The Malay (publications) Dilemma
Johan Jaaffar, the man emplaced by Anwar Ibrahim as the Group EIC of Utusan Group in 1992, told his readers how he and his team had helped save the Mastika magazine.
Then, Mastika was bleeding with barely 6,000 copies in circulation.
But Mastika, despite its dismal performance in generating revenue, was a respectable publication by any measure. Says Johan:
"The articles were well-edited and the contributors were almost the who’s who among the intelligentsia and journalists of the day.More importantly, its literary pages (which included short stories or cerpen and poetry) set a standard of excellence. Many writers who later became famous started as contributors for Mastika.
The editors of Mastika too were legends in their own right — Mohd Dahlan Mansor (Hamdam), Kamaluddin Muhammad (Keris Mas), A. Samad Said, Usman Awang, Asraf, Abu Bakar Husny and in later years Harun Hassan, Subky Latif and Zaharah Nawawi, to name a few.
That was the good part. But, in realpolitik, Mastika was dying, and a new life-support system has to be put in place.
Johan's team, with the present GEIC Khalid Mohamad at the core, revamped Mastika in September 1995, and circulation hit 20,000 copies on the third month, surpassed 150,000 in less than a year, and now, some ten years later, it’s hovering around 300,000 copies a month, making it the biggest selling magazine in the country.
Success formula? Wholesome spread of "stories about ghosts, spirits and more ghosts and spirits".
Johan has a take on this matter about the Malay readership:
Call it the dumbing-down of Malay readers. Or better still, the downslide of Malay publications. The truth is such stories sell. Even today, Malay papers are facing a dilemma.
Harian Metro with its staple of sensational stories is currently the biggest selling Malay newspaper, not Berita Harian or Utusan Malaysia.
The difference between the average circulation of the biggest selling newspaper in this country (incidentally a Chinese one) and the biggest selling Malay paper is almost 100,000 copies.
One can blame the Utusan group for publishing Mastika.
Usman (Awang) and many others were unhappy with the changes we made back in 1995. Understandably so.
But as Khalid, the present chief editor of the group, pointed out to an audience a few days ago to commemorate Mastika’s 65th birthday: "If we had not revamped Mastika, it would have died a natural death."
Like Khalid, I offer no apologies.
I have a compilation of how Johan and Amir Muhammad had remembered Usman Awang when the poet passed on in 2001. I had used USJ.com.my as the platform as blogs weren't pervasive, then. It's in the Google cache.
One day, perhaps Mastika may carry a story about Usman Awang, national literary laureate and Mastika editor from 1958 to 1962, turning in his grave.
To those who do not know Usman Awang, let me share one of his many poetries, titled 'Melayu'.
Usman AwangMelayu
Melayu itu orang yang bijaksana
Nakalnya bersulam jenaka
Budi bahasanya tidak terkira
Kurang ajarnya tetap santun
Jika menipu pun masih bersopan
Bila mengampu bijak beralas tanganMelayu itu berani jika bersalah
Kecut takut kerana benar
Janji simpan di perut
Selalu pecah di mulut
Biar mati adat
Jangan mati anakMelayu di Tanah Semenanjung luas maknanya:
Jawa itu Melayu, Bugis itu Melayu
Banjar juga disebut Melayu,
Minangkabau memang Melayu,
Keturunan Acheh adalah Melayu,
Jakun dan Sakai asli Melayu,
Arab dan Pakistani, semua Melayu
Mamak dan Malbari serap ke Melayu
Malah mua'alaf bertakrif Melayu
(Setelah disunat anunya itu)Dalam sejarahnya
Melayu itu pengembara lautan
Melorongkan jalur sejarah zaman
Begitu luas daerah sempadan
Sayangnya kini segala kehilanganMelayu itu kaya falsafahnya
Kias kata bidal pusaka
Akar budi bersulamkan daya
Gedung akal laut bicaraMalangnya Melayu itu kuat bersorak
Terlalu ghairah pesta temasya
Sedangkan kampung telah tergadai
Sawah sejalur tinggal sejengkal
Tanah sebidang mudah terjualMeski telah memiliki telaga
Tangan masih memegang tali
Sedang orang mencapai timba
Berbuahlah pisang tiga kali
Melayu itu masih bermimpiWalaupun sudah mengenal universiti
Masih berdagang di rumah sendiri
Berkelahi cara Melayu
Menikam dengan pantun
Menyanggah dengan senyum
Marahnya dengan diam
Merendah bukan menyembah
Meninggi bukan melonjakWatak Melayu menolak permusuhan
Setia dan sabar tiada sempadan
Tapi jika marah tak nampak telinga
Musuh dicari ke lubang cacing
Tak dapat tanduk telinga dijinjing
Maruah dan agama dihina jangan
Hebat amuknya tak kenal lawanBerdamai cara Melayu indah sekali
Silaturrahim hati yang murni
Maaf diungkap senantiasa bersahut
Tangan diulur sentiasa bersambut
Luka pun tidak lagi berparutBaiknya hati Melayu itu tak terbandingkan
Selaga yang ada sanggup diberikan
Sehingga tercipta sebuah kiasan:
"Dagang lalu nasi ditanakkan
Suami pulang lapar tak makan
Kera di hutan disusu-susukan
Anak di pangkuan mati kebuluran"Bagaimanakah Melayu abad dua puluh satu
Masihkan tunduk tersipu-sipu ?
