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: 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, lembah pantai, malay, malaysia, malaysian spring, media, muslim, new media, news, pakatan rakyat, PR, pru13, solo journalism, The Malaysian Insider, umno, utusan, vote, voters, zan azlee
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: 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, The Malaysian Insider, Astro Awani | Tags: 1malaysia, bangsar, barisan nasional, BN, campaign, documentary, fat bidin, ge13, general election, interview, journalism, Keadilan, kuala lumpur, lembah pantai, malay, malaysia, 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
Can campaign style determine a winner?
By Zan Azlee
APRIL 26 — It’s a week into the official campaign period and following the candidates around their constituencies has started to take its toll on me.
My beautiful Converse shoes are now caked in mud and fishy water due to walking in pasar malams, and not to mention the fields during ceramah nights.
I’ve also had to avoid rotten eggs being thrown from fanatic party supporters and have had to endure threats from local party leaders.
And I might have some hearing damage due to the unsporting behaviour of other supporters who play loud patriotic music during an opposition candidate’s ceramahs.
Aside from that, it’s been a blast!
One thing that struck me is the unique way different politicians have when it comes to campaigning. It’s almost like auteurship. [Click to read the full article at The Malaysian Insider]
Filed under: internet, journalism, new media, The Malaysian Insider, writing | Tags: DAP, PKR, Keadilan, malaysia, zan azlee, fat bidin, The Malaysian Insider, news, 1malaysia, muslim, malay, media, pas, new media, journalism, pakatan rakyat, umno, barisan nasional, election, pru13, ge13, lim guan eng
DAP CEC dilemma will prove Malaysians’ maturity
By Zan Azlee
APRIL 19 — The decision by the Registrar of Societies (RoS) not to recognise the DAP’s central executive committee, or CEC, is a surprising move indeed even if it is an issue that has been talked about before this. Why did the RoS decide to do so only two days before Nomination Day when it had earlier already decided that investigations would be postponed till May 9?
As far as perception goes, this would actually make it look as if the decision taken by the RoS is a politically-motivated one that would benefit the caretaker Barisan Nasional government. If this is the case, then it would make full sense for the DAP not to challenge the decision and play the “victim” card to gain sympathy and turn the situation around for their own benefit instead.
Also, this decision by the RoS would mean that the DAP would have no recognised leaders to authorise their members to use the party logo during the election. DAP secretary general Lim Guan Eng has already declared, with the agreement of the PKR and PAS leadership, that DAP members can run under the other two parties’ logos.
But there are implications to this decision if it were indeed to be taken. [Click to read the full article at The Malaysian Insider]
Filed under: journalism, The Malaysian Insider, writing | Tags: 1malaysia, barisan nasional, fat bidin, GE, general election, interview, journalism, Keadilan, kuala lumpur, mahathir mohamad, malay, malaysia, media, new media, news, oon yeoh, pakatan rakyat, pru13, racism, racist, The Malaysian Insider, umno, zan azlee
The Sun columnist, Oon Yeoh, compares my thoughts with former Malaysian Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir regarding the 13th General Election! Who would you agree with?? Jeng jeng jeng!! Click here to read the article: Hope vs Fear!
Filed under: Astro Awani, internet, journalism, new media, The Malaysian Insider, writing | Tags: 1malaysia, barisan nasional, fat bidin, GE, general election, interview, journalism, Keadilan, kuala lumpur, malay, malaysia, media, new media, news, pakatan rakyat, pru13, racism, racist, The Malaysian Insider, umno, zan azlee
No votes for racists
By Zan Azlee
APRIL 12 ― I turn to my right, and I see two Malaysians. Their names are Cherish Leow and Cynthia Ng. I look further down to the left; I see another Malaysian. His name is Thinesh Kumar. This is my workplace.
I look to my left, I see four Malaysians. They are the Lau family. I look further ahead and I see another Malaysian. His name is Steven Tan. This is my residential area.
I look to my right, I see a Malaysian. Her name is Ang Swee Poh. I look further down to the right, I see another Malaysian. His name is Ganesh Selvacumarasamy. This is my family.
