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Appalling malls
Interesting article but isn’t an important question being left out in this article here? What sort of spatial planning does the city have or implements to allow that many malls? If only journalists would ask the right questions, we can hope to have a better city.
Jakarta’s Mall Boom Driven by Foreign Retailers | The Jakarta Globe
Just when you thought Jakarta may sink beneath the combined mass of the city’s 130-plus malls, a further 313,500 square meters of retail space has been announced, with just three large malls contributing 83 percent of the increase.
The largest of them is St. Moritz in West Jakarta with 129,200 square meters, followed by Ciputra World in South Jakarta and Green Bay Mall in West Jakarta, with 78,000 and 52,000 square meters respectively. St. Moritz is being built by Lippo Karawaci, while Agung Podomoro is the developer of Green Bay Mall.
Ferry Salanto, the director of research at Colliers International Indonesia, said that the developers of those three malls have strategies in place to secure tenants for their malls.
“If they hadn’t secured tenants they would not build the malls,” Ferry said last week.
Local developers have their own flagship tenants when opening up new malls, such as Lippo’s deal with Debenhams and Parkson, and Ciputra’s with Lotte.
Artadinata Djangkar, a director at Ciputra Property, which is responsible for Ciputra World, said the entrance of foreign retailers has increased demand for more retailing space in Jakarta.
In the past two years alone, several international retailers have set sail for Indonesia. Besides South Korea’s Lotte, there is Parkson from Malaysia, Japan’s Aeon and Thailand’s Sentral Group.
The presence of these chains creates lucrative business opportunities for local developers. Ciputra World 1 will cost its developer Ciputra $130 million, while Lippo’s St. Moritz mall is a part of the $1.2 billion mixed-use St. Mortiz Penthouses & Residences project.
Setyo Maharso, the chairman of Indonesian Real Estate Association (REI), said that the strong demand for retailing space is tracking a steadily growing property market. “It is because [malls] are the supporting facilities of neighborhoods and cities,” he added.
With strong economic growth and rising purchasing power, Setyo predicted that the property market will grow between 10 percent and 15 percent this year.
Colliers’ Ferry said that property developers still needed to advance their understanding of mall management in order to generate more revenue.
He said that there are two types of mall in operation in Jakarta, the first being “community malls,” whose visitors are mostly people from the surrounding area, and “destination malls,” which hope to attract visitors from distant areas.
Ferry said that mall construction will slow next year, due to the Jakarta government’s ongoing moratorium on mall construction, introduced in 2011.
He added the policy would encourage more malls to be constructed in regions surrounding Jakarta.
Ferry said that the four regions surrounding Jakarta tended to take turns to host new malls.
“This year, there are more new malls in Bekasi [then the other three regions]. We predict that in 2014, there will be more new malls in Tangerang,” Ferry said.
Accountability reporting
Journalists, especially foreign ones are funny creatures. Often you can hear them decry the low level of English being used in their local host countries. Redundancies are one of the biggest sins. Yet when these journalists are forced into roles of responsibility beyond their usual journalistic duties they seem to revert, like all of us into bureaucrat-ese.
So it is with some amusement that Unspun read the agenda for the Annual General Meeting of the august Jakarta Foreign Correspondents Club:
AGENDA FOR JFCC ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING, DECEMBER 8, 2012
1. An accountability report by JFCC President Joe Cochrane.
2. An accountability report by Treasurer Zubaidah NH, which shall include the previous year’s financial accounts.
3. Executive Committee proposals.
4. Member proposals.
5. The election of the new Executive Committee for 2013.
6. Any other business.
Any member who wishes to submit a proposal may do so provided it is submitted at least one week prior to the meeting.
“Any other business” is a discussion forum of ideas not submitted in formal proposals. No vote may be taken on these items.
“Accountability report”? What is a report, theoretically, if not an exercise in accountability? Would not a mere “report” suffice? Would attaching an “accountable” in front of the report help spin things to make them seem more accountable, open and transparent? Or make them seem like they doth protesth too much?
Hmmm. Unspun is probably splitting hairs and being pedantic, but these are foreign journalists who are supposed to be setting a good example for the rest of us in using the International Language (until Chinese replaces it a few years down the line).
The beginning of the end of the Globe?
