Saturday 7 September 2013

Sorting out the bad apples

This is just a posting to break myself from the usual politics.

It's after all a weekend, and I don't think anyone in the right mind would want to continue with hardcore politics without a break, even during the weekends.

Okay, a few days ago I hang out with an editor of a newspaper who is an intimate acquaintance of mine for many years.

He was very frank with me. He was angry because PM DS Najib Razak is being attacked from all sides ever since the GE13, especially in the social media.

Among others, he told me that he loathes sopo bloggers....well, except me of course.

"These people are writing garbage," he exasperatedly remarked.

"In the first place, who the hell are they to write all that nonsense as if they were all experts.

"They simply write things according to their whims and fancies without even the slightest regards for the ethics of journalism."

I just listened to him as he rambled away full of venom.

"And the worse thing is that, we do not even really know most of them. Who they are? What are their real jobs? etc.

"They just came out of the woodworks and write all sorts of bullshits. And then there were some idiots who thought they should be given the recognition as if they are real journalists. Some of them were even invited to briefings at the Prime Minister's office."

"You tell me, what did they really contribute during the general election? Were they effective in fighting the Opposition cybertroopers?

"These people are actually only good at character assassinations and nothing else.

"Personally, I think they did more harm than good to BN. I also think that most of them are in it for personal gains and nothing else."

At that point, I interjected and told him that as a blogger, I had never asked or received anything from BN politicians for whatever I wrote in this blog.

He knows that what I said was true.

I also told him that I can only speaks for myself and the one or two prominent sopo bloggers whom I know that are genuinely writing in support of BN. We wrote in support of BN because we believe in the cause and that Pakatan is not an option to run the country.

We didn't expect to be rewarded with tones of money or given special status and invited to be briefed at the PMO. We write mostly just to express what we think of certain issues or share what we know about things that were happening around us.

Honestly, when I first started this blog a month before GE13, I didn't even regard this blog as more than a diary to express myself publicly. I think it is better for me to express myself by writing than doing something crazy.

I never force anyone to read what I wrote and never gain any monetary profit from it.

And those who disagree with what I wrote may express themselves too in the comments section. They can even curse and call me vile names.

But I do hope that this humble blog, with its small readership could help a bit in spreading the idea that BN, despite its flaws is still the better option to run the country. It's not because I'm so fond of BN, that I'm doing this, but rather I care for this country and don't want it to be taken over by worse people. And if the BN people misbehave, I'm still going to take them to task for what they did.

Furthermore, who does my dear editor friend expects to wage the cyberwar for BN? His newspapers' website which is being overwhelmed by the pro-Pakatan websites and news portals such as Malaysiakini and Malaysian Insider?

Or does he expects BN to rely on the likes of Tun Faisal and his cybertroopers?

Well, whether we like it or not, blogs and other such vehicles of the social media are here to stay. They may evolve from one form to another, but utilizing them is definitely how the political battle for the heart and mind of Malaysians could be won from now onwards.

I'm not saying that other mediums such as newspapers and television are not important anymore. But I think they need to still be supported by the social media to be really effective.

As proven back then in 2008, Pakatan made their major gains backed by just the social media practitioners against BN's mighty mainstream media. Now, after the GE13, they have even gain control over a large portion of the mainstream media, aside from almost totally dominating the country's social media. For instance, there is only a single English newspaper which is still considered as being genuinely supportive of BN. My editor friend works for this newspaper. The rest of the English newspapers I believe are leaning to the other side despite their claims of neutrality.

Now, do the BN media handlers still wish to kill off the few blogs which are supportive of the establishment?

I don't deny that there are indeed shady characters who try to make tones of money by masquerading themselves as pro-BN social media practitioners. But I think the BN media handlers need to be really careful in order to differentiate  such bad apples from the good ones.


If they still got it wrong on this one, then I think BN's future is very bleak indeed.

12 comments:

  1. Era pak anggok atau tidak sekali2 boleh tegur pemimpin dah berlalu. Mungkin masih banyak saki baki yang syiok angkat bakul sendiri.

    Zaman dulu pemimpin2 rajin masuk kampung, jengok dengan kepala mata sendiri, bersila makan dgn penduduk, sama2 bersolat dalam masjid.

    Sekarang sekadar guna "foreign" consultants. Orang asing yang memberi nasihat macam mana nak mengurus keperluan rakyat tempatan. Keperluan rakyat mengikut citarasa orang asing.

    Zaman dulu apa pemimpin cakap, dia temberang atau benar semua telan bulat2. Sekarang zaman IT, rakyat bukan lagi macam katak bawah tempurung.

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  2. Makcik Annie,
    What is wrong with Tun Faisal? He runs a tight ship and his bloggers such as APA are ranked very highly. He is a loyal party man.

    Perhaps you should apologise to him.

    Thank You and Have a nice day.

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  3. Forgot to add, I agree with most of what your "intimate" newspaper acquaintance says. Government propaganda must be handled by trained people who have the necessary qualifications, credentials and work experience. Most so-po bloggers engage in vilification of people with counter productive results. After all, take the urban areas. Virtually all of them fell to the Opposition. These are the areas that have a high Internet access and if indeed pro UMNO so-po bloggers were as good as they make themselves out to be, then maybe some of those areas should have been won by BN.

