Editor wannabe Syed Feisal Albar, who came to the defence of his plagiarist NST group editor late last week, will have a chance to look Najib Abd Razak in the eye and tell him why the Umno-owned Malay/Weekend Mail has turned to porn to sell papers.
At the KL Umno Convention today, the DPM lambasted the Kalimullah-led NSTP for allowing the Mail to degenerate to a porn trash. "Memalukan (shameful)", he said. This week's issue dedicated 57 of its 66 pages to sex. Front page blurbs scream "Fetish Files", "Celebrity Sex", "Hooters!", "Pole Dancing Tips", "Kinky Cakes".
The delegates took Najib's displeasure as a cue to scrutinize the state of the (new) Malay Mail and its weekend edition. Shahrizat Jalil, the Minister of Women, Family and Community Development, spoke out angrily against the newspaper editors for what they have done to one of the country's oldest English-language newspapers.
Although he is the CEO of NSTP, Syed Feisal has put himself directly in charge of the tabloid that was once known as The Paper That Cares. Under his charge, the Malay Mail changed from a paper that fought for the underdog to a kinky rag. Readership and sales numbers have fallen drastically in the past months and the desperation to check the slide may explain why the Weekend Mail has dropped all pretense of being a newspaper.
The Weekend Mail, by the way, is edited by an expatriate.
Sad and pathetic. That pretty much sums up the 'new' Malay Mail!
ReplyDeleteThe "new" Porno Mail should start hiring new content editors for their pathetic newspaper before more damage is done to this already dying paper.
ReplyDeleteSaudara Rocky!
ReplyDeleteKesimpulan nya cuma pejabat perdana menteri dan budak budak tingkat empat sahaja yang diberi tugas menjaga media, termasuk Malay Mail. Jadi saya cadsangkan jika Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak di beri tugas ini saya akan mengshorkan supaya anda di ambil balik dengan tugas untuk memulihkan nama "Malay" dalam Malay Mail episode ini, this shit has gone far enough for action to be taken!
The 'expatriate' mentioned in Rocky's article could be referring to Simon Burgess.
ReplyDeleteHe was previously from The Expat magazine, and a sports magazine which according to sources is EPL.
Furthermore, sources also said that he was previously working for a 'global risk management company' with an office in KL.
He is quite a tall chap. Light-coloured hair. Light-coloured eyes. His lips curl up a bit in a smile whenever he speaks.
Possible catch phrase: Go get 'em, tiger! and Hello, beautiful people!
Quite a friendly chap. Not a single evil bone in his body. No bone at all.
Cheers!
bro,
ReplyDeleteaku dah perasan perkara ni lamaaa dah. penah cakap kat member bekas anak buah you yang still tak bleh kuar dari penjara new mm. malay mail dah jasik macam majalah. aku tanya sape editor yang ganti rocky, dia cakap bekas editor fhm. ooo no wonder la... penah skali tuh dia punya headline citer pasal anorexia. siap ada gambar pompuan kurus tengok cermin nampak dia kurus... isk. lepas tuh aku tak baca dah malay mail walaupun opis aku beli tiap hari. cheh...
rindu masa baca paper that cares hentam agensi kerajaan macam kes accident kat bangi ke? yang polis lalu buat dekkk jek, and your paper buat follow up beberapa hari... macam tuh la newspaper!
Syed Faisal and Abdul Rahman Ahmad (Media Prima) should have seen this coming unless of course they were in denial all along or refused to see the horrible mistake they've made in revamping the Malay Mail into the trash you see today.
ReplyDeleteThe dwindling circulation should indicate this isn't what the reading public wants. If Syed and Rahman have any conscience and sensitivity that men in their positions should,and if they had just listened to feedback from well-meaning friends they should have abandoned this sex-obsessed, superficial, crazy piece of rubbish that dares to call itself a newspaper. The fact that they thought nothing of this and instead allowed the rot shows their incompetence. I salute Najib and Shahrizat for taking the paper to task. Previous issues have been cringingly rotten but this one takes the cake.
syed feisal must be held responsiblbe for raping the malay mail. syed feisal must be tried for his crimes against a paper with more than a 100 years of history. syed feisal, you are the pits.
ReplyDeletewhen the Malay Mail was handed to Syed Faisal, there was no where to go but down, down and down.