I look to my left, I see a Malaysian. Her name is Jasmine Abu Bakar. I look in my arms, I see a Malaysian. Her name is Athena Azlee. These are my wife and daughter.
Then I read in the news and see prominent Malaysians endorse and encourage racial politics, in particular, one former Inspector-General of Police.
He says that racial politics is relevant to our society because the different races need to be able to share power so as to have a stable and peaceful country.
Bullshit! I say it’s just a divide-and-conquer strategy to ensure certain people get the power. What do you think? Could my humble opinion actually be right? [Click to read the full article at The Malaysian Insider]
Filed under: internet, journalism, new media, The Malaysian Insider, writing | Tags: malaysia, zan azlee, fat bidin, The Malaysian Insider, islam, 1malaysia, muslim, malay, allah, new media
Islam says to obey your leaders
By Zan Azlee
APRIL 5 – Linawati Kate Adnan is my colleague and she sits next to me at work. One Friday, as I was leaving the office for Fridays prayers, she looked at me with full horror in her eyes.
“Zan! You actually pray?”
“What the hell is that suppose to mean?”
“Hahahahaha!!”
True story! And since we’re on the topic of Friday prayers, last week’s sermon really woke me up from my regular afternoon slumber in the mosque. The Khatib called all the Muslims who were in the prayer hall to obey and be loyal to our country’s leaders and that this is an Islamic obligation.
Apparently, based on Quranic verses and the Prophet’s hadith that this is an obligation for all Muslims and that rebelling against them is a huge sin. The sermon went on to say that the act of rebelling includes disputing a legitimate decision made by leaders who were given the powers to govern a country. Back up right there! [Click to read the full article at The Malaysian Insider]
Filed under: broadcast, writing, new media, internet, journalism, The Malaysian Insider, Astro Awani | Tags: malaysia, zan azlee, fat bidin, The Malaysian Insider, islam, 1malaysia, muslim, malay, allah, christian, journalism, multiculturalism, pluralism, catholic, pope, pope francis, pope benedict, cardinal, bergoglio, roman, interfaith
Habemus Papam!
By Zan Azlee
MARCH 29 ― I have a friend by the name of Marcus Lim. He is my colleague at Astro AWANI. Marcus is a devout Catholic and we have interesting conversations about our faiths whenever we feel too lazy to do some actual work in the office.
The day that the new pope was decided on, I came into the office and as soon as I saw Marcus, I yelled out, “Habemus Papam!” (We have a pope!) I doubt that Marcus actually knows Latin, but he replied:
Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum:
Habemus Papam;
Eminentissimum ac reverendissimum Dominum,
Dominum Jorge Mario Sanctæ Romanæ Ecclesiæ Cardinalem Bergoglio,
Qui sibi nomen imposuit Franciscum.
(I announce to you a great joy:
We have a Pope!
The most eminent and reverend lord
Lord Jorge Mario Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church Bergoglio,
Who takes the name of Francis.)
Okay. I kid! He only managed to utter the first sentence before he started uttering gibberish since he doesn’t actually speak Latin. [Click to read the full article at The Malaysian Insider]
Filed under: documentary, directing, broadcast, writing, new media, internet, journalism, The Malaysian Insider | Tags: 1malaysia, agbimuddin kiram, askar, conflict, documentary, fat bidin, ic, islam, journalism, kiram, malay, malaysia, media, muslim, new media, news, project ic, sabah, sarawak, sulu, The Malaysian Insider, war, zan azlee
I see what IC
By Zan Azlee
MARCH 22 — Sijah Ejut is a true blue Malaysian. She is an Iban tuai rumah (village head) who has lived her entire life on the outskirts of Sibu, Sarawak. She has never been out of the country, and her ancestors have lived on the land for centuries. You can’t get any more Malaysian than that.
Yet, she only managed to register her citizenship and get an IC at the age of 27. And because of that, she couldn’t finish her schooling. She couldn’t even travel around freely because the police would stop and accuse her of being an illegal immigrant.
Sijah’s isn’t an isolated case. Almost the entire population of her village does not have ICs (or had trouble getting ICs) even though they are all Bumiputeras.
