KUALA LUMPUR, May 6 — Western media reporting on Malaysian politics is often ignorant over facts and coloured with lies from the opposition, said Sholto Byrnes, a senior fellow at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia.
Brynes, who is also a commentator and analyst with more than 20 years’ experience in journalism in England, said there were probably a very few foreign media representatives who are covering a country like Malaysia, who really knew very about much about the country.
He pointed out there had been many important achievements under Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s government but they went under reported or were dismissed by the international media because of their inherent bias against Barisan Nasional (BN).
“So, the paradigm was set in Malaysia in 1998 and 2000 (following Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s ouster from the cabinet). The western media then disapproved of the approach by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
“So, he (Dr Mahathir), the BN, became the bad guys. And I think in the years since then, this is where the western media start when they look at Malaysia. It is not a level playing field,” he said in an interview with NSTP on his views of the foreign media handling of the 14th General Election (GE14). The interview was published in the NSTP today.
Questioning the credibility of 1Malaysia People’s Aid (BR1M) reporting, Byrnes said it was hypocritical for other countries to criticise BR1M especially European countries because such benefits such as employment and housing benefits also exist in those countries.
He believed that everyone who took for granted and described BR1M as bribery was really missing the point, because there were some people who might be less fortunate or had lost a job who require the aid and it was the duty of state to help them.
“They (foreign media) think of every way to put the government in a bad light. So, that is what you are dealing with to begin with. And when you are talking about the coverage of this election, for example, they are going to be coming from a perspective that says “we do not think it is fair”,” he said.
In addition, Byrnes said the opposition had been reaching out to the western media, and a lot of them would just accept whatever they opposition say without question.
For an example, he said Dr Mahathir had been frequently saying that Malaysia had become one of the top corrupt countries in the world, without actually having any basis or back up for making such claims
He said the western media did not have any form of checks and balances reporting, and not even checking whether the information they have been given is true.
“I mean, I really like to see some evidence to this, but he keeps saying it as if it is true. Dr Mahathir was interviewed by The Guardian recently. He had mentioned the same thing during the interview, but it was not challenged by the journalist,” he said.
Expressing his worry about GE14 since there had been a lot of propaganda, Byrnes wondered whether Dr Mahathir was telling a lie or did not know about it.
“I am not sure which is more worrying for someone who has been put up as a prime ministerial candidate,” he added.
On the Goods and Services Tax (GST), Byrnes said the tax system was to cushion to impact of the fall in oil prices, and that the vast majority of countries in the world had something similar.
Byrnes also agreed there was a slight decline in the standards of journalism when it came to international coverage.—Bernama
