Newspaper commentary sparks debate on race-baiting
Emily ChowPublished: Aug 5, 2009 10:42 AM | Updated: Aug 6, 2009 5:48 AM
A controversial commentary published by Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia has kicked off a debate on race-baiting.
A controversial commentary published by Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia has kicked off a debate on race-baiting.
Centre for Independent Journalism executive director V Gayathry expressed her disappointment with the author of the commentary, which was published in Utusan yesterday.
“I believe that the commentary is trying to racialise the fundamental issues of governance and accountability. It gets problematic when you use a racial lens to solve these issues,” she said.
The Malay-language daily has also run a front-page news report which sparked outrage from the opposition.
On Monday, Utusan headlined 'Anwar Pengkhianat' (Anwar the traitor), which drew a sharp rebuke from the opposition leader.
Anwar has threatened to sue Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who made the accusation, as well as Utusan.
The following day saw the controversial comment piece in Utusan, with the author suggesting that the Chinese and Indians were colluding with PAS to erode Malay political power.
The commentary also pointed out how certain quarters were fanning racial sentiments to create ‘anger and hatred’ among the people towards the Malay authorities.
Pro-ISA group defends Utusan...
Gayathry told Malaysiakini that Utusan has tried to pit the various races in the country against one another.
“This is very unhealthy. Utusan stereotypes by assuming all Malays think the same way,” she said.
Gayathry also said that these inaccurate assumptions point to a clear political agenda, which is to bring down the opposition coalition Pakatan Rakyat.
However, Permuafakatan Ummah (Pewaris) deputy chairperson Rahimuddin Md Harun defended Utusan, saying that he did not see anything wrong with the commentary.
“It is not only Utusan, but there have also been articles published in the Chinese and Tamil papers, which viciously criticise the government,” said the leader of the pro-Internal Security Act group.
Rahimuddin added that the Chinese and Tamil newspapers also run “sensitive” articles on race which toy with public sentiments.
“These articles bring up the issue of race problems as well without any respect for the Malays, yet no one says anything about it,” he said, without providing specific examples.
“So why is racism only brought up when Utusan publishes these kind of articles?” asked Rahimuddin.
Utusan undermines Najib’s 1Malaysia
Gerakan Youth chief Lim Si Pin, however, ticked off Utusan for publishing the article.
Referring to the comment piece, Lim urged all parties to stop making such irresponsible statements as it could stir up emotions amongst Malaysia’s multi-racial society and threaten national unity.
“These articles containing seditious remarks could lead to racial disharmony in the country,” he said in a press statement today.
Lim added that since Utusan was owned by Umno, they should not undermine the prime minister’s efforts in implementing unity in the country by publishing articles with racial overtones.
“These types of comment pieces openly contradict and challenge the 1Malaysia concept propagated by Najib Razak,” he said.
Lim also said that if Utusan was trying to use the paper as a way of pushing its agenda, it would not be successful as many people today have access to alternative information.
However, Gayathry thought otherwise, saying that Utusan is the leading Malay paper in the nation with a large readership.
“We want Utusan to rethink their approach on the kind of information that they are spreading.
“We are concerned that the people who read Utusan don’t have access to alternative news, and since Utusan dominates the market, it affects the people on how they think,” she said.
Centre for Independent Journalism executive director V Gayathry expressed her disappointment with the author of the commentary, which was published in Utusan yesterday.
“I believe that the commentary is trying to racialise the fundamental issues of governance and accountability. It gets problematic when you use a racial lens to solve these issues,” she said.
The Malay-language daily has also run a front-page news report which sparked outrage from the opposition.
On Monday, Utusan headlined 'Anwar Pengkhianat' (Anwar the traitor), which drew a sharp rebuke from the opposition leader.Anwar has threatened to sue Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who made the accusation, as well as Utusan.
The following day saw the controversial comment piece in Utusan, with the author suggesting that the Chinese and Indians were colluding with PAS to erode Malay political power.
The commentary also pointed out how certain quarters were fanning racial sentiments to create ‘anger and hatred’ among the people towards the Malay authorities.
Pro-ISA group defends Utusan...
Gayathry told Malaysiakini that Utusan has tried to pit the various races in the country against one another.
“This is very unhealthy. Utusan stereotypes by assuming all Malays think the same way,” she said.
Gayathry also said that these inaccurate assumptions point to a clear political agenda, which is to bring down the opposition coalition Pakatan Rakyat.
However, Permuafakatan Ummah (Pewaris) deputy chairperson Rahimuddin Md Harun defended Utusan, saying that he did not see anything wrong with the commentary.“It is not only Utusan, but there have also been articles published in the Chinese and Tamil papers, which viciously criticise the government,” said the leader of the pro-Internal Security Act group.
Rahimuddin added that the Chinese and Tamil newspapers also run “sensitive” articles on race which toy with public sentiments.
“These articles bring up the issue of race problems as well without any respect for the Malays, yet no one says anything about it,” he said, without providing specific examples.
“So why is racism only brought up when Utusan publishes these kind of articles?” asked Rahimuddin.
Utusan undermines Najib’s 1Malaysia
Gerakan Youth chief Lim Si Pin, however, ticked off Utusan for publishing the article.
Referring to the comment piece, Lim urged all parties to stop making such irresponsible statements as it could stir up emotions amongst Malaysia’s multi-racial society and threaten national unity.
“These articles containing seditious remarks could lead to racial disharmony in the country,” he said in a press statement today.
Lim added that since Utusan was owned by Umno, they should not undermine the prime minister’s efforts in implementing unity in the country by publishing articles with racial overtones.
“These types of comment pieces openly contradict and challenge the 1Malaysia concept propagated by Najib Razak,” he said.
Lim also said that if Utusan was trying to use the paper as a way of pushing its agenda, it would not be successful as many people today have access to alternative information.
However, Gayathry thought otherwise, saying that Utusan is the leading Malay paper in the nation with a large readership.
“We want Utusan to rethink their approach on the kind of information that they are spreading.
“We are concerned that the people who read Utusan don’t have access to alternative news, and since Utusan dominates the market, it affects the people on how they think,” she said.
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