And imagine Sijah Ejut’s outrage now that she knows that one of Malaysia’s most wanted men, Agbimuddin Kiram, and the rest of his mob could have been among those given ICs and made Malaysian citizens? [Click to read the full article at The Malaysian Insider]
Filed under: writing, new media, internet, journalism, The Malaysian Insider | Tags: malaysia, zan azlee, fat bidin, The Malaysian Insider, news, muslim, malay, media, new media, journalism, military, conflict, mindef, army, sabah, lahad datu, sulu, philippines, terrorist, pdrm, atm police, journalist
Information in times of conflict
By Zan Azlee
MARCH 8 – When conflict happens anywhere around the world, notice that conspiracy theories start coming alive. Allegations of propaganda and spin also start to emerge. For example, when 9/11 happened, many people believed (and some still do!) that President Bush Jr planned the attacks so he could continue to hold on to power.
This isn’t much different in Malaysia with the case of the invasion of Sabah by armed terrorists from southern Philippines. A conspiracy theory speculating that the government of the day is actually creating this whole incident to create panic before the elections is one. Another conspiracy theory that is making its rounds in the media is that the opposition had planned the invasion all along together with the terrorists.
Then there are the dozens or so accusations of fabrication and manipulation of information released to the public. Remember the first police deaths? First, the news said that they were killed by a mortar. Then, it was said that they were shot by snipers. A few days ago, the Interior Minister and Defence Minister, Hishammuddin Hussein and Zahid Hamidi, released pictures of the dead terrorists killed in an operation.
It took them a long time to release the photos and, of course, more conspiracy theories cropped up regarding the photos. Why did it take so long to release it to the public? Are those real terrorists? Was it a staged photograph? It’s quite funny actually. [Click to read the full article at The Malaysian Insider]
Filed under: writing, new media, internet, journalism, The Malaysian Insider | Tags: zan azlee, fat bidin, The Malaysian Insider, media, new media, journalism, jasmine abu bakar, athena, women, gender, freakonomics, stephen dubner, steven levitt, men
Women can be just as good
By Zan Azlee
MARCH 1 — I’ve always been a proponent of gender equality. I believe that anything a man does in the world, a woman can do just as well or even better.
And that is why I never hold the door open for my wife whenever we go anywhere. Neither do I carry the groceries when we go shopping. She is woman, hear her roar!
Then my daughter Athena Azlee was born and my feminism spirit soared through the sky. I banned all princess paraphernalia and media content in the house, and Barbie was sent to melt in hell. [Click to read the full article at The Malaysian Insider]
Filed under: writing, new media, internet, journalism, The Malaysian Insider | Tags: 1malaysia, allah, barisan nasional, BN, fat bidin, hindu, india, indian, islam, journalism, malay, malaysia, multiculturalism, muslim, new media, news, pluralism, religion, ridhuan, ridhuan tee, taliban, The Malaysian Insider, umno, vishwaroopam, zan azlee
Ridhuan Tee.. Malaysians’ patience has its limits!
By Zan Azlee
FEB 22 — I have spent many years of my professional career trying to promote and encourage a multicultural and multireligious Malaysia. I have had to face personal sacrifice, peril and risk to bring my fight to the fore. Well, not really lah. But I do feel very passionate about it.
A career which started out really as a personal interest has become much more as I feel that I now have a responsibility to my country and countrymen. I want to play as much a role as I can in shaping Malaysia to be the coolest country on the planet. A country perfect for my daughter Athena Azlee to grow up in.
I normally don’t get angry or mad in my writings or even in my documentaries. I rant, and mostly whine, but I never fill my content with anger and hatred. So imagine my disgust when I read what Ridhuan Tee Abdullah (yes, my favourite columnist!) wrote in his column in Sinar Harian on February 18.
Commenting on the lifting of the ban of the Indian film “Vishwaroopam”, Tee crafted out 786 words of disrespect towards the Malaysian Indian and Hindu community. [Click to read the full article at The Malaysian Insider]
Filed under: writing, new media, internet, journalism, The Malaysian Insider | Tags: malaysia, zan azlee, fat bidin, The Malaysian Insider, news, 1malaysia, general elections, malay, journalism, pakatan rakyat, barisan nasional, sharifah zohra jabeen, mahathir, psy, gangnam, BN, pakatan, PR, teng chang yeow, election
Foot in the mouth?