    I do hope the PM's advisers will consider licensing so-po bloggers. And it is quite disappointing to see the Cabinet treat the "elite" so-po bloggers like they are some kind of media. The only bloggers that matter for BN are UMB bloggers who are actually part of UMNO and part of the party hierarchy. Too much emphasis on politcs selak kain championed by so-po bloggers have led to disastrous consequences.

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  4. You are either with us or against us. If you are in either camp (BN or PR) then your job is to only write supportive articles. If you see a problem, raise it in private and if no action is taken to solve it, just ignore it. Some BN bloggers are now facing the heat over their attacks on Pemandu and their lukewarm support for the PM. No different from PR going after RPK when he points out their flaws. You are useful as long as you remain a loyal and consistent ally. But it doesn't mean that your readers don't wish to see your free thinking approach - who do you value more?

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  5. .. your editor friend is so out of touch. Without pro-BN bloggers like OutSyed the Box, RockyBru, Pure Shiite and the likes to neutralise the attack by Malaysiakini etc, I would probably vote for PR in GE13!

    Does he think that "I Love PM" banner is enough to ensure BN's victory? Wake up from your sleep! Even NST I think is trying to sabotage BN by giving prominence to Rosmah's stories when we all know that most pro-BN and all pro-Oppo supporters dislike her.

    All these pro-Najib people should really wake up from their idyllic dreams. Pro-BN people loves BN.. NOT individuals in BN. Nobody is indispensable in BN. Most especially when they perform below expectation.

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  6. Annie,

    Most Intelligent users of Alternative media are very discriminating and perceptive (as you may have noticed). They are able to distinguish Crap from genuine dissertation. Unfortunately for BN their bloggers come on as political propagandist rather than investigative nonpresumpteous characters. Intelligent readers view this as an insult to their intelligence and either shun these characters or outrightly degrade them.

    Your open nature precedes your lack of observations and perceptions and therefore can be accepted by these intelligent readers. Ironically, as a result you are more respected than propagandists such as Rocky and his associates which we know you greatly respect.

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  7. I agree with the views of your editor friend Annie. Sometimes I think the power of having people read and believe what sopo bloggers write get to their heads. You're right no one is forcing me to read sopo blogs. I read them to balance my read of MSM and alternative media. But lately, I think you guys are doing more harm than good. At least reporters have to cite their source. I don't know who your sources are. Yet you guys write as if it's the gospel truth. For all I know the attacks against pemandu, talentcorp etc could be motivated by sheer ignorance of their work or just one sided view. And the vilification of the people who work there has to stop lah. It's really in poor taste to drag personal pictures and stories to back up the attacks. I'm sorry Annie for using your blog to vent. This isn't just directed to you, but all the sopo bloggers out there who say that you do this out of love for the country and BN. Please be more responsible with your posts. Back them up with facts, not sheer allegations. Like it or not, you guys are contributing to the mess of this country now too.

    Salam, Ina

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, at least your views which were against bloggers like us got published here. If you have the facts to refute our allegations, you are most welcomed to post it here. Bloggers who posted baseless allegations will lose their credibility and readership. Thank you.

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    2. Thanks Annie for being fair and posting my comment. Most sopo bloggers do post their readers' comments even if they are contrary to the views of the bloggers. I once worked in an organisation which was once fodder for the bloggers. They character assassinated our leadership and accused the person of doing things he didn't do. Whatever explanations we made either through comments to blog postings or through press release updates were scoffed and immediately rubbished by bloggers and their readers. I learnt then that sometimes when perception is so strong against you (fuelled by the negative postings on blogs), you just can't win even if you have truth on your side. Nonetheless I still read sopo blogs to widen my read, but I worry that many readers will not be able to differentiate what is truth or just pure speculation and allegations based on a blogger's personal point of view. And continue to perpetuate that by telling others.

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  8. Economy in doldrums. Crime out of control. Clowns in charge of education. An you think bn is best placed to lead? And you wonder why no one takes you seriously!

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  9. All the pro-UMNO bloggers are seen by the general public as not but a production line of online poison pen letter, and accordingly similar credibility.

    Their failure lies with equating Ketuanan Melayu with survival of UMNO. Once you make that fatal link, UMNO could only survive PR13 dirty vote rigging. You guys basically lost the Chinese votes FOREVER. And quite a bit of Malay votes too.

    Because most Malays are good people. They too do not like the UMNO gangsters bully their Chinese/Indians brothers and sisters. One Melayu friend told me: "if they can do that to you guys, what makes you think one day they won't turn around and stick a knife into their own people (i.e. the Melayu middle class)?

    The Chinese of today are no longer AFRAID of the threat of violence (respect the ketuanan melayu or we will mengamok) by the UMNO thugs. The same threat are used by bloggers like Din Turtle till today. You can only carry your threat so far without actually acting it. But let's supposed the ULTRAs does actually start killing the chinese, how many of our Melayus friends can accept and support that action?

    The UMNO thugs better figure out a new way on their relationship with the nons. The PM is doing the right things, dissociate himself from the pro-UMNO bloggers and move closer to the middle ground. This is his only chance to maintain a respectable result in PR14.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Tengku Razaleigh's speech at the Malaysian Student Union of UK and Eire at London, just before Hari Merdeka 2013:

    http://mwputrajaya.wordpress.com/2012/08/18/pre-national-day-an-excellent-speech-by-tengku-razaleigh-hamzah-in-uk/

    ReplyDelete