Yes. I'm not so blinded and biased that I oppose every single thing that UMNO does. I think our no.2, Muhyiddin, did not say or at least did not have the intention of saying the Chinese community was 'ungrateful'.
I do not agree with the content of that interview in Mingguan Malaysia. Neither do I deny that in the past many UMNO politicians utter racist remarks to Malay press, especially when he thought he was solely addressing the Malay audience.
But this time I think it was taken out of context and blown out of proportion. I quote, "... ia mencatatkan penurunan, macam tidak ada penghargaan terhadap apa yang kita lakukan. ". This was the sentence that triggered all hell for Muhyiddin.
At first look, it does seems like 'ungrateful' is the word. But so is the word 'unappreciative' or if you take the whole phrase 'macam tidak ada penghargaan' it could mean 'it looks as if it doesn't work'. In fact, if you do not look at just this sentence but the entire content of the interview (which I will not reproduce here but you can see it at Malaysia-today here), I believe you would agree with me that it was the latter.
I think he was just trying to explain how he was at lost why the Chinese community still did not support BN, despite using the traditional tactics that BN has employed over the past 50 years and more. He was more like saying, "I don't know, it seems like it doesn't work anymore."
I was known to be a bit poor at reading comprehension. So I may be wrong. But I am also willing to give people benefit of doubt, especially when it comes to interview. Not many people can use a language with great precision and things get tougher when you are required to speak off the calf.
You could say that as a politician, he should be more careful with words. But for those of you that has come across with a press conference and journalist, you will know that no matter how careful you choose your words, things can still go wrong. Journalist and press editors, trained everyday to perfection, can easily create any impression by highlighting or emphasizing a particular word that you just said.
So it's all up to the ethics of the journalist.
For those of you who are close with me, surely you know how the rumour between Chew Mei Fun and Victor Gu started in the past general election. (FYI, for those of you who still doesn't know - it's just rumour. It's a complete fake!). This just shows how easily a journalist can manipulate the audience.
And finally, whether you agree with me or not, given the ambiguity of the situation it's best to give the other person benefit of doubt. Yes, even UMNO people deserve it sometimes. As such, I believe this was taken overboard.
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2 comments:
I don't think you can compare this incident with Jian Biao case.
To tell you a info, the Chinese press is facing a tremendous pressure after Sotong blame them. The news and comment on this issue has disappeared in some Chinese paper.
You may also need to read what was written by the Chinese press on this issue.
It was almost a direct translation of the interview.
True, this is a review of the elections results, but it also reflects the kind of mentality Sotong has.
Didn't you read that he said on "membalas budi"?
I do agree that we focus too much on the "ungrateful" aspect of his speech.
There are a number other aspects in the interview, we should be angry.
For example, he is accusing the Chinese of wanting to become the kingmaker and express worry that Malay will lose power.
You should also look at what Utusan is playing up daily lately.
It is not a press conference but a special interview which conduct by UTUSAN with our dear DPM.
Unless UTUSAN has misquoted his words then there is impossible the journalist misunderstood on what he talking about.
"macam tidak ada penghargaan terhadap apa yang kita lakukan." is only part of the answer and there is still another part which is "tidak membalas budi"...
I agree with Yew Chien that there are quite a number aspect in that interview which is aggressive. Maybe you should look at whole article on how he think to Chinese community and Malay Politic.
Have a look on UTUSAN today on how they follow up with this issue then you will feel disgusting.
The page header is write with "Bangkitlah Melayu".
Then read Ong Tee Keat's media statement today which saying that he doesn't agree with DPM's "ungrateful" statement as well. :S
These people make too much racist statement to gain Malay's support. But when they have been critics by other community then the blame would be shift to media ..This not the first time la...
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