By Zan Azlee
FEB 15- Sometimes, people get their feet stuck deep in their mouths that it is impossible to pull it back out. Sad for them, but good for me, since I get something to write about. The first case I would like to discuss is one that I’m sure everyone reading this column would be very familiar with – Sharifah Zohra Jabeen.
Here is a lady who is obviously not very smart trying to make it look and sound like she’s smart. Look what happened now. She’s gone into hiding out of embarrassment. And she still hasn’t responded to my challenge in a previous article to debate her on a topic of her choice. I guess she’s scared that she’ll get her other foot stuck in her mouth too.
The second case is something that happened very recently, and that is, the response that Penang state BN chief Teng Chang Yeow gave regarding K-pop artist Psy… And then there is something former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said yesterday which also caught my attention. [Click to read the full article at The Malaysian Insider]
Filed under: writing, new media, internet, journalism, The Malaysian Insider | Tags: malaysia, zan azlee, fat bidin, The Malaysian Insider, islam, 1malaysia, muslim, malay, media, new media, journalism, kuala lumpur, racist, race
So who are the racists here?
By Zan Azlee
FEB 8 — “It was never like this back in my day.”
“We mixed with everyone when I was a child.”
“Race was never an issue. We were all Malaysians decades ago.”
Shut up! I’m sick and tired of listening to the older generation going on about how race relations in Malaysia was so much better 30 years ago. I’m not denying it. I’m sure it is true. Everyone from that generation says so and they all seem to agree with one another. Things have deteriorated, no doubt. But, when I think about it… has it really?
People go on and on about how things are so polarised, that there is no interaction between the different races and how each race is so insecure that they look at each other in fear. But I would like to be a little micro and anecdotal here and see if it is possible to extrapolate it to tell the macro story of race relations in the country. [Click to read the full article at The Malaysian Insider]
Filed under: broadcast, writing, new media, internet, journalism, The Malaysian Insider | Tags: zan azlee, fat bidin, The Malaysian Insider, islam, media, interview, new media, journalism, israel, gaza, palestine, harry fear, independent journalism
Staring Fear in the eye
By Zan Azlee
FEB 1 — I recently interviewed a young Brit by the name of Harry Fear for “Vantage Point”, a current affairs talk show on Astro Awani. Before interviewing him, I did a little bit of research and found out he is an independent journalist, human rights activist, writer and scholar.
The reason he was being interviewed is that he had spent 12 weeks in Gaza, Palestine, in November last year, during and after the Israeli Operation Pillar of Cloud siege.
When Fear arrived at the studio and I finally got to meet him, we chatted a little before the show. I asked him how he would like me to refer to him. Independent journalist, human rights activist, writer and scholar?
He laughed and said that was a mouthful and sounded so presumptuous. He said he would much rather be referred to as a campaigning documentary film-maker. And as someone who has always believed that objective journalism is bull crap and that subjectivity is fine, as long as it’s honest, I took to that definition straight away. [Click to read the full article at The Malaysian Insider]
Filed under: writing, new media, internet, journalism, The Malaysian Insider | Tags: fat bidin, ipad, journalism, magazine, media, new media, news, newsweek, the daily beast, The Malaysian Insider, zan azlee
Digital isn’t the death sentence for Newsweek
By Zan Azlee
JAN 25 — I’ve been looking high and low for the last printed edition of Newsweek since the end of December 2012 all around the Klang Valley, but have been unlucky. I had basically given up, when lo and behold, I see stacks of it two days ago at a newsstand in Kota Kinabalu where I had been shooting a documentary for the past week.
So I bought a couple of copies (who knows, it might become a valuable collector’s item in a couple of years) and sat myself down at a coffee shop to go through it.
Here’s a little bit of backgrounder for those who are not familiar. Newsweek is a news and current affairs magazine that has been around for 79 years, and is a bitter rival of Time. Due to the pressures of technological and market evolution, they have made the decision to cease their print edition and concentrate only on their digital version.
