MGG Pillai Commentary View

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The Internet - here to stay

The Internet is today what the newspapers and official media were yesterday. We are often told, though, that the Internet cannot be trusted.

The same can be said of newspapers in Malaysia today. They are the public relations arm of the Barisan Nasional (BN). The laws in force do not allow them any other function. Look at how the print and electronic media behave during general elections or by-elections.

There is no discussion of the issues that matter, only a BN slant to it. It does not matter which newspaper one reads, it has the viewpoint of its owner - but that it is from the BN, especially of its leaders, is not in doubt.

People read newspapers because they are used to it. They are creatures of habit, and reading a newspaper is a habit for most. But the newspapers take readers for granted, and thus lose out.

The current trend among newspapers in England is go tabloid. It is not surprising that it is so too in Malaysia. The editors here find creative reasons why it should also be the norm in Malaysia.

But it is not convenient. It might be easier to read, but its bulk makes this difficult to do outside the house. In the house, the broadsheet is better. The New Straits Times (NST), which I had read from the 1950s until early this year, lost my custom when I was given a choice of either a broadsheet, really a small version of it, or a tabloid.

I had opted for a broadsheet. But I was delivered a tabloid from Day One. I cancelled the paper two weeks later. The next day, the tabloid was delivered. I sent it back and took The Star. It was a tabloid from Day One in the 1970s, but it has become so thick over the years that it is difficult to read it outside the house.

Today, we only have tabloids in English. The best paper is The Sun, a free paper, but which the NST and The Star treat as a poor cousin. But it has views often at odds with authority and gets better by the day. It is available only in the Klang Valley, but the copies given out equals that of the NST sold throughout the country.

All the newspapers, including The Sun, are appendages to commercial organisations. Those in power will not allow news to be reported as it happens. The government's version comes through Bernama, the national news agency. The newspapers carry these items, often without the source, but with their reporter's byline. There is therefore a sameness about what each newspaper carries.

The Sun usually carries Bernama reports, and concentrates on columns and the like. The Star carries what the MCA leadership thinks and, knowing that the government could ban it as happened in October 1987, it is careful about what it publishes.

The NST is an Umno paper, or is perceived by Malaysians as one. Its editor-in-chief has the ear of the prime minister and often selected because of this. In these circumstances, it cannot be expected to report as it should.

Political blogs

More and more Malaysians surf the Internet today. It can be wrong or right. But it is more believable because it contains reports that are not allowed in the daily newspapers. During an Umno convention, the mainstream newspapers and the official media monopolise the reporting of it, but Malaysians prefer the shorter reports that are on the Internet. And what variety there is!

The government controls publication, but the Internet is free. It is afraid Malaysians will get a different view.

Political parties have been slow to understand the power of the Internet. It cannot be stopped no matter what the government does. Singapore has succeeded for the moment, but it is finding the going tough. Once the genie is out of the bottle, it is all but impossible to put it back.

Malaysians are therefore better informed. The BN is becoming slowly convinced. It has ordered its MPs to create blogs. Some have and are better known as a result, although they are not in the ruling clique.

The best known blogger among politicians is DAP veteran leader Lim Kit Siang, who is also leader of the Opposition in Parliament. DAP MP for Seputeh Teresa Kok has become better known for her blog after she brought to Parliament a video recording which showed the police to be lying, and the government to be backing them.

Among BN MPs, former minister and current Backbenchers Club chairperson Shahrir Abdul Samad is active. Malaysians who want to know the Umno position would rather go to his blog than read about it in the mainstream newspapers.

Although the BN has told its MPs to create their own blogs, those who want one would have done so without being told. It is a double-edged weapon. It allows the public to ask questions. If the MP cannot, for whatever reason, answer them. then he or she is in trouble. Those who would rather not explain, would be shortchanged. Discussion in Parliament against what they are often told to oppose is not allowed, and they make up almost 90 percent of Parliament.

Different views

But the Internet is the media of the future, and it will replace the mainstream and official media. This is not to say the Internet is accurate. Nothing is. But it gives a variety of opinions that Malaysians do not find in the media here.

Malaysians, and I dare say foreigners, prefer the Internet to Malaysian newspapers and official media. It is an important means of formulating opinions.

The official hold on information is now challenged. The Internet cannot be dismissed as being unpopular or unchallenged. It has a variety of opinions that gives it its strength and relevance.

Malaysiakini set the trend by offering space for these opinions and providing a different version of what the mainstream and official media carries. The government has tried to shut it down, but it has survived.

Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamed said the Internet would not be censored. He meant well, to make Malaysia a centre for Internet and other communications.

The officials had a different view once they saw the results of that freedom. But now the BN realises the Internet's importance and wants to commandeer for to its politicking. Whether they would succeed is not for me to say.

[This appeared in my column, Chiaroscuro, in malaysiakini,com today]

Ends