ReplyDeletesyed Faisal is an accountant not a newspaper man. not an editor. handing the Malay Mail to him was sentencing the paper to death. a slow but sure death. but now, we are not so sure if it is slow. looks like it will go bust sooner than we expect.
this is kalimullah doing his cowardly act. he knew the Malay mail wasnt going to survive. some say, he did not want the Malay Mail to do well. he did not want to be accountable for the malay mail's poor show so, conveniently, he had syed faisal take full and direct charge of the paper. so, if the bottomline (of the Malay Mail) is so bottom, it would be syed faisal's ass that will burn.
how can the Malay Mail, one of the oldest newspapers in the country, survive its new format, content and the concept?
its circulation was dipping so badly that syed faisal must have been so desperate. do the easiest thing -- get it to be hot and steamy. Sex always sells, after all.
all the time, syed faisal. not all the time.
not all of us agree with the way the Malay Mail is presented. The new-look Malay Mail.
ReplyDeleteyes, it sure is a teeny-bopper paper. sometimes it is plain trash. oh.. there seems to be no direction. sometimes we put hard news on the front page to have some semblance of a newspaper.
the malay mail is run by people who do not know how to produce a newspaper.
syed feisal, to be fair, tries hard. but how? he is not a journalist and has zilch experience. M Zul is, er,mmm, er. oh well, never mind. they call the shots. then we have yushaimi, yusri and saiful. they are pros, of course. frankly, they are ineffective under the present operations, because they don't call the shots.
so, bro, what is ther for us to do? we cari makan.
Masa DPM tengah kutuk MM kat TV3, budak2 MM semua gelak ketawa, bagaikan ianya sandiwara semata2. Agaknye mereka semua gembira 'MM yg baru' kini menjadi bahan ketawa seantero Malaysia. Marilah kita sama2 melaungkan slogan Hidup MM! Hidup NSTP! Hidup UMNO!
ReplyDeleteWord on the street is that while the DPM was tarnishing the paper, those in Balai Berita were laughing and poking jokes at each other
ReplyDeleteMaybe they are happy the paper has finally gotten some attention. But it certainly got writer
“Gyrating”Grace Ong on her toes.
Hi rocky, this is the first time i've commented on your blog (despite reaading it for some time) and i have to say I agree with u on this one.
ReplyDeleteI'm GLAD i've left that paper - it wasn't an easy decision initially but the people and editorial management made it easier. My last day was Oct 29..and currently jobless. :)
It's sad that i can't even relate to the product that I've worked years with anymore..
from your former staff (my initials are the last three letters of my id) :)
Can't blame syed feisal. He was given the job by kalimula. syed faisal just cannot cut it. we did our own informal survey on the malay mail. we found that most people we talked to didnt like the new Malay Mail. in fact, some loyal readers have stopped buying. the reason is that it is no longer a newspaper. you see, the malay mail that they know was a newspaper. a tabloid. a newspaper. it was a paper they must have late mornings or during lunch.there was so much to read. and so interesting.
ReplyDeletethe new Malay Mail is a publication that they cannot relate to.
well. a newspaper is a consumer product too. so, to some it is a lousy product.
of course, there are some people who like the trashy content. to each his or her own, i say.
for many, trashy just aint cool.
catwoman
so teruk. what were the malay mail bosses thinking?
ReplyDeleteso lurid. what is wrong with them? and by the way, is it the thing to have silly-sounding by-lines. so juvenile.
i cant understand it. cant they see what is wrong with the paper?
it is staring you in the face.
Dear Bro. Rocky,
ReplyDeleteI do not think Malay Mail is all alone in such situation. I am certain that NST sufferred d same fate as the Malay Mail as long as Kalimulah, the fraud, is there.
Kalimuah even wrote lies on June 11 regarding the meeting between ABB and Tun in Japan. In fact, it is better for Malay Mail to publish porn becaseu it did not publish lies as in NST.
Rocky, please don't expect Faisal 2 have the levvel of professionalism as you when you were the Malay Mail editor. You ought to be pleased when Faisal didn't publish lies like Kalimulah.
Rocky please accept Feisal's level of professionalism as long as he does not publish lie and plaiarise, like itw own Editor in cheif (Brendan Pereira) we, Malaysians, should be grateful.
So please close your eyes a bit for Feisal to excell his leadership on porn!!!!!
Lets recap at Weekend Mail's headlines;
ReplyDelete1. They claim to have interviewed 100 people (it is presumed most being family and friends)and generalised it as what Malaysians think. Hmm...
2. Almost 70% of the paper was filled with softcore smut, and yet there is no Malaysian Playboy. Why the double standards? Hmm...