Unspun was exceptionally skeptical of The Jakarta Globe when rumors began circulating of its imminent launch. At the heart of the skepticism were two questions:
Firstly, whether hard-nosed business like the Riyadis were prepared to keep pumping the huge amounts of investment into the paper before before can turn profitable (experts have speculated that this takes a minimum of five years)?
Secondly, would the Riyadis allow the type of hard hitting and/or incisive journalism that is required if you wanted to grow a viable newspaper?
Unspun’s skepticism then (this and other posts) led many journalists (who are usually the most defensive people when put under the spotlight) to brand Unspun a skeptic and cynic.
Fair comments and it looked for a time like they were right. Against Unspun’s initial predictions The Jakarta Globe actually began to look and read a lot better than its established rival, the grand old dame The Jakarta Post.
For a while there they had the Post on a run, even forcing the Post to redesign itself from a stodgy paper into a merely ugly paper (its new masthead has the looks only a mother could love).
Its stories also seemed more focussed and much better written. The Jakarta Globe also began to win awards, much more than The Jakarta Post, at least until two years ago.
Unspun was forced to eat humble pie, cancelled his subscription to the Post and signed up for The Globe. The Globe, it seemed, was settling into the right orbit.
Probably about three or four months ago, something began to get awry. The choice of news stories began to get wonky. The writing was still better than the Post but the quality was going down.
Then, a month or two ago the Globe sunk to a new low by changing its format from broadsheet to Berliner, a size slightly broader than the usual tabloid. The change in size is a fair move. (ironically, that format was what the original editors had recommended but wasn’t adopted for reasons unclear to Unspun). It saves paper and money and it is also more user friendly.
But along with the change also came a peculiar new sense. There was the front page story of a satellite launch by the Lippo Group (that owns the paper). It was news, but front page?
The front pages also seemed to adopt a magazine approach, splashing a large photo on the page with little teasers here and there. Unspun’s reaction is that if he wanted to read a magazine he would buy one, but he’d expect much more than a daily.
Then of course there is the famous Lady Gaga fiasco where the Jakarta Globe was not content to make a fool of itself editorial (see Did The Jakarta Globe’s editorial go gaga over Lady Gaga?); the next day it went one step further with an even more ludicrous defense of its editorial (see The Jakarta Globe mounts a defensive commentary on its editorial)
Readers may wonder why the Globe seems to be imploding when for a while it was going so well. Insiders claim that the backers were running out of money, hence the downsizing of the paper.
New people were also brought in to helm the paper and these new people didn’t care much about journalism or were patient enough to realize that good journalism can be viable, if you give it time and enough nurturing. They were in for the short term results and to stop the haemorrage.
So all the key people who started the paper and made it something to be reckoned with have been sidelined, ostensibly into other positions to increase the berita Satu offerings – but obviously so that they would no longer call the shots in Editorial at the Globe.
All this is a shame as some good competition would have kept the Jakarta Post on its toes and improved the state of journalism in this country. But there you have it. Given the choice between bread today and bread tomorrow and even the staunchest Christian might succumb to temptation.
Now Unspun has to eat humble pie again and cancel his subscription to the Globe and resubscribe to the Post. What other choice if there for the reader at home in the English language living in Indonesia?
Did The Jakarta Globe’s editorial go gaga over Lady Gaga?
Indonesia’s Twitterverse and the Liberal-minded are aghast.
In today’s editorial (below) The Jakarta Globe, seen by some as being until lately a progressive force in Indonesia, seemingly condoned the decision to nix Lady Gaga’s controversial would-be concert in Indonesia.
The editorial begins by saying that the organizers made the right decision to cancel Lady Gaga’s show because of security concerns. Fair enough. It then says the paper does not condone violence or threats to forward an agenda. Good point.
Then it gets interesting: “It is not about how she dresses, which is needlessly provocative, but about what she sings and the lyrics of her songs. It is about the lack of morality in what she represents. Youth will typically be rebellious and anti-establishment.“
This is puzzling. Lady Gaga sings a lot of shit that typically appeal to youth. Rebellious, anti-establishment, aimed to shock. The same type of music that horrified the morals of the parent generation in the time of the Sex Pistols and Marilyn Manson. Go a bit further back and Elvis Presley, with his obscene gyrations, was considered a devil spawn by the Establishment then.
So if you take Lady Gaga in a historical perspective, she is as dangerous – or not – as the Sex Pistols, Marilyn Manson and Elvis in leading our youth to Hell and damnation. Surprisingly, may of these youth are in positions of responsibility and frowning on lady Gaga these days.
