DEC 19 — 1 Malaysia doesn’t seem to have won many converts.
Instead, it claimed a few victims the other day in Parliament when four Pakatan Rakyat MPs were suspended six months for linking the concept to One Israel as both shared a common public relations agency — APCO Worldwide.
Today, 1 Malaysia is the victim of Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s party newspaper — Utusan Malaysia.
Its editorial columnist, Awang Selamat, a pseudonym used by its editors, went on a rant against Umno’s political foes, the DAP, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat.
Another columnist, Dr Mohd Ridhuan Tee Abdullah, also took exception with the running debate on history texts, on Malaysian talent abroad who don’t want to return, and spoke about patriotism and loyalty to Malaysia.
Fair is fair. It is Umno’s newspaper. And they can spew out anything they like. There is a concept called the freedom of expression.
Yet, if one were to talk about unity as espoused by the prime minister since he took office in April 2009, then Umno’s newspapers have failed to further that concept.
Let’s be clear. This is a paper which has studiously undermined and hammered non-Malays at every turn since 2008. They have done this by painting DAP as the bogeyman. But, really, the target of their articles and editorials has been non-Malays.
They have consistently undermined MIC, MCA and any other party whose members are from the minority races.
And they have not been restrained by either Umno or the Barisan Nasional government,
Ostensibly, the national communications team of the Prime Minister’s Department is supposed to keep the paper in check but they have done a miserable job. All they have managed is to make sure the Najib administration’s good news gets front-page treatment.
On other matters, they are silent.
It is a simple equation: Either you are for 1 Malaysia or you are not. There is no use paying lip service to it because your boss started his administration using the concept.
In Utusan’s case, it has played a sterling role in dividing the races. Should the Malaysian electorate reward the paper and its owners for this?
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