3. The paper is targetting youths- early teens- are they promoting sex among our youngsters? Hmm...
4. What about the campus column? Ever wondered why none of the girls are pretty but mostly busty. A fetish seen by those upstairs? Hmm...
5. What's with the bylines? Do the reporters know that they have been degraded to whores? Hmm...
The list goes on. So lets see if the Paper That Cares will be Taken Care Of.
Haha!!! This is what you get for hiring an ex-FHM dude as MM's/WM's editor...
ReplyDeleteJudging by the plunging sales of MM/WM, its no wonder desperate measures are being taken to "boost sales". Whatever it is, the formerly glorious tabloid of yesteryear is on its death knell, albeit a slow one!
ReplyDeleteHow i miss Beatle Bailey!
Judging by the plunging sales of MM/WM, its no wonder desperate measures are being taken to "boost sales". Whatever it is, the formerly glorious tabloid of yesteryear is on its death knell, albeit a slow one!
ReplyDeleteHow i miss Beatle Bailey!
Rocky,
ReplyDeleteYou are wrong. It wasn't 57 pages, it was 61 pages. You thought those were sports news at the back page? Footballest (best balls?)? Two pages inside from the back were on sex too. 61 pages for 61 years of umno! Tuan Syed sure knows how to pay tribute to Umno Hadhari! He's outdone Kali and Brendan with his Malay Porno Mail!
syed feisal is really a nice fellow. really really nice. but, okay, this is not about the nice man. this is about his failure to push the circulation and sale of the Malay Mail.
ReplyDeletea nice fellow but a damn pity he just couldnt make it happen for the Malay Mail. you see, bro, people think it is easy producing a paper. kalimulah as someone said, sentenced the Malay Mail to an early death by restructuring the Malay Mail and putting syed feisal and M Zul there. And Rahman (media Prima) shame on you!!! we thought you were the smart one, the one who could see a potential winner and a potential loser. Rocky brother, you were right. their new Malay Mail concept to reach to 19-29 age group just could not work. And they dare retain the name "Malay Mail"!.
everybody could see that it was just not happening. they have reduced the Malay Mail, a newspaper with HISTORY, an instition, into a smut paper.
brother,
ReplyDeleteI remember the (old) Malay Mail. I remember it as a lunch-time or afternoon tabloid that gave us the latest news.
I remember that I MUST read the Malay Mail or my day was just NOT complete.
I cried when they changed the paper. i know how gung-ho the (old) Malay Mail was. The fights and battles it took on. I used to worry for the Malay Mail editors for their guts and their gall. i know that i would not have the stamina to fight on, to overcome, the way the (old) Malay Mail had.
I have come to know some (old) Malay Mail reporters, through events that they covered in which I had been involved. Wow! toughies, they are. so i can imagine their bosses. must be tougher than them. no wonder the (old) Malay Mail was not only the paper that cares. i stood corrected one day. they told me it was "THE PAPER THAT DARES" as well. and I said no more.
Rocky brother, i do long for the (old) Malay Mail.
Bru,
ReplyDeleteI was shown and later given a copy of the newspaper. I threw it away as I was very embarrassing to take it home.
I don't know what the newspaper was trying to do. If this is the route the paper is taking, then we are heading for disaster.
When they handed the paper to M. Zul,Yushaimi and Yusri, I knew the MM's days were numbered. All three are more known for strutting than working.At least the old MM was a newspaper despite its limitations. The new MM is just trash.There is a place for sex in newspapers but it must be tastefully done. The MM bunch is just a gang of lazy louts who want the glamour of their positions but not the hard work that goes with it. All heads of unit in the new MM should either resign or be sacked for rubbishing a once proud Klang Valley paper.
ReplyDeleteMalay Mail dan Weekend Mail sudah jatuh ke taraf suratkhabar nyamuk.
ReplyDeleteLebih baik baca suratkhabar nyamuk yg lain yg lebih sensasi sepert Mingguan Perdana.Hati pun tak sakit sebab kita tahu suratkhabar nyamuk ni buat cerita2 merapu.
Bezanya MM adalah cerita merapu dalam bahasa Inggeris.
Heads might roll in MM, but definitely not Kali's head!
Oh my goodness!
ReplyDeleteI dont read the Malay Mali & kinda curious to know what the fuss is all abt after reading this thread
So I had a look at MM online.
It's Thrash!!! That it. Nothing more.
I think MM is a gonna. Gone case.
mawarmerah said...
ReplyDeleteand by the way, is it the thing to have silly-sounding by-lines. so juvenile.
