Perdana Discourse Series – Media and National Development

Tun Dr M - Freedom of Media Is Not Absolute




Tun Dr Mahathir in his keynote address at Perdana Discourse Series said that there is no absolute freedom in media and any country as well. Media is just like a knife, it can be use for good like masterpiece woodcarving and bad as stabbing people, he added. Tun Dr. Mahathir in his conclusion said the most important is the people and their mentality in the country itself on how they perceive the information given by the media.

Tun Dr M also stressed on:

Government

• We need information. We maybe do something wrong if we do not have any information on the matter that we concentrate on.
• Government just presumed on what is good for them and not to forget majority is not always right.


Media & Rakyat

• The media must be responsible and skillful enough to attract ‘rakyat’
• Media shapes people’s mind and value system in the country.
• Media must restraint their report to avoid crucial problem like racial issues.
• In order to contribute to nation building, media can play a big role in ensuring the right government to choose by people.
• Press freedom in Malaysia today is worse than during his time as PM.
• Media somehow must have limitation in order to maintain national stability and development.
• People always do not act rationally in sensationalized reporting. Common sense is not very common nowadays.


Law& Bloggers

• Speaking on rules of law in Malaysia, the purpose of law is to overcome misdeeds but we must analyze the cause of misdeed itself.
• Law can be abuse to perpetrate some leaders.
• Leaders sometime hide some issues (news blackout). This what make blogs more credible and interesting when they revealed some of the hidden issues.
• Bloggers registration – Such registration is not necessary.





Datuk A. Kadir Jasin

Datuk AKJ(kadirjasin.blogspot.com) lebih menekankan kepada perspektif sejarah dalam ucapannya. Beliau melihat media dahulu lebih kearah Melayu kerana sifat bangsa Melayu lebih kepada perjuangan kemerdekaan dan menyemarakkan semangat nasionalisme di kalangan mereka.

Salah satu contohnya, adalah skrip karya Tun Dr M dikenali sebagai Gagak Hitam yang terkenal di Kedah untuk menyemarakan semangat perjuangan kemerdekaan.

Kerajaan menganggap media sebagai pasangan. Menteri – menteri akan sentiasa melantik individu dalam industri media terutamanya wartawan untuk membantu mereka dalam mengendalikan hal – hal hubungan media.

Datuk AKJ lebih suka mempraktikkan konsep tiada sekatan dalam blognya. Namun beliau masih berpegang teguh kepada platform media konvensional dengan tidak memasukkan unsur – unsur tidak senonoh dan fakta yang tidak benar.

And the best thing is Datuk AKJ menyifatkan our big kahuna in government mungkin confused between Blog dan Goblog…..






Steven Gan
Steven Gan(founder of Malaysiakini) said in his intro of his speech, Tun Dr M is a man full of contradiction. He wished that this kind of discourse should be held long time ago during Tun’s time.

According to him content is not king, but the technology is king.

I’m still believe in content is king, but the technology is emperor.

Gan said journalist unlike politicians, journalists have to account for theirs every single report they write - every day. They can even lose their credibility just by a single wrong report.






Jeff Ooi

Jeff Ooi(owner of screenshots, the most influential blog in Malaysia) said, through blog, we are creating borderless sphere of networking. Blog is a powerful channel of media.

No wonder some of our journalist in mainstream newspaper can copy and paste from blogosphere to make as their stories.

Youth should be more content savvy. Ooi opined that a generation of ‘intelligentsia’ is fast emerging. These are people who are exposed to overseas education and communicate using the Internet for both work and play.



Me during hot group discussion session (young Vs Old)


Cekkem analyze every single speech and looking for Ess Bee