The Globe editorial then becomes a bit confusing: ”But it is also important that we inculcate in them the proper Indonesian values that will put them in good standing when they enter into adulthood. Given the divisiveness and the controversy created, the decision to cancel Lady Gaga’s show was the correct one.”
Why canceling Lady Gaga’s show was the correct one when it comes to putting these youth on the correct path of Proper Indonesian Values is never quite explained.
And finally, the very interesting denoument which is actually composed of two half formed thoughts 1: “We must all show maturity and understanding about the cultural sensitivities in our communities.” and 2: “We must accept that Indonesian society is different and that we cannot be expected to be as liberal as other societies” juxtaposed to give the illusion of proper reasoning.
Thought #1 is a truism. Nobody can argue against the fact that we all should show maturity and understanding about the cultural sensitivities in our communities. You can make that argument even in America, homeland of Lady Gaga and no one can disagree with you on this.
Thought #2 is a combination of a truism: “We must accept that Indonesian society is different” and a fallacious conclusion “we cannot be expected to be as liberal as other societies.”
Which societies are we talking about. Saudi Arabia, Puritan America, The Mormons, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, China? It would be helpful if The Globe were to elaborate on that. (And let’s not have the tired argument that you have only so many words to write an editorial. A journalistic rule is also that if a story or opinion is that important you should be creative and find space for it).
This editorial has, naturally, stirred up controversy and criticism in Indonesia’s Twitterverse, the current cool hangout for Indonesia’s chattering classes and liberal sentiment. One of them is a string of criticisms against The Globe by @AubreyBelford, the Asia Correspondent for http://www.theglobalmail.org.
But enough of what Unspun, Aubrey and The Globe says. What do readers really think? (and if you’re not satisfied with the poll, you can always leave a comment)
Editorial: Gaga Concert is Too Hot For Indonesia | The Jakarta Globe
The saga over Lady Gaga’s concert is finally over now that the pop star decided to cancel her Jakarta show. The reason was security concerns and, given the public controversy, it was definitely the right decision. Certainly her large fan base in Indonesia will be disappointed. It is also unfortunate that the concert was called off due to security concerns. The country’s police had assured both fans and organizers that it would be possible for the show to proceed. There are larger issues at play, though. Indonesia is a vibrant, diverse democracy and as such the authorities had to take into consideration all voices. It is their job to ensure that all segments of society have their voices heard. We do not condone the use of violence and threats to allegedly push an agenda. We do not condone breaking the law and damaging property just to make a point, as some groups have allegedly done recently. Such behavior is unwelcome in a democratic, civilized society. There are, however, many justifiable reasons for opposing acts like Lady Gaga, such as the messages these supposed artists project. It is not about how she dresses, which is needlessly provocative, but about what she sings and the lyrics of her songs. It is about the lack of morality in what she represents. Youth will typically be rebellious and anti-establishment. But it is also important that we inculcate in them the proper Indonesian values that will put them in good standing when they enter into adulthood. Given the divisiveness and the controversy created, the decision to cancel Lady Gaga’s show was the correct one. We must all show maturity and understanding about the cultural sensitivities in our communities. We must accept that Indonesian society is different and that we cannot be expected to be as liberal as other societies.
What it’s like working with a kick ass team
Unspun’s very proud of his co-workers because they kick ass every so often. The latest ass kicking lies in the publication of Maverick’s Indonesian Journalists’ Technographic Report.
It was a team effort, spearheaded by Raconteur and Mabverick’s media relation’s team and they’ve done a superb job capturing how journalists consume and use the media. More importantly they telly why it is important for anyone interested in marketing, branding and corporate reputation building or protection.
Is Unspun blowing his horn as usual? Well, not according to Slideshare where we posted the report. Here’s the message:
If you’re interested in the results of this survey, the second one in two years, then click here.
If you want to know more you can always write to maverick@maverick.co.id.
SBY’s say-nothing News Conference
Why does anyone or any organization call a news conference in the first place, instead of merely sending out a news release?
The reason for calling a news conference, for most people who are media savvy, will be that it gives the spokesperson the chance to deliver his messages effectively and to be able to explain and clarify any questions that the media can have.
The caveat here is that the spokesperson should be well-trained to deliver his messages and able to answer the most difficult of questions in a manner that is credible, authoritative and likable. If the spokesperson does not have such skills then its best not to expose him to journalists.
