just keep your principle to yourself.

    ReplyDelete