Filed under: internet, journalism, new media, The Malaysian Insider, writing | Tags: 1malaysia, barisan nasional, BN, campaign, ceramah, chinese, cina, fat bidin, ge13, general election, interview, journalism, Keadilan, malay, malaysia, malaysian spring, media, muslim, new media, news, pakatan rakyat, PR, pru13, solo journalism, The Malaysian Insider, umno, utusan, vote, voters, zan azlee
Serve all races
By Zan Azlee
MAY 17 — Yesterday, I got back from a working trip to Jakarta and in the taxi from KLIA, the driver started chatting with me about the recent general election. And just for context, the driver is Malay and looked to be middle-aged. I’m guessing around 50 years of age.
At one point, he said to me: “Tengok Kabinet baru yang Perdana Menteri sudah lantik. Langsung tidak ada wakil orang Cina. Biar padan muka mereka. Cina sekarang dah banyak songeh!”
At first, I wanted to blurt out and say that he needs to be certain who he’s talking to. I may look Malay, and I may sound Malay, but I am in fact Chinese (part of me, that is!).
Then I would have continued to condemn him and his racist ways and, hopefully put him in his place and educate him a little about the ways of harmonious living.
But I immediately caught myself before I did anything drastic. And I think it paid off quite well judging from the taxi driver’s reaction. [Click to read the full article at The Malaysian Insider]
Filed under: writing, new media, internet, journalism, Astro Awani | Tags: Keadilan, general election, malaysia, zan azlee, fat bidin, news, 1malaysia, muslim, malay, media, solo journalism, interview, new media, journalism, demonstration, chinese, pakatan rakyat, umno, riot, barisan nasional, lembah pantai, utusan, violence, BN, PR, pru13, ge13, vote, voters, campaign, ceramah, malaysian spring, cina
The ‘Good vs Evil’ trap
By Zan Azlee
I disagree with the interviewees (forum panelists) in an article published in the Free Malaysia Today website on 14th May 2013 which called for the people to take to the streets and topple the BN government.
In a brief overview, the article quoted three panelists at a forum, Haris Ibrahim (ABU – Anything But Umno), Adam Adli Halim (student activist) and Hishammuddin Rais (Bersih) calling for the rakyat to take to the streets and topple the government.
Apparently, another five years is just too long to wait to vote Barisan Nasional out of the federal office, and according to these three individuals, we have to take it by force.
Here’s the deal. I think they’re on their own. [Click to read the full article at English.AstroAwani.Com]
Filed under: documentary, directing, broadcast, new media, internet, video blog, journalism, Astro Awani, In The Heat Of Battle: The story of Lembah Pantai | Tags: 1malaysia, bangsar, barisan nasional, BN, campaign, ceramah, documentary, fat bidin, ge13, general election, interview, journalism, Keadilan, kuala lumpur, lembah pantai, malay, malaysia, malaysian spring, media, muslim, new media, news, nurul izzah, pakatan rakyat, PR, pru13, raja nong chik, solo journalism, umno, video journalism, vote, voters, web video, zan azlee

Remember ‘In the Heat of Battle: The Story of Lembah Pantai‘ which I did during the campaign and election period last week on AstroAwani.Com? Well, the TV version is all done – it’s a 4-episode mini series starting tonight (Wednesday, 15th May 2013), every night until Sunday (19th May 2013), at 9:30pm, on 501 Astro AWANI!
The entire 2-week campaign and election period condensed into 4 episodes of TV time… it doesn’t get better than that! It’s like being there without being there yourself! Hahaha!
Filed under: writing, new media, internet, journalism, The Malaysian Insider | Tags: Keadilan, general election, malaysia, zan azlee, fat bidin, The Malaysian Insider, news, 1malaysia, muslim, malay, media, solo journalism, interview, new media, journalism, chinese, pakatan rakyat, umno, barisan nasional, lembah pantai, utusan, BN, PR, pru13, ge13, vote, voters, campaign, ceramah, malaysian spring, cina
The race factor
By Zan Azlee
MAY 10 — The race factor definitely played a role in the voter swing in the recent GE13. No doubt about it. So when Umno-owned newspaper Utusan published the front-page story “Apa lagi Cina mahu?” last Tuesday in response to the voter swing, it couldn’t have been a surprise.