Being credible is a challenge to many politicians, government servants and corporations. Their institutions have built a culture where they communicate through institution-speak: the self-centered, which-kool-aid-are-they-drinking kind of speech in which they seem to be perfect or at least can do now wrong and that the public is eminently interested in their accomplishments.
The public generally does not care, of course, unless the spokesperson says something that connects with, or is relevant to, them. And if they feel that someone is trying to take them out for a spin they react with anger and criticisms.
The journalists, who act as the intermediary who must filter and process the information given by spokespersons and render them into a news story worthy of the public’s attention are even more skeptical. Who wouldn’t be, if faced by an endless stream of incompetent spokespersons and PR Flacks trying to pitch them newsless and self-interested stories day in and day out?
Faced with such skepticism the spokesperson has to perform to expectations and sure something new or something important or face their wrath, in the form of critical news reports and comments.
So it is strange that the President’s PR minders have decided to recommend to him to call a news conference when they are not prepared to say anything important or new, and when the President has obviously not been trained at all in the art and science of being a spokesperson.
And to top it all the minders tried to stage-manage the whole event with predetermined questions, as if anyone, especially the skeptical journalists, would be taken in and think that SBY is a forthcoming president.
Instead of enhancing his image the minders have once again degraded it. Which begs the question: which kool aid fountain have they been drinking from?
Indonesian President Says Little at Stage-Managed ‘News Conference’
It was a rare chance, albeit rehearsed, for journalists to ask questions directly of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, but the nationally televised Q&A on Monday night still came off as stilted and emasculated.
Preparations for the event, which was initially scheduled to take place last Friday, began a week earlier when journalists assigned to the State Palace were asked to submit questions they wanted the president to answer.
All of the questions were screened by Julian Aldrin Pasha, the president’s spokesman, who asked two journalists to tone down their questions and rejected a query on the controversial Bank Century bailout.
“Please use soft words and don’t mention names,” he said to one of the reporters.
“Don’t ask that question,” he told another. “The president will address it directly on another occasion, but not tonight.”
That the president’s answers had been prepared long before journalists could pose them on Monday night was evident when Yudhoyono consulted a bundle of notes after someone asked him a question about national debt.
Stale news
But even with all the screening and preparation, observers noted, Yudhoyono’s answers were tepid and lacked any insight.
Ikrar Nusa Bhakti, a political analyst from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), pointed out that when Yudhoyono spoke about the talk he had with Muhammad Nazaruddin shortly before the former Democratic Party treasurer fled the country, he revealed nothing the public did not already know.
Yudhoyono said he asked Nazaruddin to resign due to the corruption allegations against him, but that Nazaruddin, who is now on trial for bid-rigging, refused.
“It’s a shame that he didn’t go into detail about it, because this is a really important issue that is still unfolding,” Ikrar said. “I thought that when Yudhoyono wanted to do the Q&A he was going to address some urgent points that we didn’t know about, but it was all just stale news.”
Critics were also not satisfied with the president’s answer about mounting allegations of human rights abuses by security forces.
In his seven years as president, Yudhoyono said, Indonesia has “never experienced any incident of human rights violations that could be considered serious.”
That contradicts findings by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) about gross rights abuses in a deadly crackdown on a peaceful protest in Papua last year, as well as indications of violations in a host of clashes over land disputes across the country.
Resolutions, resolutions
Yudhoyono said that in the latter cases, including in Bima, West Nusa Tenggara, and Mesuji, Lampung, he was fully committed to resolving all claims of rights violations.
“I stress that there will be no leniency and the cases will be resolved,” he said. “The government is responding swiftly to prevent future clashes.”
His oft-repeated call for a resolution also cropped up in his response to the standoff over the GKI Yasmin church in Bogor that the local administration has continued to seal off in violation of a Supreme Court ruling.
“I hope the regional leaders, the mayor and governor, can fully resolve this case,” Yudhoyono said. “What’s important is that the case is resolved so that it doesn’t drag on for years.”
The beleaguered church congregation has been forced to hold services, including for Christmas and Easter, on the street or in parishioners’ homes since 2008 as a result of the state’s illegal seizure of their property.
Yudhoyono said he was committed to ending the dispute “so that Christians, along with Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Confucians and others, can practice their faith in an orderly, calm and peaceful manner.”
