Saturday 2 July 2022

About the highly regarded Chinese newspapers

 I was once very close with a reporter of a Chinese newspaper.

She worked for Nanyang Seang Pau and later Sin Chiew.

I asked her why she choose to work for the Chinese newspapers as the pay was quite low at that time, even when compared to the pay of reporters working for Malay and English newspapers.

She explained to me that it's because Chinese newspaper reporters are well respected in the Chinese community and that she believes she could do good for them in her role as a journalist.

I actually admired her a lot.

She was very tenacious, hardworking and idealistic.

One may questions why she was specifically focused on her community and not others, but I understand her position because I know where she came from.

Her father was a carpenter while her mother ran a small hawker stall. She studied in a Chinese school and graduated from a Taiwanese university with a degree in education.

Her family was relatively poor and she worked as a waitress for two years after school to save enough money to get enrolled in the Taiwanese university.

There was no government scholarship or PTPTN for her.

She's the one who told me that there are three most highly regarded institutions in her community - their schools, newspapers, and guilds. Those who work for the institutions were respected as they were not paid well, yet still choose to do good for the community with their work.

When I think of it, I really miss our chit chats back then as I learnt a lot from her.

Why I'm writing all these?

It's because I saw this report yesterday,

Guan Eng wins defamation suit against Chinese dailies

excerpts;

Judge Datuk Seri Tun Majid Tun Hamzah said in his judgement that the dailies had failed to get Lim’s side of the story before publishing the reports.

The dailies had previously told the court that they had sought Lim’s comment after the articles were published, but he refused to comment.

It was a press conference and the reporters reported what was said by the person who called for it.

Were they committing such a terrible thing for not immediately get Guan Eng's reaction that he has to sue their newspapers?

After all, they did try to get his comment after that.

Not only did he refused to comment but he also slap their newspapers with a legal suit.

Can't he cut them some slack, as I believe that the majority of Chinese newspaper reporters were ardent DAP supporters based on my conversations with them and their writings? 

Didn't what they wrote to a certain extent helped DAP won almost total support of the Chinese community in several past general elections?

Let's say Guan Eng or any other DAP leaders called a press conference and accused Najib of being corrupt, should the reporters immediately get Najib's rebuttal before publishing the allegations? What if Najib was purposely not available that day? Should they kill the story because of that? Should Najib then sue their newspapers because they didn't immediately get his comment?

I don't know lah, maybe the attitude of the Chinese community has changed.

Maybe they think Guan Eng did good by suing their newspapers.

Whatever it is, I hope that person who was close to me is not too upset by what happened to her once beloved newspapers.

She probably didn't expect a leader of the party strongly supported by her community is now capable of suing the Chinese newspapers over an error, which in my opinion was not so great.

I hope she's well, where ever she is now.

15 comments:

  1. In the past, pre and post independence era, one of the most powerful Chinese associations was the Selangor Hokkien Association. The leaders then aligned with the Kuomintang Government even after it fled to Taiwan, and they were rivals to the Singapore Hokkien Association which were let by leaders aligned to Communist China.

    When Lee Kuan Yew came, he envisioned an English speaking society, and he did everything he could to make that happen. He shut down the Nanyang University, as a statement of his resolves.

    Mr Nobita's neck is on the chopping board right now, for corruption implications. He, too, envisioned his political party to be accepted by the Malays, at least the more forward thinking lot. And so he had crusaded against the mandarin speaking non christians group in his party. He wants the Malays to accept him as different from the cina stereotyped in the malay mindset.

    Mr. Nobita is no different in his actions than Ridzuan Tee, or Ebit Lew for that matter. Going against the Chinese Newspapers is a show for the Malays to see, to view that Mr Nobita had had enough of the Chinese nonsense.

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  2. Who cares about the Chinese newspapers.

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  3. The fact that he won the court case shows he has has been wronged without basis which affects his standing and reputation. You just can’t write arbitrarily without knowing facts and real story on people especially a well known figure like him. This should be a lesson to all media practitioners out there. Always be responsible what you put out there. Don’t write something out of vengeance or having an agenda. Let’s move on.

    Since you update your blog unusually fast, I have something to say regarding your previous post. So this is what I wanted to say actually.

    “Do remember that when Puad won the Rengit seat during the BN's landslide victory in the Johor election earlier this year, he did so with a significantly reduced majority.”

    -A win is still a win no matter which way you want to portray it Annie. Even if you win by 1 vote, SPR still has to declare you as a winner. For me he is waaaaaay better than the guy who gets to be a senior minister in Abah Kau cabinet (retained by Pak Mail) even though he lost badly (losing his deposit) in last GE.

    Surprisingly in a twist of fate, the guy who defeated him in GE 14 only get to be a minister of a lesser portfolio; though the guy who trounced him mercilessly in Kelate is far more experienced as cabinet member having served as cabinet minister before for 2 terms and politically astute and savvy than him. He was first appointed as youth and sports minister by Atuk way back in 1990, oversaw the country lifted Thomas Cup in badminton in 1992.

    That is the outcome of political manoeuvring gone wrong. Underserving politicians get to be prime minister, senior minister and even a minister even though in terms of merit and standing they’re next to zero. Some of them not only politically green and novice but don’t even have moral ground to hold office in the first place and more importantly a proper mandate from the people to be there.