This isn’t much of a surprise considering that hundreds of newspapers and magazines have been forced to stop operations because of the dwindling circulation and sales in the Internet age. Newsweek itself had an international circulation of four million copies in 2003. By 2010, this number dropped to 1.5 million. That is definitely a huge drop.
But Newsweek is an institution. Back in the day, they had their own building which was so prominent in the New York City skyline. They were (still is!) a respected journalistic organisation. [Click to read the full article at The Malaysian Insider]
Filed under: internet, journalism, lecture, new media, The Malaysian Insider, writing | Tags: 1malaysia, bavani, fat bidin, journalism, ks bavani, listen, malay, malaysia, news, sharifah zohra jabeen, SW1M, The Malaysian Insider, zan azlee
Sharifah Zohra Jabeen, I challenge you to a debate!
By Zan Azlee
18 JAN – You were way out of your depth. It was obviously clear. And that was the reason why you had to pull the microphone away from KS Bavani when she was speaking. But you definitely had no realisation of this, I’m sure. You thought you were all that in your sophisticated looking pant suit and fancy title of President of Suara Wanita. Trying to go for a SW1M? Try not to sink instead!
You were at a university, University Utara Malaysia, a learning institution where people go to (where most of them are actually legal adults) to obtain an education. You were a part of a panel forum. A panel forum, which I’m very sure, had an objective to bring forth discourse and intellectual discussion, and to share that with the students.
The forum, which was titled ‘Seiringkah Mahasiswa dan Politik’, had given the panelists a chance to speak, and also had a session that was opened to the floor, a chance for the students to speak. If the panelists were allowed to share their thoughts and opinions, then by all means, the members of the floor should be given that chance too. It is a forum anyway. [Click to read the full article at The Malaysian Insider]
Filed under: writing, new media, internet, journalism, The Malaysian Insider | Tags: malaysia, zan azlee, fat bidin, The Malaysian Insider, 1malaysia, malay, new media, journalism, indonesia, utusan, weezer, jakarta, concert, zainuddin maidin
The true measure of a society
By Zan Azlee
JAN 11 ― They say that if you want to know the maturity and development of a society, you look at how it treats its least privileged. But I think there’s a better analogy than that. I say, if you want to know the maturity of a society, look at how its concert organisers treat ticket buyers.
I recently went to Jakarta, the macet-prone capital of Indonesia, to watch one of my favourite rock bands of all time, Weezer, in concert.The last time I saw them perform was 11 years ago in Birmingham, England. And I have to say, this time around, it may just be the best concert I have ever been to.
But let’s put that story aside; it isn’t what I really want to talk about here. What I do want to talk about is the experience I had at the hands of the Indonesian concert organisers. It isn’t a secret that many Malaysians tend to look at Indonesians as a second class or lesser Malay society compared to themselves.
Don’t believe me? Just go back a few weeks and flick through Utusan Malaysia and read an article written by a certain former information minister, and see. However, I would beg to differ. My recent trip to the Nusantara has made me realise that my Malay blood isn’t any superior just because I have a blue Malaysian identity card. [Click to read the full article at The Malaysian Insider]
Filed under: broadcast, internet, journalism, new media, The Malaysian Insider, writing | Tags: malaysia, zan azlee, fat bidin, The Malaysian Insider, news, media, solo journalism, video journalism, new media, journalism, television, broadcast
Television news sucks!
By Zan Azlee
JAN 4 — Yes, it sucks big time and those involved in it have put themselves too high on a pedestal to realise this. Newspapers globally are already in a crisis (except for The Star, whose circulation is mysteriously increasing!). Television news seems to have the potential of heading the same way too and is slowly losing viewers, if it does not heed my all-important advice.
I wonder if anyone agrees with me that watching news on television has really been uninspiring these last few years? I don’t think I have to wonder. To be honest, I’ve actually stopped watching television news altogether. I get my news fix almost solely from online sources now and I know so many people who do the same.
I feel very strongly that television news should just stop trying to compete in breaking news. Just outright cease and desist. [Click to read the full article at The Malaysian Insider]