Sympathy for the FPI
On the issue of banning the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), the notorious hard-line organization known for its intimidation of and attacks on minority groups, the president’s answer was just as noncommittal.
“Organizations in Indonesia are allowed to operate on the basis of freedom of speech and freedom of action,” he said.
“Any organization that violates the laws must face due legal process, with no exceptions.”
The FPI has frequently raided stores selling alcoholic drinks and destroyed property as part of its self-professed moral crusade. Its members have rarely faced prosecution for these acts.
Yudhoyono defended the FPI’s right to organize, saying he was concerned about a recent development in which members of the indigenous Dayak tribe in Central Kalimantan took over a local airport to block the arrival of FPI members.
“Why should others be allowed to carry out their activities while our brothers in the FPI are forbidden?,” he said.
He said he discussed the incident with Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi, hoping to determine whether the 1985 Law on Mass Organizations should be amended to prevent that kind of protest. He also called on regional officials to improve security conditions to avoid more “acts of provocation” such as the one against the FPI.
Iberamsjah, a political analyst from the University of Indonesia, said he was disappointed with a lack of meaningful or informative answers from the president.
Given the quality of Yudhoyono’s responses, Iberamsjah questioned why the president would even need to prepare for the Q&A beforehand.
He said the presence of the full cabinet at the Q&A made the event too formal, saying it could have been more down-to-earth as a gathering simply between Yudhoyono and the journalists.
“Just look at Barack Obama,” Iberamsjah said.
“At press conferences, he’s rarely accompanied by a complete set of ministers because he has high self-confidence.”
A tale of two front page stories covering the Blackberry fiasco
Competition is a good thing. It allows us to compare the competitors and see which is better and which needs improvement.
No thanks to the very slack circulation department of The Jakarta Globe, Unspun did not get his Saturday paper delivered to his house until this morning. Unspun, however, is master at caging a free read and managed to get hold of a copy of the Globe’s competitor The Jakarta Post at a Coffee Bean outlet in FX.
Then my jaw dropped. I felt surreal reading the headline story on the front page news of the Post. I did not know whether to laugh or cry in anguish and frustration.
The day before dozens of people were injured when a queue for discounted Blackberry Bellagios turned ugly. Apparently hundreds of people turned up, they were not handled well and a crush occurred when the crowd was told that the Blackberrys had run out.
Unspun read the paper hungrily, expected to be informed how it happened, who had been injured, what the organizers had to say and how something like that could have been allowed to happen, you know basic journalism stuff called the 5Ws that you usually include in for hard news stories.
Instead Unspun was treated to the condescending opinions of a Singapore sociologist (no local sociologists to quote?) on the “mental underdevelopment” of Indonesia’s middle class.
Here’s a screen grab of the story or read the full story here:
Being someone with a full social life, Unspun went to do other things and did not think much about it until this morning when the Globe’s ever efficient circulation department delivered him Saturday’s paper.
There, on the front page, was actually a story with some decent reporting of the incident. See for yourself in this screen grab or go to the story’s link to read the full article.
This is all very intriguing so Unspun decided to do a bit of a count to see what the reporters from both papers have been up to.
The results are that to write that story The Globe‘s reporters interviewed:
2 Jakarta Police spokespersons, 2 customers, 1 Blackberry staffer and 1 security guard.
The fact that they were there was also reflected on what those in the journalistic trade call “color” – details that you can only observe if you were there or if you were very good at cribbing- in the story. (e.g. “The rules have changed,” said Karim, who had been queuing since early Friday morning).
And the number of people interviewed for The Post‘s story: 1 non-local (Singaporean) sociologist.
So where’s the mental under development?
Wisdom of Whores Takes Tea with the Dead
Unspun’s past life was as a journalist in a newspaper too incredible to be true, The Asia Times. It was a menagerie of strange characters from an editor who spoke like he was high all the time as speakers taller than him blasted Wagnerian music out of his office, to his deputy who had been an advisor of Lyndon LaRouche, to ex CIA, Mossad and KGB spooks pretending to be journalists and other assorted drunks, poseurs and yes, a few legit and good journalists.
One of the the journalists, and a damn good one, was this plucky woman by the name of Elizabeth Pisani. We met in Bangkok just as the paper was starting back in 1997 and became fast friends for life. I guess it was the feeling of solidarity as we seemed to be the only legit, and productive journalists there. Then, she had been a journalist for Reuters in Jakarta for several years and at Asia Times she covered Vietnam while Unspun covered Indonesia, inheriting some of Elizabeth’s friends and contacts whom she generously introduced.