=================================
Yup, bylines like koko-licious kalbana..., Juicy Jeffrey Selamutu, Girlie Grace Ong & gyratiing Grace Ong.
So suggestive. Wat? They think the names are cute, arh?
Geli geman sheeesh!
Secara JUJUR dan IKHLAS, saya sebagai rakyat Malaysia tidak faham apa masalah di New Straits Times sebenarnya. Saya tak faham apasal orang yang menjaga surat khabar terpenting di negara ini mempunyai IMMUNITY yang tidak boleh disentuh langsung. This is a very-very BIG question to me. Mereka boleh buat kesalahan demi kesalahan tanpa sedikit tindakan pun. Malah, mereka dibela. Minta maaf dah berkali-kali tapi mereka masih bermaharaja lela. Saya kata kerajaan tak perlulah tunjukkan yang mereka bertindak tetapi LEMBAGA PENGARAH sepatutnya melakukan sesuatu yang drastik. Janganlah jadi lembaga pengarah KAYU. Kalau ada orang lain atau individu tententu lebih berkuasa daripada Lembaga Pengarah, secara moralnya, lebih baiklah berenti semua kerana ini adalah tindakan yang tidak bertanggungjawab terhadap pemegang saham. Pemegang Saham sepatutnya membantah dan melakukan sesuatu terhadap lembaga Pengarah. Apakah Datuk Syed Faizal tu terlalu bagus hingga tidak boleh dibuang. Adakah Datuk Hishamuddin Aun seorang pengarang yang Cemerlang dan Terbilang hinggakan apa juga kesalahan dilakukan tidak boleh menyebabkan dia dipindahkan ke ECM-Libra untuk jaga surat-menyurat atau apakah kuasa besar yang menyebabkan Datuk Kalimullah terpaksa disimpan di NST. Lagi lama mereka-mereka ni disimpan di New Straits Times, lebih parah jadinya. Mereka adalah BEBAN atau LIABLITI kepada kerajaan hari ini. Mereka sudah banyak menyusahkan kerajaan. Sudah terbukti, mereka ini tidak memberi apa-apa kebaikan kepada syarikat. Di bawah mereka, imej syarikat tercemar, bisnes merosot dan moral staff koyak. Kami tak tau nak kata apa-apa lagi...asyik bercakap di belakang saja. Datuk Hishamuddin takkan tak sedar lagi yang kami semua dah meluat dengan awak. Kurang-kurang Datuk Manja tak berubah dari segi perangai dia, masih makan kat kantin dan bercampur dengan kami juga. Bagi Datuk Syed Faizal, Datuk Hishamuddin dan Datuk Kalimulllah, kalau rasa-rasa diri tu orang dah meluat, eloklah cari tempat lain yang boleh menyenangkan hati kamu semua. Ingatlah, ramai orang yang berdoa bukan-bukan untuk kamu semua kerana tindakan kamu yang merosakkan bangsa. Mungkin satu hari, doa mereka akan dimakbulkan, baru kau tau. I nak buat kerja pun dah rasa malas.
ReplyDeleteNeraca Spring
Dear Rocky,
ReplyDeleteMy deepest sympathy to Syed Feisal. Once again he had to 'stand tall' and face the public. Wonder whether Kalimulah and Hishamuddin will have the guts to stand at least behind him. Let us wait and see.
Syed Feisal must have thought that handling a paper is easy task. Hishamuddin must have shown him the good example. Earn big bucks and great perks with the position, but responsibilities can be put aside. The position allows you to be in the elite social group, and even highlighted in media prima's tv ad. So what if the paper blunder once in a while, just apologise and "tebal muka".
The goons of NSTP, Syed Feisal, Hishamuddin, Kalimullah, Manja and many others there, are just excited with the fame and attention given by artists, politicians, corporate leaders to them as senior exeucitves of NSTP. I sometimes wonder whether they realised the actual perception others have on them.
Syed Feisal has no choice but to stay put and "sink" with the entire goons. Where can he go? With his track records of more than 3x VSS, the choice is very limited. Unless ECM Libra has an opening for a CEO with VSS experience.
To all of them...I have this to say:
Go the the NSTP Library, look at the previous edition of papers, read about the respected editors, open your eyes and ears...look at the current readers...wake up from your glamorous dreams..pack yr bags and go....
With the Bursa index touching 1000 points, NST shares still stagnant at its position.
Hishamuddin...concentrate on yr sports writing lah...u can also make hay there...
I was at Su-mit magazine shop when I saw the 'sex' headline. But what captivated me that day was the last copy of Time Magazine Special edition on Tun Dr. Mathadir criticism (6th Nov 2006). In Malaysia, TDM sells and sex don't.
