Former parliamentarian and malaysiakini columnist Sim Kwang Yang described the press as fragmented and not helping with national integration.

He said the media is not likely to be helpful to NGO causes, in respect to human rights advocacy, as the press are owned by 'political corporate conglomerates'.

"I'm not saying that all is hopeless, just that you should not regard the media as your friends and they should be fully exploited if possible," he told a gathering of NGO groups yesterday at Petaling Jaya.

The groups, from Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia discussed among other things, the means to improve collaboration between NGO groups across the South China Sea.

Participants, taken aback by Sim's remarks, however took in the advice, and adopted it in one of seven 'concretized steps' from the forum.

The two-day forum was organised by Komas and was attended by representatives of a dozen NGO groups including native land rights advocacy groups Brimas, Panggau and Terabai/Nalto of Sarawak.

Sim, who was Bandar Kuching MP from 1982 to 1995, said NGO causes were doomed if their strategy is dependent on mainstream media coverage. He was invited to speak on media role in Sarawak.

"There is no such thing as a national media that reflects the country's mood, it's social conscience. What we have is a tale of three nations, if you want to call it that," he said.

He said the problem lies with ownership and licensing of newspapers. News from Sarawak or Sabah don't make it to Peninsular Malaysia, and Peninsular Malaysia news, or specifically Kuala Lumpur news, don't ring with as much relevancy with Malaysians across the South China Sea, he said.

"Far from being the Fourth Estate, what we have are a collection of media organisations with very specific political and corporate interests," he said.

"The situation now is like a cracked mirror, and like a cracked mirror when you have many small crack pieces, it's very hard to put them together and reflect what is actually going on," he said.

Face reality

Sim told the audience they have to face reality that news organisations are owned by what he described as political corporate conglomerates that serves to protect their interests.

"It's a giant political machine, to put people in power," he said. He cited the now defunct Sarawak Tribune as an example, as being owned by the political entity that is Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB).

"The daily's interests are the preservation of power, and the other Chinese dailies are owned by timber companies. Any which where you go in Sarawak, you'd have to face this reality.

The solution for NGOs, Sim felt, was through grassroots work: "Your best rewards, are there. The results might be smaller, but they are real".

Sim later added he felt that the rift between Sabah, Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia as the result of 'post colonial - colonisation' and that Sarawak had and continues to get the raw end of the deal.

Sim was also an active media writer while serving as MP. He was a columnist for Sarawak Tribune in the early 90s and several national Chinese dailies.

The two-day forum, resolved to continue collaboration between NGO groups between Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia, although no specific steps were yet decided.

The collaboration, is however, likely to be part of the unnamed 50/44 NGO coalition set to be formed this year.