Media Monitor

Freedom of information: Making it happen

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By Deborah Loh, The Nut Graph   December 2, 2008   IN the first parliamentary sitting in 2008 this May, Subang Member of Parliament (MP) and Parti Keadilan Rakyat vice-president R Sivarasa tried to table a private member’s bill on freedom of information (FOI).  Although it appeared in the order paper, the House never reached … Read more

Farish Noor’s book under investigation

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http://www.thenutgraph.com/article-1077.html#comments   By Zedeck Siew zedecksiew@thenutgraph.com 27 Nov 08 : 5.35PM Book cover of From Majapahit to Putrajaya PETALING JAYA, 27 Nov 2008: A leading bookstore in Kuala Lumpur has stopped selling a book by Malaysian public intellectual Dr Farish Noor, pending an investigation by the Home Ministry.   The entire stock of the book, … Read more

Raja Nazrin warns against modern-day tribalism

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By The Sun
November 20, 2008

PETALING JAYA: Mankind is failing badly at creating a sense of community and is instead allowing race, culture and religion to dominate discourse, Raja Muda of Perak Raja Dr Nazrin Shah said today.

“When we think of social fragmentation as good rather than bad, something is awfully wrong. Our moral gyroscopes have gone completely awry. If we continue on the present path, great dangers lie ahead,” he said in his speech at the Diversity Matters Forum on Diasporas in the Commonwealth held at Monash University, Sunway Campus here.

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The traditional media’s own worst enemy

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By N Shashi Kala and Zedeck Siew,

The Nut Graph
 
November 4, 2008
 

CONTRARY to popular analyses, it is not the internet that is threatening the traditional media. The biggest enemies of the traditional mass media are the mass media themselves, says Dr Indrajit Banerjee, who is secretary-general for the Singapore-based Asian Media Information and Communication Centre.

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What’s wrong with the ISA?

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By Deborah Loh
The Nut Graph

October 31, 2008

WHEN it comes to justifying the Internal Security Act (ISA) 1960, the Malaysian government has honed its replies down pat — after the usual noises about how we still need such laws to keep the peace, they then fall back on the old chestnut — others are now doing it too.

This deft attempt at deflecting responsibility is being repeatedly played out by our leaders, especially now, when faced with growing calls by civil society groups and even from within the Barisan Nasional (BN) ranks to abolish the law.

Pak Lah will not budge on transition

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By the Malaysian Insider

October 20, 2008

OCT 20 – When Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi chairs the Umno Supreme Council meeting tonight, he will make it clear that he will not succumb to another “groundswell” and leave office before March 2009.

Over the past few days, the Prime Minister has been assessing the comments being made by several Umno leaders about the long campaign period for the party elections and has concluded that it is part of another campaign to get him to revisit the transition plan.

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FINANCIAL TURMOIL WORLDWIDE: Two perspectives on Malaysia’s status

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Media take 1:

Malaysia to revise downwards growth forecast for 2009

Written by S. Ramesh in Kuala Lumpur | Posted: 21 October 2008 0217 hrs
Published by Channel NewsAsia’s

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian government will revise downwards its growth forecast for 2009 from the targeted 5.4 percent, says Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Najib Razak.

Details are expected to be announced in Parliament on November 4.

Meanwhile, the government will inject US$1.4 billion into the stock market to shore up sentiments.

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SMS poser begs an answer

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COMMENTARY by The Malaysian Insider

October 14, 2008

OCT 14 – No one has answered the million ringgit question yet: is the SMS exchange on the Altantuya murder case between Datuk Seri Najib Razak and a prominent lawyer authentic?

If it is not, then it should be put down as yet another move by critics of the government to discredit the man slated to be the next prime minister of Malaysia; dismissed as another desperate attempt to implicate Najib in the murder of Altantuya Shaariibuu.

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