ReplyDeleteTan Sri Aseh Che Mat as the KSU of the Ministry of Home Affairs should recommend to the Minister that Malay Mail's printing permit be suspended indefinitely for being irresponsible in subverting the minds of young Malaysians.
ReplyDeleteBut then of course the Minister (and guess who he is to Kali?) will accept the "so-called" statement (which will obviously not amount to an apology) that the Malay Mail will be offering and then a suspension would not be necessary!
Wanna bet?
I thought this Brendan Pariah, aka Penghasut, Penghianat, Pencuri & Penipu would have a sense of shame.
ReplyDeleteOn the contrary, he is so arrogant as to continue writing and demonising Dr Mahathir.
What is he trying to say? He is not guilty of plagiarism?
Ayoh, Tak malu betul. Kulit tebal. Thick skin.
Hello, beautiful people!
ReplyDeleteWow! Another Malay Male. Ingat aku je Melayu.
Well, they can't say they didn't see it coming. I mean, you must expect SOME kind of response. And this it it.
Here's your feedback. Take it.
Even the very first issue of the new Malay Mail said that it's for people from 18-35, hence alienating everybody else.
As an '18-35' myself, I wouldn't be caught dead with it.
I mean, I consider myself a perverted person, but some things are just too much la.
Go get 'em, tiger!
Anonymous, I disagree with you. Manja "masih belum berubah perangainya, masih makan di kantin". He did that because he is not able to lunch with Hishamuddin,Syed Feisal and Kalimullah. The three of them think they are great.."orang kaya dan orang kenamaan konon", should not mingle with the common people. Tak sedar diri langsung..dulu sebelum jadi GEIC, hidup macam mana?
ReplyDeleteRamai juga yg dapat datuk, tapi masih lagi rendah diri, hidup pun tak menyombong. Ini baru setahun dua jadi GEIC dah berlagak. Bini pun berlagak macam permaisuri je. Langsung tak tengok ke bawah, pandang atas je.
Lagipun Manja tak speaking bombastic English macam 3 datuks tu. Jadi terpaksalah ikut staff, kalau tidak soru sendiri je lah.
Dia pun berlagak lebih kurang juga. Dpt datuk ni, status naik dua tiga level ke? Sampai tak ingat masa di level lama.
Pada mereka2 ini, cerminlah diri jangan asyik nak mengata orang je. Kata dulang paku serepih, mengata orang, dia yang lebih2.
Bro, what do u think we should do with them?
yg ni tak payah publish, pls..
ReplyDeletesy dah buat news ikut suka hati saya di http://www.harakahdaily.net/v06/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5060&Itemid=1
i like the "old" malay mail; there were something to read about, and the light reading articles were not consist of porn. hahhaa.
ReplyDeleteMy dad, the loyal reader of MM stopped being one when it changed to new MM. He even questioned me buying it once in while eventhough my sole reason was to get small change. Eventually, i stop buying it as it's not worth my money.
Inilah akibatnya apabila Perdana Menteri Islam Hadhari yang tidak tahu kepala ekor, yang asyik tertidur dan angkuh dengan mandat besar, melantik "kera dan beruk" yang tidak sensitif terhadap Islam dan orang Melayu memimpin akhbar milik Umno.
ReplyDeleteNajib perlu usaha buang Kalimullah dan saki baki konco dan machainya atau kita dalam Umo sokongnn Najib buang kemelut nombor satu dalam Umno.
Malu sungguh NSTP kini diuruskan oleh CEO dan bukan oleh Ketua Pengarang.
Malunya aku jadi bekas wartawan NST dan ahli Umno.
Bro Bru,
ReplyDeleteMy "primary-school-going" son loves to read the Malay Mail since he started to know how to read the newspapers. I was lucky that he has forgotten to ask for the MM on that day. Otherwise, I don't know what to say to him. Even his "secondary-school-going" brother also missed the paper on that day. I had to hide it. Where???? The master bedroom's toilet. Just let the Master and the Lady read....
So sad to see my favourite paper gone down into the drain...
Please bring back the old MM and also Sunday Mail.. Bring back Aishah Ali & the gang... Their columns were better.
I tried to read the column by the two Djs... Alamak tak best langsung. Rugi satu page. Baik taruk column Zainal Alam - Amacallit (Betul ke nama yang aku bagi ni?).
Looks like I have to get my sons baca the Star le....