Barisan Nasional consists of many component parties and most of these parties (if not all of them) are all race-based. And, of course, the three main parties that make up the coalition are Umno (Malay), the MCA (Chinese) and MIC (Indian).
The logic to it is that Umno will attract the Malay voters, the MCA will attract the Chinese and MIC, the Indians. Hence, they should have it all covered in Malaysia.
Then we look at Pakatan Rakyat, who is constantly preaching multiracial politics, claiming that they aren’t race-based. [Click to read the full article at The Malaysian Insider]
Filed under: writing, new media, internet, journalism, Astro Awani | Tags: 1malaysia, barisan nasional, BN, campaign, ceramah, chinese, cina, fat bidin, ge13, general election, interview, journalism, Keadilan, lembah pantai, malay, malaysia, malaysian spring, media, muslim, new media, news, pakatan rakyat, PR, pru13, ridhuan tee, solo journalism, umno, utusan, vote, voters, zan azlee
‘Apa lagi Ridhuan Tee mahu?’
By Zan Azlee
This debacle with the headline written by the Utusan newspaper last Tuesday has got me thinking – which side is Ridhuan Tee on regarding this matter?
Okay, for those who are oblivious ignoramuses, Utusan published the very irrational and racist sounding headline which read ‘Apa lagi Cina mahu?’ last Tuesday.
Then page after page carried articles that talked about how the Chinese were being racists by voting for other than Barisan Nasional. What is this Umno-owned newspaper trying to do? Create disharmony and spark an upheaval of the people?
Come on! They already won the election. What else do they want? (Did you see what I just did there? Haha!) Sure, they did win. But it is the worst showing the coalition has ever received in its entire 56 years of rule in the country. [Click to read the full article at English.AstroAwani.Com]
Filed under: internet, journalism, new media, The Malaysian Insider, writing | Tags: 1malaysia, barisan nasional, BN, campaign, documentary, fat bidin, ge13, general election, interview, journalism, Keadilan, malay, malaysia, media, new media, news, pakatan rakyat, PR, pru13, umno, vote, voters, zan azlee
My top 5 issues when dropping my ballot
By Zan Azlee
MAY 3 — What can I write about today that would help you make a decision when Sunday comes? I doubt that any of you are still undecided at this eleventh hour.
I can harp on and on about the things that I have seen over the years as a journalist following Malaysian issues or in these past two weeks of heated campaigning.
I can even outright tell you who I’m going to vote for and the reasons why I am going to do so. But I’m not going to do that since it won’t serve any purpose.
Filed under: writing, new media, internet, journalism, Astro Awani | Tags: 1malaysia, bangsar, barisan nasional, BN, campaign, ceramah, fat bidin, ge13, general election, interview, journalism, Keadilan, kuala lumpur, lembah pantai, malay, malaysia, malaysian spring, media, muslim, new media, news, nurul izzah, pakatan rakyat, PR, pru13, raja nong chik, solo journalism, umno, vote, voters, zan azlee
No more opinions, just hard facts before we vote
By Zan Azlee
Last Monday, I went into Lembah Pantai as usual for my journalistic duty and to find stories for my multimedia project ‘In The Heat Of Battle: The story of Lembah Pantai’. Being the first day of the second week of campaigning, I was pretty sure that I would find some interesting stories or issues that can be talked about.
Lo and behold, I did stumble on to some interesting events. The first was the launch of BN’s candidate, Datuk Raja Nong Chik’s, Lembah Pantai report card. And the second, the people’s Malaysian Spring. [Click to read the full article at English.AstroAwani.Com]







