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I wasn't correctly quoted by The Star in a last-week news, too. Hate it.

Cheers,
Yuen-Chi

this is absurd!

Why bother posting his letter on the paper if they're gonna edit it out of context?

What has the world (and our newspaper industry) come to?

Hi Jeff,

I read the following statement in theSun (Tue, 1-Aug-06), Pg. 2. under the heading,
"Control to curb spread of rumours".

Minister Datuk Zainuddin Maidin said,
"In one aspect, the control on media content will boost credibility of a website as the people will know the news published was accurate and no longer based on rumours."

HOW can "control" "boost credibility"?!

ISN'T "control" equals censorship? "Somebody" deciding for everybody what is proper and what is not...

I FEEL sick to my stomach...

Credibility is EARNED (with reputation and track record for good reporting) - its not an easy task to do (especially in news blogs and such)

regards,
Lance

Will the day come when websites may be installed or bought over and controlled to continue the “print media agenda”? At the end of the day, it is the Joe public with the power of discernment that will determine the credibility of a website giving out balanced views. Check out other details at
http://powerpresent.blogspot.com/2006/08/internet-websites-and-blogs-to-be.html

There is a "Blue Ribbon Online Free Speech Campaign"
at www.eff.org/br/

I've not checked for anything underlying, so up to bloggers to join.

I think the difference between the "original" and the "fake" are very obvious. The fellow who edited the letter must have failed his or her English test on "Summary".

Imagine what if there is no Internet, Jeff's Blog and the correspondance between Jeff and Wang, we will be conned and our mind really be "controlled".

No wonder the MCA Party like the parties of the old in those Cold War era, would want to control newspapers to control minds. I think they are 20-30 years behind time and does not know that the Cold War aka "World War 3" in fact is over.

Gave up on writing to mainstream media a long time ago as they are very good at editing to misquote and misreport as complained about by Fu and Samy Velu and so many other Ministers and deputy ministers. That is why we need a stronger Printing Press Control on these mainstream media. Ther are like loose canon always demeaning and misquoting our honourable ministers and deputy ministers. How dare they?

Observer, I don't see how "strong printing press control" will help to improve the printing media quality. Perhaps you should enlighthen us.

All the more reason to keep on reading blogs, like this one, I should add.

If this Umno govt is more transparent, they wouldn't have to worry about any media, mainstream or internet, ruffling their feathers. Their lack of transparency is the root cause of all the ruckus.

For instance, if the statement made is fiction that Umno has accumulated some RM8Billion in its coffers when its membership fee is miniscule, wouldn't it be an instant palliative if they were to come out swiftly and release their accounts in full? Fiction can't fight fact. Unless the story is actually true and they have been practising the use of money attributable to the State and the rakyat to further their own cause when everyone knows that such money came from all the rakyat, including those who don't share the practices and low-downs of Umno. Is that fair? Was that the intention/niat all along?

Taking an example, there's the socalled rumour going around about the bridge. It has been said that the Penang bridge project was initially given to both the Koreans and the French; the Koreans were to get the two ends of the bridge and the French the middle. The story went that the head of govt of that time paid a visit to Seoul, and on his return peremptorily cancelled the decision, and made the award completely to the Koreans. Whatever the wisdom of that reversing, the rub was that apparently some RM30million was conveyed out of the country from Subang airport in suitcases by a late Woodxxxx acting on the instructions of a minister fronting for some other Minister called the ten percent man.

When you're faced with such a derring-do story as you've been bombarded by so many other socalled stories - from privatisation kickbacks to inflated prices for assets to bailout of cronies - would you as a tax-paying, law-abiding, bendera-holding rakyat sit idly by, especially when you see an entire family commit suicide on a rail track because one parent was jobless, a bright student hacked to death because the country was too poor to pay for more policing or fight social ills, and a million other problems where money can be put to better use than satisfy the thieving greed of some at the expense of all?

What has become more nefarious than this commercialisation of politics, some say bastardisation of the spirit of the alliance, has lately been a new trend. It seems that now it is open hunting season on anyone who won't buckle to the parochial, regressive, self-anointed interests of some segments of the powerites. The trend is this: "we deny, we'll even deny that we're denying, and if you can't accept this and move on, then move out". How different is this from Bush Senior's son?

So, if you next say you'll stick around because you want to believe half the story that there's a malaysian identity worthy of being forged, then seeing an opportunity to drive the nail further in, they will be quick to add:
"nationalism is paramount, ethnic relations as defined by us is paramount, the supremacy or ketuanan or governmental partiality towards one gruppe Malaysia is not for discussion, the use of any medium to discuss and intelligently debate issues is detrimental to national interest, and that's why we're clamping down."

Faced with all this, seeing how they've hijacked everything from government to commerce, education to toll-collection, approvals for places of worship to legal discussions on constitutional interpretations, federal and state contracts to even intellectual processes, you try to retort: "the nationalism you're saying is defined by you, not the rakyat. Why should the well-meaning majority of the rakyat have to bear the brunt of your cowardice to face up and bridle one group that's constantly up to knee-jerk uninformed reactions? And what'll be your new role to activate the more moderate intelligent segment of your community so that they will come out of their own shells and comfort zones to pull the rest up to aerate the minds, open the hearts and be more progressive in their outlooks?"