Yo bro,
ReplyDeleteI think the Mr Mojo M Zul is the problem in MM. I kinda expect this sort of thing coming the minute when he was made MM no 1. Seriously, this guy has zero experience and knowledge about journalism and most of the time poor old school MM people like yushaimi and Yusri had to bail him out of trouble. I think Mr mojo himself should face the music from the politicians and authorities for the stupid MM porn issue .
Personally i feel sorry for the current MM team. These ppl are hardworking ppl, who stomach working with a blurr boss like M Zul. And as for editors like Yushaimi and Yusri, u guys have my utmost respect for the tireless effort to keep the paper going, despite having to work with limited resources and having to follow instructions from stupid ppl like Mr Mojo. Enough attacks on the old MM people, as they are not the ones who makes the decision nor responsible for the damage made on MM.
Cheers
Mrs King
Rockybru,
ReplyDeleteplease give the line-up of the NEW (read pornographic) Malay Mail top people, from the CEO to editor so that we know who these purvayors of sex and drugs are?
I was told the editor is some part-time entertainment writer from some dead magazine.
Kallimulah is really doing the Kaliyuga (the last of the yugas) on the NSTP Group with the consent of the Muslim Priest fron Putrajaya.
The Old Man Matahir is being proved right by the day about the inaptitude of the Dollah Government.
Bro, wasn't it during your time that the Malay Mail had that "Page 3 Wannabe" feature?
ReplyDeleteFor as long as I can remember, the Malay Mail and Sunday Mail has always been a source of risque content. What you highlight is really nothing new, except that today you have online content that fits your agenda to point to.
Kepada Datuk Najib, apa ditunggu lagi, komen pun dah banyak buat, tak ada apa-apa makna pun....buang saja lah Syed Faizal, Kalimullah, Hishamuddin dan Editor Malay Mail, M-Zul tu. Ramai lagi orang dalam yang lain boleh buat kerja tu. Mereka bukan cerdik sangat pun. yang jelas, mereka PERASAN je pandai. Kalau cerdik tentulah tak siar berita mengarut tu.
ReplyDeletehmm just asking...why is this so called editor(brenda parerera), still have a column in nst....any comments?...
ReplyDeleteAiyah what is so hard to understand. Malay Mail means a newspaper that is meant for Malay readers. Hence when you see what is the bestselling Malay newspaper? Harian Metro!
ReplyDeleteAnd what do you get in harian metro? Same shit! Once harian metro had a front page titled "ATUK K kahwin dengan Siti" it was a marriage between a granfather whose name began with K and a granma whose name began with Siti!
ZOMG! Stupendous!
It is in a very sad state Rocky when I see in campus (im a UTM student) that alot of Malay students buy Harian Metro and Kosmo for their daily readings. But then again, I can't totally blame them. Since they will eventually read spins and crap on NST or Berita harian anyway why not just skip the hypocritical part anyway and just admit to reading crap.
Harian Metro = Kosmo = Malay Mail = Migguan Misteri = Same shit!
Sdr Rocky,
ReplyDeleteJudging by the Star report below, I have a feeling that Umno leaders are beginning to notice the rot and the immorality of the NSTP editorial leadership installed personally by the PM in 2003.
The MCA-controlled paper said:
"Leaders slam newspaper’s article on sex
KUALA LUMPUR: Several ministers and Umno leaders have condemned a newspaper for running a feature on sex with explicit details.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the Weekend Mail had gone overboard with its feature on sex.
“I received endless calls and SMS over the articles. The media going overboard in exploiting sex will only worsen our social problems,” he said in his speech when launching the FT Umno Convention yesterday.
“The feature spoke of this and that position and I am not talking about positions during a football game or the Middle East position,” he added.
Najib said the newspaper should not have carried such articles that “elaborate in detail” sex positions just to make profit at the expense of public interest.
Earlier, convention committee chairman Senator Datuk Kamarudin Ambok said one of the resolutions reached at the gathering was to demand that the media preserve Islam's good image and not tarnish the religion's nobility.
Kamarudin said that the newspaper had highlighted cheap sex and promiscuity.
Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil later told a press conference that the newspaper had been “irresponsible and downright vulgar”.
“I am so embarrassed for them,” she said, adding that she would bring up the issue at the next Cabinet meeting.
Shahrizat also said the media should be more responsible in reporting about “things that are best left at home or in the bedroom” and which were “too private and intimate.”
The Star, as a metter of policy, does not report criticisms about a rival publication.
But in this particular case it did because the comments came from the DPM and several Umno Ministers.
