The NST Truly Is an UMNO Organ

We all know that UMNO controls the stable of newspapers under the New Straits Times Group, and the English daily New Straits Times suffered a huge decline in circulation (its numbers nowadays make it third ranked after The Star and theSun...) precisely because of the tight links to the main political party in the Barisan Nasional coalition, accompanied by the several internal factional fights. Especially damaging was the Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Tengku Razaleight Hamzah's bitter fight for the UMNO presidency and by implication, the premiership of the country.

But reading a piece yesterday (Monday April 21, 2008) on page 7 leaves no doubt in any reader'smind that indeed, the NST is an UMNO mouthpiece -- it does not even attempt to wear the slimmest veil of disguise. Maybe the bride has lost its virginity long, long ago!

The author : Zubaidah Abu Bakar (with photo to boot)
Status: Unknown



The eye-opener follows (Cut&Paste from malaysia-today.net but Desi has the Print edition in front of him):

SABOTEURS. They are enemies from within or what the Malays call api dalam sekam, whose unsavoury practices, can weaken Umno and place the party in a bad light.

If their activities are left unchecked, they can even destroy the party.

Umno does not need traitors during challenging times like this. The party instead needs members who place party interests above self.

The party wants to purge these negative elements but is facing constraints because members with solid evidence are not keen to come forward.

A month after the 2004 general election, the Umno disciplinary board found 22 members who contested against Umno candidates guilty and the supreme council endorsed that they be sacked.

The most known among the lot is former party supreme council member and maverick Datuk Ibrahim Ali, who contested in Pasir Mas as an independent candidate and lost in the 2004 elections. He is now Pasir Mas member of parliament after winning the seat on the Pas ticket in the March 8 polls.

Then, the disciplinary board received 454 reports against saboteurs from 32 divisions and after investigations, the 22 were banned for life by the Umno supreme council.

Besides those who contested as independents, there were also those who acted as proposer or seconder for the independent or opposition candidates, while some campaigned against the party.

After thorough investigations, some were censured with a warning or suspended while those without a prima facie case against them were discharged due to lack of evidence.

But why aren't reports pouring in this time?

Party leaders have been verbally informed about the saboteurs, naming former cabinet members and grassroots leaders among them, soon after the general election. And going by the number of reports received by the disciplinary board so far, they are way short of expectations.

Reports received contained allegations of closing operation centres,setting up of different election machinery,abstaining from voting and paying people not to vote for certain candidates.

Party leaders, including president Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, has gone on record saying that saboteurs were the cause of Barisan Nasional's massive losses, particularly in Perak and Kedah.

He specifically pointed out that 14 parliamentary and 22 state seats went to the opposition due to sabotage by party members.

There is no point for candidates who lost in the last general election to point fingers at others without providing the evidence.

Talk alone is not enough. The disciplinary board has no power to initiate investigations without first getting a formal report, complete with evidence like the name, time and place of the alleged offences and also witnesses who can support the claims.

Party members are aware of this requirement. They also understand the need for traitors to be dealt with.

"We cannot act hastily, but if we close an eye to the sabotage, it is also not right," said deputy president Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

So, what is actually preventing party members from lodging a formal complaint?

It is a responsibility for those who love the party and believe in its struggle to do so. Distancing themselves from the issue is as good as being a saboteur themselves.

There is, however, only one option for members who refuse to toe the line and instead play dirty politics -- quit Umno and join the ranks of the opposition.

DESIDERATA: When the journalist in me (YL Chong) read the piece, I looked and looked, but nowhere could I find if Zubaidah was writing as a Reporter? Or as a Commentator/Columnist? Or as an UMNO party member?
It gives Desi the first impression she's some UMNO Wanita leader...
Hence, I stated her status as "Unknown".

And in journalism, this identification of this status is important, in fact, IMHO, is critical, because the reader is let wondering as through "what lens" she is looking at the issue she's giving her two sen's worth! And this criterion is significant is determining the credibility of the author.

Could the daily be negligent in omitting to state this fact? Or it has truly become so arrogant, it deems it unimportant to inform the readers? Question, question, question, all from one reader who paid RM1.20 only -- why-lah?

Because, dear Editor/s of the NST if you are reading this -- it's my dutyhaving been involved, and being involved still, also trained? -- in the Fourth Estate for some three decades, to ask quetions as such a professional involvement and engagement just does not die with one's leaving the field fulltime!