    When this kind of scenario happened, it made a mockery of parliamentary democracy and general elections as means to choose an elected government. This is happening due to politicians which already past their time trying to stay relevant in politics thus overstay their welcome. Preventing new breeds of aspiring leaders to fill in and chart new course for the country.

    Can you imagine politicians who already became ministers in the 80’s and 90’s still hold office in 2022? Tell me which country in the whole world having this kind trend? This is what made Malaysia unique. Even the president of the upper house is even held by a politician who has been in politics since the 70’s. As if Malaysia is running out of younger politicians of exceptional calibre. We lament about our young graduates who are jobless or find it hard to find a job. Of course the jobs are hard to find if even politicians already past their expiry date still cling to government’s post!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Since you update your blog unusually fast, I have something to say regarding your previous post".

      Please understand Annie's situation.

      Her previous Umno-licking post failed to get any traction, so she needs to very quickly try a more direct approach, in order to please her paymasters.

      We all need to cari makan, kan.

      If not for RockyBru's kindness and mercy, Annie would be eating at soup kitchens, unable to even afford Maggi Mee.

      FACT.


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    2. Annie, anonymous 3rd July 12.55 must be your No. 1 fan or secret admirer to notice you that much. Lucky girl!

      Delete
  4. Each communities want thier own newspapers for thier own political agenda to brainwash thier communities. With the age of internet, it is the things of the past. Everybody can read beyond thier communities and look into the world in second from paid reporters, blogger etc.. at lightning speeds. So print media is thing of the past. Msm has little impart on communities. Goverment used to announce thier project but nobody cares this days. This jihad committe or that recovery group.Nobody cares.Perception is they have trust deficit. He cant even solve kampong baru issue but want to solve the inflation. People joked that politicians and lawyers are excluded from entering world lying contest as they are over advantage.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Solving kg baru problem has no bearing with solving inflation.

      Delete
  5. What pm should do is to ask quitely hz to tell ros not to approve umnok constitutional change coming july. The party is force to hold party election in dec if not the party will be delisted. IS should go for jugular for pres post. That is the proof of pudding if zh is still popular. PM can calls pru15. He has to prove that he has mandate from his party and rakyat to be pm after pru15. He can thanstand tall and be proud.

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  6. Chinese makes abt 24% of Msian popn.. bole mentally calculate the Chinese papers daily circulation...

    Rasanya cikit aje. Puak tua2 tak gi sekolah mmg buta huruf Bahasa Mandarin, BM dan BI.
    Yg gi our national schools mmg taktau baca dan cakap Mandalin.

    Tambah plak sikalang puak2 old schools SJKC payah juga, tulisan Mandalin dah byk gunapakai simplified version..

    Readers will be those fm SJKCs yg taktau guna computer to read daily updated online news..

    Ex SJKC BM/BI tak fasih so nak baca Bahasa Kebangsaan or English newspapers payah sikit. So we get their DAP leaders yg kurang cerdik tapi nak gaya lebih, suka cali galuh sebab bila baca either confused, silap tafsir atau tak paham apa yg mereka baca. Tgk udah le most DAP leaders berbahas dalam dewan. Even Guan Eng bila berbahas. Myanmmar dan Bangla lebih fasih bertutur dlm BM dr dia.

    Kadang2 kesian juga tgk even College n Uni chinese students struggling to communicate in BM or BI.. tak caya? Gi tengok dgn mata kepala sendili.

    Nationwide circulation rasanya tak seberapa. Tapi lamai Cina beli sbb suratkabar sll tebal, senang nak bungkus barang jualan kat pasar, buah2, sayur2, ikan2, jual barang2 kaca etc eh even I often beli tau esp my kucen beranak, guna utk alas2 kotak kittens.

    Neway circulation tak byk cam mana nak bayaq gaji pekerja mahal2??

    Professor Nasi Lemak

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sepuluh tahun lepas, era sebelum social media , Sin Chiew adalah suratkhabar terlaris diMalaysia with circulation around 320k. Suratkabar Melayu terlaris Harian Metro bawah sikit manakala suratkhabar English paling popular The Star at about 200k.

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    2. yeah ke? bukan harian malaysia. ahli umnok pun dah 3 juta yang beli dan baca.
      sekurang kurang cik ani sebut harak-kiri pun ada satu juta pembaca.

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  7. Cik Annie. Olang Cina kuat berjudi, to many its a daily affair.. tahap ketagih. Contoh katakaloo tgh sembang2 tetiba ade biawak masuk rumah dia, terus lari gi kedai Toto tikam nombor.

    Masalah ketagih judi bagaikan satu budaya Cina, even in Singapore (majority Chinese population).

    Selalunya dulu sblum ade kemudahan IT, pagi2 buta berebut2 beli suratkabar Cina.
    Yg taktau baca atau ciakap Mandalin pun beli sulat kabar Cina sebab nak belek keputusan nombor2 ekoq yg depa beli.

    Sebab tu la dulu2 surat kabar Cina sgt2 laris.

    Professor Nasi Lemak

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    Replies
    1. Two of the companies are Indonesian subsidiaries of Thailand-based food conglomerate Charoen Pokphand

      wonder why the siamese conglomerat all in SE asai,
      kurang pooper cerdik serpeti nasi lemak kot! di Siam

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    2. You should change your name to Prof Kangkung

      Delete
    3. Professor Nasi Lemak Bodoh lebih sesuai

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