There is one more trend that's building up. It's about diminishing the value of the past, to wit cancelling all past misdeeds. They call them mistakes and so pushes for amnesty. Forgive and forget is fine but it should only be applied between person and person, not between such an institution as a government and the whole corpus of citizens. Why is this so? If you continue to ignore the lessons of the past, there's a fifty percent chance you'll repeat the same 'mistakes' in the future; some will say it would amount to implicit approval for these misdeeds to be perpetuated by the next generations of leaders, depending on their level of greed, need and wit. For example, a past PM has recently said his sons did not benefit from his office, yet we know that executive decisions were taken to bail out their failing concerns using funds from government-linked corporations. Was there due diligence and corporate integrity measures for such gargantuan drains of national funds? If such can conveniently ignore to personal satisfaction, what do you think the rakyat will conclude if the present PM can feign ignorance about a certain acquisition that involves the very body now mandated to run a big chunk of the 9MP? And if you think there's reasonable grounds to discuss this, how do you think the editors of the press who work for you won't 'reorientate' any letter written to their press trying to surface these issues for national review?

There are so many problems lately and if you say it's because the media have been given some latitude to air them, what does that say if they weren't, like in the same past that your new move towards curbing freedom of speech is trying to bring back?

Nobody likes to spin rumours that will hurt goodwill and national interest. But if the govt concerned has absolutely no record of integrity, what more fiscal efficiency and fair ethnic relations treatment, what can you do as a true citizen, close an other eye?

Surely we don't want to be in the situation of the Sabah NRD whose officers refused to turn up for a discussion on what has happened with the citizenship numbers in that State. Is that how a country aiming for developed status by 2020 runs itself?

The thing this Umno govt is missing by a mile is its inability to look at itself and candidly admit it has screwed up big-time in all areas. And the Cabinet which reports to the Umno central committee in more ways than one is made up of people who should just take five, go somewhere and find out how the rest of the emerging world has move ahead - not just physically but also mentally - while these jokers continue to delude themselves they need to maintain what they've defined because they can't seem to have the guts to pull out one stratum, and therefore modernize their own policies bent for too long towards them.

You can shape a great country, the rakyat can do their own muhibbah without your promptings, but you'll need to get your own policies, actions, statements and perspectives done right first.

If you've enjoyed this rambling, think again about curbing internet, NGO, peoples' forums. Start by questioning your own assumption that the rakyat had voted you to keep a monopoly you've only defined for yourself.

G'day, Mahathir, Badawi, Zam, Fu, Nazri, Hishammuddin, Khairi etc. etc, and that special group in Umno/Putrajaya who shapes their thinking.

Seems like it is the other way round. Controlling the internet means forcing the internet media to spread more fake news.

IMHO, the purpose of the PPPA is to censor the TRUTH.

Neil's posting is not "rambling".It is saying as briefly as possible the rot the country gas been going through for 25 years.Those who are causing the damage are aware of the tremnedous damage done to the country and they care two hooks about the future of Malaysia, worried only about staying in power to cause more damage and accummulate more wealth for themselves. They are not governing the country for the country and the present and future generations but managing its resources for their benefit.The country is, to quote something I read recently, between "intensive care and death".I wonder if anyone in authority realises this precarious situation and if yes,what they intend to do about it.
Neil, good work but is wasted on our leaders.
.It reminds of two quotes I heard when I was in school-pouring water on a duck's back and an Ethopian cannot become white(pardon me it is not my expression). That is what I have to say about our leaders of 25 years.
ksn

Let me share some "insider" views on why and how these mainstream papers land up being so 'pathetic" -- misquoting ministers. deputy ministers and the quoted example of a letter writer whose content was "summarised" wrongly.
First, there are "senior editors" within this particular newspaper who have NOT written a single article in FIVE YEARS. I can vouch for that because I served there for that period of time and these editors NEVER had a byline to any writing!

Second,the GEIC used to write columns using "I" and "I" all the time -- Journalism 101 teaches you NEVER, ever use the First person unless there are very specific and special circumstances warranting it (Which did not apply to the writings this *GEIC wrote). Besides that, he enjopyed dropping names of corporates with phrases l;ike "I was havuing lunch with Tan Sri X & Y...and I learned ..."

Malaysian mainstream press editors would be "thrashed" by first year undergarads of Mass Comm if their writings were to be subject to case studies ... I hope this explains a little the present state of affairs, but of course, their Poltical masters are accomplices to the acts.

"You want IT on page one, Mr Minister Datuk Seri..., you're got IT on page 1!" Yes, Sir!
*When In took out his corporate Tan Sri's Book Review as a "news item" came in which enjoyed higher priority, this GEIC "reprimanded" me for doing so; I more or less asked him to "fly kite"! He never pursued "the matter" because he knew he was WRONG, as far as Journalism practice and ethics was concerned.

Thanks, Jeff.

They've made me write this other letter.

http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/8/3/focus/15021822&sec=focus

JEFF OOI says: Good for you.