As a ex-journalists who worked for the NST and later the Star, I see the NST's current problems as the manifestation of poor choice of editors, first by the PM and later by Dato' Kalimullah Hassan.
Kali thought he could and would do what other NSTP's GEICs had not done, i.e break loose of Umno and the Government. Kali's focus was very narrow. He was beholden to the PM and sought only to please him.
He is being proven wrong. Even the PM is beginning to pay a price for his and Kali's follies in treating the NSTP as their private domain.
I have a distict feeling that the chips are falling and both Abdullah Badawi and Kallimullah Hassan are going to pay a hefty price.
Hidup rocky balboa!!! Oppss .... Sorry bro :-)I teasing but don't get me wrong. Rocky Balboa is like the story of Rocky Bru ... under dog fighting his way.
ReplyDeleteHidup Athiruddin "Rocky" Atan!!!
Hey Rock,
ReplyDeleteI remember a few months back picking up the new MM, and even then I knew the paper had changed for the worse.
Like many commenters her, I just don't see it as a paper anymore. And to come from such highs at The Paper That Cares and the paper that fought for the public, the new MM I felt was set for a thundering crash!
So it has.
One of the first things I noticed was the cleavage-baring women. Really, it's just the toned-down version of Page 3 Girl in a typical UK tabloid isn't it?
In the end, it is the bottom-line that they always care about. Don't worry about morals and the effects the publication has on their target market.
Can MM or NSTP defend this publication? The answer is YES THEY CAN, but should they?
The public can speak here.
The Education Ministry wanted to include sex education in schools curriculum. But if sexual news are a taboo in media, how can there be sex education? Without knowledge and open discourse, there is no learning. In learning this subject, there are pros and cons; for the mind may not construe knowledge in the right perspective and will become uneducational.
ReplyDeleteHow is it that school children will be taught about sexual activities and know-how, that they will be discussing the subject with their teachers and among themselves, yet the media isn't allowed to disserminate the knowledge and subject matter?
Aren't we in a paradox?
Saudara Rocky dan para pembahas sekalian (khasnya rakan-rakan dari NSTP dan bekas petugas NSTP),
ReplyDeleteApapun perasaan, pendirian dan tanggapan kita mengenai NSTP, saya tidak dapat mengelak daripada berasa sedih campur hairan bahawa di dalam masa yang singkat NSTP menempa satu demi satu kontroversi dan masalah.
Setiap kali ini berlaku, saya melihat peranan dan tanggungjawab jabatan pengarang semakin kecil dan pudar.
Kenyataan-kenyataan membela diri dan memperbetulkan hakikat serta fakta dibuat oleh pengurusan dan bukan oleh jabatan pengarang, khasnya oleh ketua pengarang kumpulan.
Ini pastinya menimbulkan tanda tanya mengenai siapa yang sebebarnya berkuasa dan bertanggungjawab terhadap isu dan hal ehwal jabatan pengarang.
Sepanjang pengetahuan saya selama lebih dua dekad bekerja dengan NSTP, jabatan pengarang sentiasa bertanggungjawab dan memikul beban - buruk atau baik - tindakannya.
Pihak pengurusan, khasnya timbalan pengerusi eksekutif atau pengarah urusan hanya campur tangan di dalam hal-hal berkaitan saman malu dan tuntutan ganti rugi.
Dalam hal-hal lain, ketua pengarang kumpulan, pengarang kumpulan dan pengarang akhbar tertentu bertanggungjawab sepenuhnya terhadap apa yang berlaku dengan akhbar masing-masing.
Dalam suasana ekstrem, mereka bukan sekadar meletak jawatan malah ada yang "disingkirkan" atau "dinaikkan pangkat" agar tidak berkuasa lagi ke atas jabatan pengarang.
Saya mengharapkan hari dan masa apabila pengarang-pengarang sekali lagi memikul tanggungjawab dan bersedia menanggung beban buruk dan baik jabatan pengarang.
Terima kasih.
I discontinued my subscription of MM after a few issues of the new MM.
ReplyDeleteMelati was right. The main reason for buying MM (then) was to get the latest news and expose plus latest sport results.
I saw the controversial copy yesterday and glad that I did not pick up.
"its circulation was dipping so badly that syed faisal must have been so desperate. do the easiest thing -- get it to be hot and steamy. Sex always sells, after all.
ReplyDeleteall the time, syed faisal. not all the time."
