In Malaysia, there used to be this thing called independent journalism within the Chinese press industry. Independence is, of course, a relative term, and it was permitted as long as no critical contents appeared about the Umno top leadership.

Some saw the limited autonomy of the Chinese press as a blessing, that Chinese Malaysians, unlike their Malay or English-speaking compatriots, were able to read news from various perspectives.

Others, however, were pained by the perception that the relative freedom granted to the Chinese dailies in fact reflected the 'declining' position of Chinese Malaysians in this country. The received wisdom was that, leaving the Chinese out of the decision-making process, the authorities were more than happy to give Chinese journalists a false sense of freedom, so long as they did not cross the line drawn by the Home Ministry.

But the landscape of Malaysia's Chinese press industry began to change beyond recognition since the 1990s. With the help of certain big shots in MCA, coupled with the ambition of a Chinese press industry player by the name of Tiong Hew King, owner of the 75-year-old Sin Chew Daily since 1988, to be a press baron, the Chinese press in Malaysia has forged a strong fraternity with the government.

With all the cautiously and meticulously set restrictions, it is more than certain that the Barisan Nasional (BN) will remain the government of the day for years to come.

The takeover

The Chinese press industry deteriorated further after the Lunas by-election in November 2000, during which Nanyang Siang Pau reported a series of issues concerning the Chinese community that were deemed to be racially sensitive and controversial by the government.

Nanyang

paid the price for BN's loss in Lunas when it was taken over by the MCA a few months later. Former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad, still reeling from the Lunas shock, chastised certain groups for opposing the takeover at the 2001 Umno general assembly.

Well, there went another bastion of Chinese cultural rights. But then, looking at the Chinese dailies last Wednesday, I kind of felt a ray of hope, when the news of a small explosive thrown at the Australian High Commission in Kuala Lumpur made headlines in Sinchew , Nanyang and the China Press .

Paradoxically, the Oriental Daily News , touting itself to be the most 'independent' in the industry, relegated the story to nearly the very last page.

I then took a glance at the non-Chinese papers: the New Straits Times ran the story in page two, the Star in page three and Berita Harian in page 14. Utusan Malaysia? It ignored the news altogether as if nothing had happened to the Aussies in KL.

My favourite English newspaper, The Sun , briefly mentioned the incident. Suddenly, I wished strongly that I could read a bit of Tamil too.

So, cutting the umbilical cord between the mainstream press and the ruling coalition remains a pipe dream for me. I had thought the prime minister, eager to be seen as open, negotiable and progressive, would approach the Malaysian press differently.

But perhaps such highly alerting and potentially destabilising news indeed should not have been played out of proportion, and I should have given Pak Lah the benefit of the doubt. Anyway, had there been any instruction from the Home Ministry for the press to downplay the small explosion, it clearly failed to reach the desks of all the Chinese press editors in KL, except for that of the Oriental Daily .

New cabinet

Another focus of this week's news was, needless to say, the not-too-long-awaited Abdullah Administration. In the early days of Mahathir's premiership, his cabinet was popularly referred to as the 2-M government, with Musa Hitam as his deputy.

Incidentally or coincidentally, there was also this joke in town about an international 2-M: Mexico and Malaysia, both for being the two biggest debtor countries in the early 1980s.

Perhaps to avoid giving the impression of an Abdullah-Najib (Abdul Razak) administration, the New Sunday Times stressed that the cabinet line-up last Saturday was 'Abdullah's Team' while Mingguan Malaysia hailed it as a ' Kabinet Rakyat ' (People's cabinet).

This time, among the biggest surprises was the departure of Chua Jui Meng, health minister since 1995, from the cabinet. Was he not rakyat mesra (people-friendly) enough to be reappointed?

Chua, a possible challenger to MCA President Ong Ka Ting and said to be extremely close to the prime minister, has remained silent thus far, but his being passed over in the new cabinet signifies the realignment within the MCA.

Apparently, Abdullah wanted all component parties to close ranks and rally behind him, for which he was willing to go as far as to sacrifice even his own men.

The endstation

According to the Chinese press, Chua's failing to keep his job again confirms the speculation that the Health Ministry is the endstation for any senior or ambitious MCA leader. He was replaced by Chua Soi Lek, a Team A heavyweight hailing from Johor.

The Team A Chua may not necessarily see his appointment as a boon for his maiden voyage in national politics. If the cabinet post was indeed the beginning of the end of his political career, the new health minister might wish he had remained a big fish in the small pond than being a small fish in the ocean.

Such is certainly the case with Hilmi Yahaya, the ex-deputy chief minister of Penang and now parliamentary secretary at the finance ministry. He may be placed in a powerful ministry, but the post given to him is no much better than serving as a political secretary.

Hilmi's perceived demotion can perhaps be attributed to his 'failure' to safeguard the allegedly marginalised Malay community in the 'Chinese-ruled' state of Penang. As Utusan Malaysia had implied , Hilmi was too much of a compromising Malay leader for the last five years.

Acutely aware of the mission upon him, Abdul Rashid Abdullah, Hilmi's successor in Penang, vowed to make improving the Malay lot his No1 task. So, the Penangites of Chinese origin must now be thankful for Dr Koh Tsu Koon, who will continue to look after their interests for the next few years, while his deputy Abdul Rashid will take care of the Malays.

I would suggest to the Penang government that, having secured the trust of the Chinese and the Malays, an assistant chief minister post be created and reserved only for an Indian Muslim. Otherwise, who can ensure that Nasi Kandar will always remain a pride of the Penangites?