Some Childhood Dream Should Just Stay As A Dream

by : Hasmira Anuar

Focus view of newscast programme.

When I was young, one of my dream was to be a newscaster: a bright and cheerful kid with a clear ambition. I grew in a big family with a tradition to watch newscast programme every night. I started to develop the interest in becoming a newscaster as I am attracted to how the newscasters speak and how professional they look like while doing their job. One day, I told my sister that I wanted to be a newscaster while we are watching Berita Nasional RTM and my sister; she just laughed while saying that my voice is not suitable to be one or to exact; my voice is quite manly for a girl. To be frank, I have never been so thankful for accepting that criticism as it was the rainbow after the rain in my life.

As I grew older, I started to deeply buried that one dream of mine since I am more knowledgeable about my country, Malaysia, a well-known diplomatic country and how it works in its political world. Malaysia, a country that was once ruled by their first political party, Barisan Nasional for more than 50 years was finally lose the amazing streak as the government by the end of Malaysia’s 14th General Election.

The effect that took place after the most anticipated election was huge. The difference is definitely visible to the society and as an intimate audience of television screen, I can see the changes on our national newscast programme. The news that we watch every day from various channels: RTM and TV3, they are losing their control after the election. It was not only the damage from the outside but it literally tearing the one control our media.

In this article, I am going to touch on Berita Nasional RTM owned by Radio Television Malaysia (RTM). The oldest channel in Malaysia history that will celebrate their 70th anniversary this year. As a citizen, I can sense something fishy going on within the company. After a few researches on them, political leaning or conflict of interest was founded. I started to dig on their origin and their history. To make thing more interesting, the owner of RTM is under our beloved government, Government of Malaysia as it is a part of Malaysia’s constitution, or to be specific, it was conducted under Ministry of Communications and Multimedia Malaysia.

Any biasness shown on the news could give different vibe and idea. After the 14th General Election, it was like a purge in movement when our government finally change. Almost all of the board directors of RTM suddenly stepped down from their position. The director that suddenly have to stepped down from their position right after Tun Mahathir regulations is Datuk Seri Dr Salleh Said Keruak, the previous Minister of Communications and Multimedia before the election. Being the leader of that ministry section make him the most open source to find the flaws and information from The Ministry of Communications and Multimedia. While the history of this ministry is yet to be reveal, some previous cases will be open up to find the prove of unfairness that come from the government which control our media.

Before May 2018, it was stated before the one that control the RTM news was under his reign, and he and other government workers that work in that section has the power on RTM as they are the owner but somehow, were our government being fair with news that they showed to us in that 1-hour long newscast programme? Of course, they are being playing favourite towards government only. Manipulating and spreading fake news while showing good sides about their sides; and bad sides for the opposition. It is easier to say that our government does control the news. However, no matter how it effective it was once upon a time; the truth always finds it ways to unveil.

“RTM is a reliable agency, we have been here since day one and we only spread genuine news.” said Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak. He also said that, “Providing the first-hand news to the public while making them understand what is our channel’s roles in the society is what we are trying to pursue in our news programme.” The words thrown by him were their promise to be sincere and stay true about their news but somehow the citizens know better. A throughout article by Wong Kok Keong, boldly said; “RTM is one of the main culprits for Barisan Nasional propaganda.” On his article, it stated that a news section during the campaign week called ‘Bersama Mu Malaysia’ run for 30 minutes long and it only cover Barisan Nasional political stand. Even though this article was written in 2004, it was still a known fact that whenever the election is around the corner, we only hear from the government side and less from the opposition.

On the other hand, news from the opposition side was not completely vanish but most likely their news coverage was shortened. Given the fact that cutting down interview could mislead and might be confusing to the audience. A video by KiniTV, where N Surendran (Padang Serai, PKR) strongly project his voice on the duration given for opposition on the news. He even brought this motion in the Dewan Rakyat and asked for investigation. All his effort was turned down by the government side by stating that this will lower the Dewan Rakyat’s credibility. Even Dato’ Sri Ahmad Shabery Cheek who was the Minister of Communications and Multimedia at that time disagree with false accusation from Surendran.

According to TheEdgeMarket, after Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak stepped down from his position, he is still standing on his feet by defending Dato Seri Najib Tun Razak. On his blog, he quietly become loud about Tun Mahathir on coming back to politics and open old wound from the past. Saying that Mahathir has no right to interfere what happen inside UMNO, while he was once selected as minister because of he is one of Mahathir’s suggestion as the candidate. He also stated that there is no point for a comeback from Mahathir because he left the political world and should have just watch it from the outside. To this day, he disagrees with Mahathir movement which is to expose the world biggest money laundering, 1MDB. Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak clearly stated that internal problem in Malaysia should not be allegedly accuse to have its way in the United States of America.

As a kid before, I was more trusting and believing in what I watch on the television without any prejudice, but now I am a little bit older, it is hard to disagree that politics is very dirty. The anticipation to watch newscast programme every day since I was young suddenly fade away due to the high manipulative tricks used to become powerful by the politicians. Now, we are moving forward to uncover the truth behind all the dirty works in hope that the history would not repeat itself.

With power, there are burdens: to provide all the promises made, to reach the expectations from the community and how can we turn this country into a better place. All politicians have their own ways, and maybe it could be a little bit dirty and only provide the goodness to them. Neglecting the community who is the one that voted for them could go wrong and the result is the change of government.

My sister, she still laughs at me for reminding her about my childhood dream. Many years later, she is glad that we, both of us see eye to eye into this case of political leaning in our country. Reliability and spreading the right news towards the nation is what every newscast programme should go for. Now, all of us have the power to speak. Use it in the right channel and never make politic as a personal thing, or else we are digging our own grave.

References:

1. T.N. Alagesh. (2017). RTM can play role in helping fight fake news. Retrieved from: https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2017/11/299098/rtm-can-play-role-helping-fight-fake-news

2. Wong Kok Keong. (2004). Propagandist for The BN (Part 1). Retrieved from : https://aliran.com/archives/monthly/2004a/5i.html

3. KiniTV. (2013). ‘RTM Unbiased?’: PKR wants Shabery referred to right commitees. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxWqhOcnH30/

4. MD Webmaster. (2016). Dr M has no right to meddle in UMNO affairs anymore, say Salleh. Retrieved from: https://www.malaysia-today.net/2016/03/20/dr-m-has-no-right-to-meddle-in-umno-affairs-anymore-says-salleh/

5. Bernama. (2017). 1MDB: Who lodged that complaint with US DoJ? - Salleh. Retrieved from : http://english.astroawani.com/malaysia-news/1mdb-who-lodged-complaint-us-doj-salleh-146628

6. The Malaysian Insider. (2015). Sabah speaker rubbishes Dr M’s ‘comeback’ suggestion. Retrieved from: http://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/sabah-speaker-rubbishes-dr-m%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%98comeback%E2%80%99-suggestio