Tell Syed Faisal to do more HANTU stories in the Malay Mail. Real HANTU, CARRY BALLS HANTU, NO FACE HANTU, KISS ASS HANTU... probably the Mail will do better! LOL
I left MM two years ago .. after "begging" for rocky to approve my vss application. I was so relieved that i left the paper. my love for journalism wouldn't allow me to continue being there anymore.
ReplyDeletenow it ashamed me to even associate myself with MM. malu aaa ... 100+ years of journalism is going down the drain.
kesian kat kawan-kawan yang terpaksa kerja lagi kat sana.
Dulu semasa isu gambar Nabi, depa terlepas dari hukuman. Now isu sex articles mungkinkah depa akan terlepas lagi. Kebalkah mereka atau mereka kebal kerana berlindung di belakang seseorang?
ReplyDeleteTak achi la macam ni !!!!
Well, if you ask an editor of FHM to take over a mainstream newspaper, you're not going to get the Christian Science Monitor, are you? I think they dug their own holes, laid down in their coffins and nailed 'em closed from the inside.
ReplyDeletemaverick sm, did you actually read the Weekend Mail articles?? Is that the kind of sex-ed that you would want taught in schools? I'm no innocent, but even I raised my eyebrows when reading them. It made me cringe!
ReplyDeleteThere is a very clear difference between informative - and outright crude...
No expatriate (I assume you mean Westerners)journalist worth his salt would want to work for a Malaysian newspaper because the journalist's salary in Malaysia is only a fraction of what he can earn back home. You will know that the only expatriates that worked for the NST were retired British journalists. I remember one, a very nice Englishman, Eddie Hughes, (and his wife Linda who taught me Teeline shorthand). Eddie told me that he worked as a wrestler when he was out of job in England. That was before joined the NST (or ST) in 1972(?)as a trainer.
ReplyDeleteSyed Faisal and Abdul Rahman Ahmad should be sacked for this. How low can they go? How many sorrys are there before action is taken? The shit is really bad, Rocky you should be back and remember when you are up there, there are many who have the passion to make a difference. Even though NSTP is UMMO owned, muhibah methodology will turn the company around.
ReplyDeleteToolong la... Apa yang kita nak kecoh2. Gua talak helan la ini kes semua. Ini adalah satu PROPAGANDA untuk masyarakat melupakan kes2 pak lah dan tun aja. NST adalah kroni KJ. Ini semua adalah permainan sandiwara diorang la.... Buat penat aja kita poning2 kan kepala. Kalau betul2 nak ubah NST tu, jom kita pakat ramai2 pi buat demonstrasi kat balai berita. Kot macam tu baru ada effect!!!! Kalau setakat kita menyalak, depa yg kat nst tu gelak aja kat kita.
ReplyDeleteReally leceh lah. :(
ReplyDeleteJoe, the MM so-called `page-three girls' (in fact, they were on page 5!) was before Rocky's time. Won't name the editor(s) responsible.. in fact we did away with it for years already!
ReplyDeleteYes, MM has always been a bit on the `risque' side compared to the conventaional dailies but it was an alternative/community paper that has a theme and direction - though sadly sales had been dropping.
MM was known for many of its exclusive news-breaking story/ investigative journalism/ local government and human interest highlights.
But with this new MM and WM, it's neither here nor there - it's supposed to be a `juicy', `trendy', `fun' and `informative' publication for the 18-35 age group. But so far, it has lost its loyal readers and yet to capture a new group of `young readers'. Guess it never will!
Personally I just don't identify with the paper anymore especially with such porn-like stuff in WE that boarders on vulgarity.
Oh, I heard from the grapevine that the editor and COO said in the meeting: `if i had to leave, this would be the best thing I've done for the paper!'
Yap, that's the arrogant mindset!I heard too that the `go get 'hem Tiger' will leave to join well THE mag that this MM editorial worships. Go figure!
- a former MM/Sumnday Mail journo who has been there for 10 years and just left!
You guys are missing something...isn't this a step towards a more sexually open society? Its a step away from asking women to wear burqas, yes? And hopefully, a step to unravel the charade of compulsory religion here...
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said... (11.52am)
ReplyDeleteIts a step away from asking women to wear burqas, yes? And hopefully, a step to unravel the charade of compulsory religion here...
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What rubbish are you talking abt?
Anonymous (11.52am) - would you happen to be a foreigner who has never come to Malaysia and only assumes what Muslim life is like here?
ReplyDeletePlease - very very few women wear burqas over here. In fact, you'd be surprised by how much Muslim women here revel in dressing up - you will see traditional dress and headscarves in all colours of the rainbow! No sirree, we don't lock up our women here - we celebrate them!