BAD MANNERS MAKE A JOURNALIST?

I witnessed the Wong Family, YB Wong Ho Leng, his wife Irene Chang, eldest daughter Suzanne work tirelessly during the Sibu by-elections in which YB Ho Leng won the Parliamentary seat after an embarrassing delay by the Election Commission. I met Irene again during the Sarawak State Elections. She trained Election Agents during the run-up to polling day whilst Suzanne ran the father’s operation centre in Sibu. Recently YB Wong, was taken ill. The following article below appeared in New Straits Times online:

KUALA LUMPUR: Irene Chang, the wife of Sibu DAP member of parliament Wong Ho Leng, who is also Sarawak DAP chairman, is said to have criticised the party for failing to provide or offer financial support to her husband, who has a brain tumour.

A news portal reported that Chang was incensed after reading a media statement on Jan 13, issued by secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, who had merely expressed the party's support for Wong.

She was quoted as saying that the party's leadership was heartless.         

"Wong is only 53 and we have five children -- four of them are in school, college and universities -- and, hence, our financial resources are strained."

She said Wong's legal practice had suffered after he was elected as MP.

"As a DAP MP, he is expected to contribute a portion of his allowance to the party and, more often than not, the allowance is not sufficient to pay for all the expenses of serving the people as an MP.

"Every month, we have to top up another RM10,000 as additional expenses for serving the people and maintaining our service centres.

"And now Wong is sick and we need money for his treatment and all that Guan Eng can say or do is that the party will support us morally and help service the constituency

"Where is the humanitarian support to us in this time of difficulty? Not a single sen coming from the party, after all that we have done and achieved for the party. Shame on you, Guan Eng." 

Could this be the reason why Oscar Wilde said this: Bad manners make a journalist. This prompted Kit Siang to ask: What unethical depths and bottomless pits are going to be plumbed by UMNO/BN leaders and their mainstream media (MSM) before the 13GE?

You might remember that I announced that come January, the GOM and their newly hired Oglivy would unleash a torrent of spins to drown PAS and DAP. This could be it, yah? Yellow gutter journalism! These press-releases by the government controlled mainstream media belong in the gutter because that is where the ruling classes throw their putrid trash. This is the lowest form of popular yellow culture -- lack of information, misinformation and a contempt for the truth or the reality of most people's lives -- has overrun real journalism. Today, ordinary Malaysians are being stuffed with this garbage.

Journalism as practiced by the government media rags has transformed journalism into organized gossip. Wasn’t it one Karl Kraus who said that if the reporter has killed our imagination with his truth, he threatens our life with his lies. Every journalist who is not too stupid or too full of himself to notice what is going on knows that what he does is morally indefensible. Of course I do not agree with a friend who said that if a person is not talented enough to be a novelist, not smart enough to be a lawyer, and his hands are too shaky to perform operations, he becomes a journalist. I see journalists as the manual workers, the laborers of the word. In my time I had journalist friends whose blood and convictions flowed from  their pens or through their portable typewriters. The likes of Norman Siebel, Cheryl Doral, David Tambayah, Musa Scully, Francis Emmaneul,  Maurice Khoo, Tony Francis, Boey Kok Choy, Terence Netto, Kee Thuan Chye, Fauzi Omar, Lazarus Rokk and William D’Cruz. These I believe walked away when editorial police stifled  personal convictions and as such they have moved on. Fortunately we still have the likes of Frankie D’Cru, Zainon Ahmad, Terence Fernendez, Nadeswaran and P Gunsegaran  All the above named wrote with PASSION. Journalism can only be literature when it is passionate I remember reading somewhere.

We need a press that stresses opinions; not the current sycophant press, radio, and television that emphasize news only on the powers that be. It is no surprise then that Malaysia records worst-ever ranking on press freedom HERE  whilst Malaysiakini is still most trusted HERE

Below, Irene Chang rebuts the nasty bit by the NaSTy tabloid:

Irene Chang on her Facebook:

I have been made aware of a certain article posted online and which reported me as having complained against our party leadership. I am absolutely furious. There is absolutely no truth in this article. I did not give any interview nor did I ever complain against our party or against anyone. More importantly, never did I ever feel, for a second that I have a cause to complain against our party or anyone in specific. In fact, since my husband's medical condition was diagnosed, I have been too worried and concerned about his medical condition than to worry whether the party is providing any financial support or otherwise. But having said this, I put on record that since our party leaders have been told of my husband's condition, each and everyone of them, have been unbelievably supportive and caring. Both my husband and I have, in fact felt that we have been very blessed to know these people, who have somehow, crossed over the line from being political comrades to being very caring friends. And my family and I have been very touched by the call for support for my husband by our Secretary General, YAB Lim Guan Eng, an appreciation of which was posted by our eldest daughter, Suzanne Gail Wong, in her facebook on 14th January 2013. Therefore, it would be very unfair and unjust to let this article be passed around for people to pass judgment on our party leaders, our party and me, without any basis at all. I therefore strongly condemn this article for each and every sentence therein is a lie.

God forbid the day

when journalists can't write,

interview people who can't talk,

for people who can't read.