When the Asia Times went South after the Asian Economic Crisis, Unspun, then already in Jakarta sought refuge in The Dark Side (Public Relations to the uninitiated) and lost track of Elizabeth.
Until she surfaced in Jakarta, this time in her other life as an epidemologist working in the field of AIDS and HIV infection. Her stint here resulted in a wonderful and controversial book, The Wisdom of Whores. Elizabeth then disappeared into the lecture and training circuit and each time I heard from her she was in some exotic location. The last I heard from her, I think was when she was kneed deep in floods in some South American country doing god-knows-what.
Now she’s popped up in Jakarta again and after a brief catch-up at Anomali in Senopati she’s vanished again, this time to Bali and on to the more remote places of Indonesia. The reason: Taking Some Tea with the Dead. That’s the title of her new book on Indonesia which will be a culmination of all the traveling that she’ll be doing for the next few months. But while she travels, Elizabeth will also be keeping a blog, Portrait Indonesia, of her journeys and the adventures she encounters in Indonesia.
She writes wonderfully and eloquently, and has a wry eye out for the unusual so it should be lots of fun. So check out her blog and you might ant to let her know in English or Indonesian (her Indonesian – and Bahasa Gaul at that – is way better than Unspun’s) some of the more unusual and interesting people or places she could visit in her travels. I believe she’s heading for Sumba as her first port of call after Bali.
Here’s what she has to say about Portrait Indonesia
In late 2011, epidemiologist, writer and adventurer Elizabeth Pisani granted herself a sabbatical from the day job and set off to rediscover Indonesia, a country she has wandered, loved and been baffled by for decades. On this site she will share photos and occasional musings from her journey, which, if all goes well, will cover some 10,000 kilometers.
The journey will form the backbone of a book (and a multimedia BookPlus), which will include also reflections on her earlier incarnations in Indonesia. The first of these was as a foreign correspondent for Reuters in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Ten years later she was back in the very different guise of epidemiologist, helping the Ministry of Health better understand Indonesia’s HIV epidemic. That work contributed to her first book, The Wisdom of Whores, published in 2008.
The new book, with the provisional title “Taking Tea with the Dead”, will deal less with sex and drugs, and more with the other enchanting and sometimes maddening foibles of Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous nation. We hope it will give you a taste of this beautiful, chaotic and unfathomable land.
Sent from the back of a cab in a Jakarta traffic jam
The desperation behind move to abolish Malaysia’s Press Law
Unspun’s alter ego had his five micro-seconds of fame in the Malaysian newspaper The Star this morning. And since Unspun’s an advocate that bloggers mainly put a context to news items let me put the context on the news item below.
The Printing Presses and Publications Act in Malaysia is a law that successive Malaysian governments have used as one of their instruments of controlling the Press. Essentially it requires any news publication to seek a license from the Government before they can be published. As such the Government can threaten what it considers uncooperative media houses with revoking the license unless they toe the line.
The Act has been around for decades and used mainly to get the editors to self-censor their contents. Why there is now talk of repealing the act is that the Malaysian Government coalition which comprises Umno (Malay-based) and the Malaysian Chinese Association is in, to put it mildly, in deep poo pooh. Voter support has been dropping drastically and they face an upcoming general election.
In deepest poo pooh is the leader of Umno and the government coalition, Najib Abdul Rahman, who is also the Prime Minister. He’s a well-meaning enough person but weak in character and political clout. Observers say he realizes that the government is unpopular because of the rampant corruption within its ranks, and he genuinely wants to change the way things are done. But he’s held ransom by the Umno chieftains who have for too long grown fat on the largest of office and would not let anything tip their applecart.
So poor Najib has been forced to seek help from all sorts of sources to boost his popularity that would make a snake oil salesman seem respectable. He, for instance, once appointed APCO to boost his image. That got nowhere fast. In a fit of desperation he even tried to make himself look “young and cool” by pulling a prank on a DJ (Imagine Najib going: “Ha! Punk’d you”). All it did was to make him look as ridiculous as a middle-aged man trying to look hip and cool in a florid Versace shirt, tight pants and white shoes.
His latest desperate gambit was to present himself as a reforming politician, so me mooted the idea of repealing the much hated Printing Presses and Publications Act.
