The New Straits Times (NST) has almost always been my family
“official” breakfast newspaper since the 1970s thus that special sentimental
feeling anytime the NST itself became a topic of debate and discussion. I used
to highly value their articles, their opinions and their English – needless to
say, they form a lot about my education. And I think Kadir Jasin wrote some of the best editorial essays (can’t really remember what were
they really hahaha…but the feeling of awe and respect surely runs strong!)
But reading an article written by Alan Raybould, first published
by Reuters and reprinted by NST last week (Wednesday, pg 15 and 17 i think)
just kind of reinforced my fear and sorry for the state of NST today; another
censorship!
Seriously, NST today are littered with poor local articles, thin
analysis and one-sided news. But being a 45 years old news institution with a
reporting tradition dating back to the 1840s - certainly one of the oldest in
the region, I would expect the NST to have a certain unshakeable standard; a
classy attitude that would make people feel proud and smart buying and holding
an NST in their hand. These kinds of censor only erode trust and goodwill
amongst readers, really.
I thought they took out the most important piece out of the
original article. Is that ethical? Have a read and see whether the censored
piece is worth the trouble?
TITLE OF ARTICLE:
AS EXPORT FALTER, CAN PUBLIC
WORK CUSHION BLOW FOR SE ASIA? – Alan Raybould
The omitted paragraph on
Malaysia;
“TRANSFORMATION PROGRAMME
In Malaysia, a $444 billion Economic Transformation Programme
launched in 2010 is supposed to be mainly funded by the private sector. So far,
state-led spending has been pivotal and the flagship project, a Mass Rapid
Transit system for Kuala Lumpur, will probably be publicly funded.
Rahul Bajoria at Barclays in Singapore said in general Malaysia
had little room for direct fiscal support to help the economy if the
international slowdown bites.
But he added: "We sense the government may try to get
some of the government-linked companies to ramp up investment spending."
They have the cash and that could prove effective in mitigating growth risks,
he said.”
Perhaps the editors already knew that the Fitch and
S&P warnings are coming?
A few weeks ago an intern with ISIS wrote a piece that was
a bit controversial about the ETP's high-income nation strategy. It was a smart
article, with a critical tone which I thought should have deserved the dust bin
given our mainstream newspapers self-censorship rule. Yet it got through! I
thought this Reuters piece is harmless...not sure about how others think and
felt though since it got censured, surely someone somewhere must have felt the
paragraph was overly critical about the government. Sigh.
I don't think I will stop reading the NST; old habit dies
hard. But I remain steadfast in agreement with what Tun M once said; that we
are guilty ourselves for over self-censorship. Hmmm funny that I seems to agree
with Tun more and more lately.