Jangan takut melanggar pantang
Jika pantang menghalang kemajuan;
Jangan segan menentang larangan
Jika yakin kepada kebenaran;
Jangan malu mengucapkan keyakinan
Jika percaya kepada keadilanJadilah bangsa yang bijaksana
Memegang tali memegang timba
Memiliki ekonomi mencipta budaya
Menjadi tuan di negara Merdeka
Comments
Wow. spoken like a true a**hole.
When money's the only motivator, anything goes I suppose.
The fact that he champions Harian Metro makes me sick.
"Hello, my name is Johan, and I make magazines for dumb Malays."
How can Utusan publishes porno stories while we in teh intarweb are flamed at for publishing something remotely pornographic?
OH WOW LELAKI KOMUNIS IS HARAM!!! CERITA SEKS DENGAN HANTU IS HALAL!!
Posted by: C-Fu![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jeffooi.my/nav-commenters.gif)
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June 4, 2006 10:01 AM
Mastika is an anise-flavored liqueur popular in the Southern Balkan. Oh yea it's poisoning the minds of more than 300,000 readers a month.
Mastika is no better than a banned Playboy magazine.
Goddamn you, Johan.
Posted by: Overthefence![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jeffooi.my/nav-commenters.gif)
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June 4, 2006 02:47 PM
Dear C-Fu and Overthefence,
I can safely bet that you do not have any experience in corporate restructuring. What a pity your passion cannot be directed to a more constructive action.
A wise man once said, “Battles are not won on battlefields, they are won in the minds of a few”.
In our context it means when you sit on the Editor’s seat, the stakeholders put the onus, the responsibility on you to come up with the BEST STRATEGY to make the company more profitable. BEST STRATEGY, not mediocre, not so so lah but the BEST STRATEGY.
Good or bad, the common Malay prefers to read “fiction” (hence the 300,000 copies per month). Whether you like it or not, your real frustration does NOT stem from the publications but manifest from your inability to find the right logic. Let me illustrate:
1) At least the publications provide the platform to make people to want to read. The average Malaysian reads only 1.5 books (standard 500-pages bestseller) PER YEAR. For the love of God, that’s less than the number of times the average Malaysian has sex in a week.
2) You argue about pornography. Not if the material is for self-development. Here’s a tip. Read up Kamasutra and you might learn how to perform “tantric sex”. Hopefully that will make the average Malaysian to concentrate more on reading than just sex.
Oh by the way, the hottest film this year The Da Vinci Code is a FICTION. It gross close to USD500 million in less than 3 weeks.
Maybe one day, at least 1 out of the 300,000 Mastika readers will have the idea to write something that the whole Malaysia including C-Fu and Overthefence can enjoy. Hell maybe the whole world. Why not?
Posted by: naz![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jeffooi.my/nav-commenters.gif)
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June 4, 2006 07:49 PM
Usman Awang is dead right.
Posted by: moo_t![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jeffooi.my/nav-commenters.gif)
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June 4, 2006 08:04 PM
1) Malay porn or just porn in general provides the platform for people to sign up for broadband.
2) Here's a tip. Read between the lines next time. I'm not comparing Kamasutra to Mastika mate. I'm comparing govt's stance towards pornographic material in Mastika vs their stance with Lelaki Komunis Terakhir and Playboy.
"In our context it means when you sit on the Editor’s seat, the stakeholders put the onus, the responsibility on you to come up with the BEST STRATEGY to make the company more profitable. BEST STRATEGY, not mediocre, not so so lah but the BEST STRATEGY. "
I'm very well versed with corporate greed, thank you. Read up on what RIAA is doing. Read up on Lexmark's DMCA print cartridges court case.
What I'm saying is their/ Johan's corporate strategy is to fuel the nation's idiotic lust for porn in a very, very subtle way. It might be a GoodThing™ but only to them, not to the nation.
Posted by: C-Fu![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jeffooi.my/nav-commenters.gif)
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June 4, 2006 09:43 PM
I hope there is some space in mastika and metro whereby certain articles from the bbc technology/sience column are translated into malay. If only 5% of the readers were to read it, it will be a positive step and in the long run, heading in the right direction.
It's really disheartening to see young malays unable to speak proper malay. Now I know where they got that disability from.
Posted by: sydput![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jeffooi.my/nav-commenters.gif)
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June 4, 2006 11:51 PM
Beg your pardon, naz.
I am not here to talk about sex. Reading Mastika is like taking addictive pills or drugs or even cigarettes. Such books bring no benefit but harm to the society. By the way, I've watched the Da Vinci Code and I found it boring (worse than the novel itself). It is a masterpierce of manupulating the fact and fiction for those history-dummies.
Posted by: Overthefence![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jeffooi.my/nav-commenters.gif)
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June 5, 2006 11:45 AM
i read Mastika once a while..and i don't like it. don't know when Utusan will publish a good reading materials such as Readers Digest..as for the Da Vinci Code..i've read the novel it was bored..don't know why people make a movie from the novel
Posted by: nhm![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jeffooi.my/nav-commenters.gif)
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June 5, 2006 01:28 PM
Jeff, you put me to shame. You seem to have wider exposure to Malay literary works than me, a 50 year old Malay male!
Thanks for posting the Usman Awang piece. I enjoyed it.
Posted by: puddingarnab![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jeffooi.my/nav-commenters.gif)
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June 6, 2006 03:59 PM