JANUARY 22 — With 1MDB, missing official jets and the shenanigans of K-pop stars hogging the headlines at the beginning of 2015, it feels like time to look back at how some of the previous hot button issues of the past were resolved.
As far back as 2000, there were stories of an alleged RM200 million bailout of Indah Water. Was it true or not? Canny Ong’s murderer was sentenced to hang in 2009, but there seems to be no news story on when he was actually hanged. But that might be going too far back so let’s take a look at stories from the last five years.
Does anybody remember the massive criticism against the proposed 100-storey, RM5 billion Warisan Merdeka supertower, back in 2010? Or the firestorm over the alleged RM1.8 million Facebook page of the Tourism Ministry in 2011 or the more recent award by the same ministry of their advertising tender to allegedly unqualified firms? Who was finally responsible for the PKFZ saga?
In 2011, who finally benefited from the Khazanah brokered AirAsia-MAS deal? Did the Tajudin Ramli-Danaharta out-of-court settlement, actually cause a loss to the exchequer to the tune of RM589 million as alleged? Was Datuk T’s expose of Anwar real or doctored? Is APCO still in charge of PR for the PMO? Is the Lynas story resolved to everybody’s satisfaction? Do the Rawang-based Obedient Wives Club and Polygamists club still exist?
In 2012 the Putrajaya Consultative Council of Parents and Teachers Associations and Yayasan Guru Malaysia Bhd. issued guidelines according to which the wearing of tight V-neck T-shirts in light colours accessorised with man bags were a sure sign of homosexuality, as was hanging out with other men. Do they still exist, and more importantly, do they still stand by their guidelines?
In the same year, after hounding Suaram for receiving foreign funding, the prime minister simply stated that he was not obligated to disclose the source of approximately RM40 million donated to Sabah Umno in cash across national borders. Did anybody follow up? Who was Anwar Ibrahim’s mysterious friend who loaned him his private jet for free? How did the transfer of shares of Felda settlers in the profit-making Felda Holdings into the allegedly loss-making Felda Global Ventures pan out? Is the situation with Indonesian maids finally resolved? How are the two young men let off from a custodial sentence after being convicted of statutory rape doing?
Even in the last two years there are stories that should have been followed up on, like Saiful Bukhari’s dad calling the sodomy charges against Anwar an evil conspiracy. Does he still feel that way? Is the 1 Malaysia e-mail project still on? Was the BTN course material changed at all? Is the RM1 million fine for civil servants and journalists for revealing anything about the workings of the government to the public still in force? Are new newspaper licences still beng refused because too much information can confuse people?
And then there are the ongoing stories like the annual Auditor General’s report on cost overruns and shoddy maintenance of palaces and airports and the PAS insistence on Hudud that come and go every now and then.
The point of this long tirade is not just the most obvious one of public memory being short, but the seeming reluctance of the media to follow up on their own exposés. It could be that the sheer volume of scandals being revealed daily is such that there is no need to go after stories that everybody has forgotten about. Or that the memory of media is equally short as the man in the street.
In either case, it is the people at the other end of the stories that benefit. A cursory check shows that despite the 260,000 people who had initially opposed the Warisan Merdeka project, it is very much on track as the KL-118 project. If businessmen and politicians can count on collective amnesia, the urban highways and incinerators being opposed today will definitely get built in a few years’ time.
Good follow-ups are vital to bring perpetrators of injustice to account as well as to bring closure to readers following stories of interest. It also helps the overall credibility and popularity of the media outlets themselves. From a reader’s perspective, It would be great to know that some journalists and media outlets will follow a story to its natural conclusion, whatever it takes.
But if they are not willing to do it, there are other ways. One of the few stories that have survived the test of time is the NFC cows in condos story. There, it was the ability of the opposition to employ a piecemeal exposé PR strategy using the alternative media to prolong the life of the scandal that caught the powers-that-be by surprise. Catchy jokes and memes helped make it shorthand for corruption in Malaysia, to the point that it has never really left the popular consciousness.
And whatever happened to 1 Malaysia?
* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
