The silenced moderator

In my latest reading of The Star again I was attracted to an interview with one of the G25. This time it is with a 73 year old ex-government servant who spends a lot of his time with his grandchildren.

To my amusement, one of the question posed to this man was his comment about ISMA activist’s opinion on Merry Christmas greeting. What amuses me is that this newspaper couldn’t avoid mentioning ISMA’s name, almost every alternate day.

I mean they really do love ISMA don’t they? Thank you so much Mr Wong. You’re making ISMA so famous. I love you too!

Since this paper has introduced us to the Voices of Moderates (VM), allow me to refer to the newspaper as The Moderator (TM) from this point on. Now, since VM’s introduction in various interviews and articles, the group has received a special place in TM’s heart.

Well rightly so, as issues regarding religion and racial harmony have been the centre of discussion among Malaysian, be it a politician or a random man on the street.

Some groups are so upset about what is happening in this country that they’ll even go and seek refuge from United Nation Human Rights Council. To them, nothing is right in this country! They use every means available to them to counter the Voices of Muslim NGOs (VMG). After failing to get support from the majority, they resort to the help of TMs to amplify their voice.

But I wonder why TM never seek to interview Muslim NGOs? Don’t you think that your paper will be more credible and respected if you publish balanced report from both side of the voices, Mr Wong? What happened to freedom of speech?  What are you so scared of?

Honestly Mr Wong, if you want to increase your circulation and generate more revenue then let me give you this tip; provide the public with unbiased reporting!! You owe me teh tarik for this obvious tip.

One more thing that I’d like to highlight to TM, what about Eric Paulsen’s slanderous comment about Islam, JAKIM, Muslim NGOs and other Islamic authorities?  I’m sure you are aware of this. Don’t you think that Eric’s comment will dampen the racial harmony effort that you are promoting? Or do you think that Eric is the best model of Moderate figure that all Malaysian should look up for? If not, then where are the ‘moderate’ criticism on Eric’s extreme comment?

You cannot remain in silence, dear TM. Being a widely circulated newspaper agency, I reckon, your reach is great in particular among the Chinese community. Please be impartial and more professional. Otherwise, given time, you will be the reason for inciting racial hatred among Malaysian due to your biased reporting.

Aminuddin Yahaya
Deputy President of ISMA

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