In not as deep, but deep enough, poo poo are his cohorts in the Malaysian Chinese Association. This political party was supposed to represent the interests of the Chinese in Malaysia but after the first generation of leaders what they did was to represent their own business interests best. Riddled by factional in-fighting and a slew of uncharismatic leaders, the MCA also has seen its support from the Chinese community dwindle.
So now, also in a fit of desperation, they have taken to making a virtue of necessity and have come up with a New Deal Manifesto in which it hopes to be seen as a champion of a more democratic Malaysian society by calling for an abolition of the Printing Presses Act.
This is all political opportunism that is unconvincing to anyone who knows anything about malaysian politics and the Malaysian Press.
The Act is but one of the instruments of control used by the government. The other instruments are the Internal Security Act (there is also talk of abolishing it, to be replaced by an Anti-Terrorist Act), the Police, the Judiciary, political patronage (just try to name any chief editor in any major Malaysian media that is politically unfettered), self-censorship and coziness (as in junkets and golf games).
Moreover, the Malaysian Press has been so neutered in the past decade or so that it is difficult to imagine it nurturing anyone with the integrity, calibre and courage to make use of whatever freedoms the abolition of the Act may bestow to run a kick-ass newsroom.
So take it for what the hullabaloo about the abolition of the Printing Presses and Publications Act really is: desperate political gambits by politicians who are fast losing ground. That’s Unspun’s context on the news anyway. You might want to peruse the actual news itself below:
Unshackle to move with the times
Under its New Deal manifesto, the MCA is calling for the Printing Presses and Publications Act to be abolished to allow free flow of information.
IT is not the easiest of times to be a print journalist in Malaysia. While foreign journalists dodge bullets in the Middle East, over here, print journalists are dodging restrictions from the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA) and blows from a critical public hungry for a free press.
The choice is for online news, blogs and social media which are not subject to the Act and thus enjoy greater freedom. But for Malaysians, the print media is rendered more pro-establishment while the alternative media is deemed more pro-opposition…
…Ong Hock Chuan, a Malaysian communications consultant and blogger based in Indonesia where the press enjoys unfettered freedom cautions against equating bloggers with journalists.
“Journalists usually come up with the news, bloggers add a context (a comment, criticism) to the news – similar but different functions in the flow of information,” says Ong.
A free press, adds Ong, does not instantly produce good journalism as it requires a combination of factors.
“Good journalism is a complex mix of factors – ownership, owner’s vision and philosophy, calibre, integrity and courage of editors are some of the main factors to consider.”
Rest of story here
Kompas berated by Malaysians experts
Ouch! This must hurt. The grand old Kompas being lectured by observers and “experts” via a newspaper from a country with no press freedom.
For the background to this story, read my previous post.
Also read the comments here for more Malaysian views about Kompas’s apology to Najib.
Kompas perlu berwaspada tidak cemarkan etika kewartawanan
Oleh ZULKIFLI JALIL
pengarang@utusan.com.my
DI Jakarta, akhbar-akhbar di sana bebas mengutip apa sahaja berita yang terpapar dalam blog-blog untuk disiarkan di laman mereka. Sama ada berita itu menghentam pemimpin tempatan atau luar negara, segalanya ‘bisa’ belaka.
Itulah yang diakui oleh Pengarang Berita Antarabangsa Kompas, Jimmy S. Harianto kepada seorang pegawai Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak di Putrajaya, Khamis lalu.
Harianto sebelum itu menemui Perdana Menteri untuk menyampaikan permohonan maaf kepada beliau dan keluarganya berikutan laporan akhbar itu memfitnah Najib dan isterinya, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor yang disiarkan 4 Ogos lalu.
Namun Kompas, sebagai sebuah akhbar besar dan terkenal di Indonesia, seharusnya tidak menyebarkan berita palsu atau perkara-perkara tidak benar yang direka oleh pihak tertentu.
“Itulah kesilapan akhbar ini, yang saya maksudkan kenapa siarkan sesuatu berita atau perkara tanpa siasatan.
“Sebagai akhbar yang bertanggungjawab, siasatan sebelum menyiarkan sesuatu berita itu amat dituntut. Tetapi selepas disiarkan dan kemudian memohon maaf, maka jelas Kompas tidak menggambarkan profesionalisme,” kata Profesor Pengajian Global Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Dr. Chandra Muzaffar kepada Utusan Malaysia semalam.
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