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Reading blogger MackZul's piece in defence of Brendan Pereira, largely believed to be ZAM's vilified target 24 hours before the former Utusan Malaysia GEIC was appointed the Minister of Information, I paused to ponder a little.

In Jalan Riong, ZAM is seen as an old-school numbskull who stifles media freedom, while by contrast, Jalan Riong senior editors are 'angkat' and 'angkut' as the messiahs who are ready to fight the tyrant now labelled, by who else, as the self-appointed "editor of Malaysian media" - a post which doesn't exist.

On the other hand, in Menara Star, ZAM is seen as an Umno-centric loyalist, but no doubt a true-blood Malaysian, who, on the third day of his ascension in political career, has gone on record to promote more on multi-racial identity and national unity in the ministry under his care, alongside deputies Chia Kwang Chye and Zahid Hamidi.

A picture tells a thousand words... See the Malay, Chinese and Tamil papers
on ZAM's lap, minus The NST and Berita Harian.
SOURCE: The Star Feb 17 Pg N8

ZAM has also portrayed himself as a grateful, subservient abdi -- not only to the person who made him a full minister on Valentine's Day, but to all his past bosses. Among the first few persons ZAM thanked for were his immediate superiors -- Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Khalil Yaakob and Kadir Sheikh Fadzir, who are all loyalists to Umno, their parent party.

'Bukan Anak Si Tanggang'

To be fair, we cannot possibly see ZAM as an Anak Si Tanggang who deserves so much despise by his own fraternity in the mainstream media.

Going by ZAM' history as someone who had stayed loyal to his party for close to 40 years, during his time both in doldrum and glory, he has displayed an unshaken trait held so sacred in the Melayu psyche -- that is, loyalty to the larger community to which he belongs, and to which he serves well.