No sane person would describe the Malaysian mainstream media as independent; even if some newspapers claim to be 'the people's paper'.

Malaysian readers have grown accustomed to the servile and fawning media, especially in their coverage of the great leader and his loyal minions; and their incessant vitriolic attacks against the opposition parties and other dissenter.

Malaysian readers have become as it were sensitised to the overdose of government propaganda. Perhaps it is after realising the inefficacy of this crude strategy of psychological warfare that the media has tried to file away their blunt weapon by hiring a new bunch of hacks who have been given hefty rewards in government-related company and projects.

We shall attempt here a short survey of their writings in the last few months. The consistent theme in all these columns is a tirade against the United States in order to drum up the patriotic spirit an to demonise the so-called extremists, particularly the Muslim clerics.

Some of their criticisms and concerns may indeed be legitimate and appropriate. But this legitimacy is obscured because of their obvious role as apologists or lackeys for the ruling elite.
Otherwise, they would not have disregarded the rampant corruption and repression, including censorship. This is in fact a betrayal of the very principle that they supposedly hold.

For example, since when has Dr Munir Majid, notorious for his Anglophilia, metamorphosed into a jingoistic nationalist? Why, for instance, was there a sudden hysterical outburst in his recent New Straits Times column, of incredulity and indignation over a spate of corporate scandal in US?

There is absolutely no question of anyone sanctifying the scandals that have unfolded in the US. But unlike the situation here, at least the Americans have some redress, the culprits will be held up to public scrutiny and accountability eventually. Have any our major corporate thieves been charge, let alone convicted?

In The Edge on June 6, Munir bragged of his ability to circumvent 'so many people with vested interests, so many control freaks'.

It is acknowledge that he laid the infrastructure for an effective and functioning Securities Commission (SC). In fact he was at the helm of the SC when the market boomed and in some ways degenerated in a scheme to enrich insiders.

Dr Munir was utterly hapless in trying to deal with the giants corporate scandals involving MAS-Celcom, Renong-UE, Perwaja, Ekran and UMBC. This obviously is a major sin of omission by the commission!

But the single coherent theme in the NST column and other mainstream newspapers is their endless diatribe against US imperialism. This is not a contentious issue with US. What we object to is the hypocrisy, the narrowing of the contours of political correctness, the insult to the reader'
intelligence.

Admittedly, Malaysia do not have 'killing fields' and neither do we live in obvious tyranny. But how could these professed liberals condone grave human right abuses, repressive laws, the muzzling of the media and be so completely servile to their political masters?

And despite all this, Dr Munir proclaimed in The Edge his ambitious task of orchestrating an orderly transfer of power so as not to be hijacked by extremists!

Then there is the tirade by avowed liberal columnist Askiah Adam (Sunday Mail) against the US. We condemn the aggression against Iraq, the collateral damage inflicted on the civilians, and the western media' s tendency to equate Islam with terrorism.But why silence against decade of repression under Saddam Hussien and Fidel Castro for example?

Closer to home, Aung San Suu Kyi was only recently mentioned after the political master's positive signal. There is no need to wonder why Askiah is still furious over former US vice-president Al Gore's remarks on reformasi. But to suggest that there was 'compelling evidence' against Anwar Ibrahim is an affront to our intelligence.

This is contrary to the position of all known legal experts and human rights organisations.

She made disparaging remarks about so-called Umno hulubalang, bemoaning the fact that these gurkhas are incapable of digesting the party president's speech in assembly, let alone emulate him. The writer needs look no further, as it is obvious she herself represents the ideal hulubalang - having been able to digest and efficiently regurgitate the ideas and thoughts of the leader wholesale!

Let us go for the jugular and talk about Abdul Razak Baginda, head of the think-tank closely aligned to the Defence Minister Najib Tun Razak. Here is another democrat and liberal who attacks people's power in the Philippine with the same vehemence he reserves for his condemnation of reformasi and his support for the ISA. (See The Star).

His research strategy was in highlighting the critical importance of military preparedness. The response was positive and lucrative. Although a non-corporate entity, he was awarded a major defence contract to procure armaments from the French.

The Far Eastern Economic Riview estimates a hefty commission of RM300 million to him, and he was subsequently awarded the French Legion Of Honour.

This brief survey of course would not be complete if it excluded the columnists of mainstream Malay-language media, whose landscape is dotted by mediocre writers in the tradition of Zainuddin Maidin.

To begin with, we have Dasuki Ahmad, a politician with the unenviable accolade of having lost every election he stood for since 1969! As the political secretary to the prime minister, this Al Azhar graduate's main vocation (including his Mingguan Malaysia columns) is to be the voice box of the thoughts of the leader.

His predecessor Mohd Nor Azzam, supposedly more liberal and certainly more astute, recently proclaimed in English in his Berita Harian column, in a sudden fit of inspiration: "to hell with the US and freedom of press (sic)".

Astora Jabat (Mingguan Malaysia) whose main calling appears to be nothing but a life long crusade against PAS leaders, drowns himself in a sea of verbiage about Malaysia being a model Islamic state.

And then, we have Azimi Daim, the Umno Youth stalwart who is obsessed with the Jewish conspiracy theory and avid promoter af a book of the same name (see Berita Harian, May 20, 2003). The book was distributed free during the Umno General Assembly, perhaps to bolster the obsolete anti-European rhetoric of the leaders.

These columnist are not representative of the liberal outlook, their ridiculous pretensions notwithstanding. Concerned Malaysians must muster the courage to expose the true colours of these imposters!