HAS THE STAR NEWSPAPER BECOME THE LAUGHING STOCK OF WORLD JOURNALISM?

…CAN THE STAR PRODUCE A DOCUMENTARY ON THE HISTORY OF THEIR NEWSPAPER?

By Mansor Puteh

This is one definition on who may be a nationalist and a chauvinist: A Malaysian nationalist is a person who studies and studied in the national schools; a chauvinist is one who studies and studied in the vernacular schools who grow up depending on the charity of the Melayu for his commercial business while not having any fascination for Malaysian culture and arts, choosing only those from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and India.

And a Chinese chauvinist newspaper promotes not Malaysian culture but China, Hong Kong and Taiwan culture with the Indian or Tamil chauvinist newspaper promoting India culture and not highlighting the participation of Chinese-Malaysians in the arts and film in Malaysia.

Normally some newspapers like to charge some agencies or individuals for becoming ‘the laughing stock’ of the country. They do that all the time, with the editors and journalists who also sometimes use their readers to say similar things.

But surprisingly, this charge can now be leveled at one newspaper in Malaysia which seems to believe too much in what they say, especially when they want to redefine ‘moderation’ and ‘extremism’ to suit their political agendas, whatever they are without realizing that these two words in the English language not only have negative meanings but also positive ones that they did not care to ask what they are.

How could a reputable English language newspaper not know this? That one can be extremely kind and also moderately evil!

So what’s the point in asking for everybody not to be extremists and to get them to be moderates?

The Star indeed can be charged for being the laughing stock of world journalism.

For a mere newspaper, the Star can be charged for misusing the medium to express the politics of their editors.

Have they gone too far with the word, with their views?

No other newspaper in the world has come anywhere near to them. They are indeed in a class of their own.

Of course the Washington Post had caused President Richard Nixon to be forced to resign over the Watergate scandal. But in this instance, it is the Stargate scandal or controversy that the Star has found it embroiled in.

But alas not many in Malaysian will care about this newspaper which will go on insisting that they are right that they have the right to report and criticize as they please.  

Is the Star taken the Malaysian and their readers and especially their non-readers for granted for too long?

The most disgusting part is how they have the gumption to want to do whatever they are doing to achieve what they have not bothered or dared to say other than being vague about it.

They also have the veracity to insist that they are right. They won’t buckle; they will continue on with their quest to push for the moderation campaign.

The moderate criminals, rapists and liars will welcome that for they have a lot of sentiments to share.

But the people who are extremely kind and generous will not think much about them. They have been made to feel like they had done something wrong for being extremists in the eyes of some people who did not know any better than to charge them for being ‘extremists’.  

So now the criminals will go on robbing and hurting others but they can do that only moderately. And those who are extremely kind and generously will also want to consider to be less so.

Last year’s bonuses for the Star staff will therefore be moderate; and instead of them getting a few months’ bonus, they will get just half a month!

This will make the staff of the newspaper organization extremely happy for being able to do their part to prove that they also practice what their paper is preaching to everybody.

And in the international front, the Zionists will not want to completely destroy Palestinian towns and villages but partially.

This also caused those who are said and reported by this paper to be supporting their cause, without any of them now actually knowing why and what they are supporting.

The strategy used by the Star is not unique; they write and insist on being right until they come to the extent that they began to believe in their own filth, however ridiculous it may be.

No wonder not many Malaysians are giving their support to their cause.

The silent majority does not care with their politics and continue to read what they say just to see how ridiculous it is.

They want everybody to be moderate. Do their editors, sub-editors and journalists want to do what they are trying to preach, i.e. by getting moderate wages, which is a third of what have been getting now, just to show to everybody and mostly their readers and those who support their cause that they mean what they say?

And will the Star dare to get someone to produce a documentary on its history and also a book on how this newspaper first appeared and how it expanded to become a national newspaper, and if they had supported the cause of Independence or Merdeka of the country?

But can the Star prove to everybody that they are capable of doing what they are doing with their moderation and extremism campaign?

Do they have the history to back that?

Do they dare to get an independent agency to help them come up with a special documentary to document how their newspaper started and how it expanded and what they have been doing all these years to prove that they have been moderates and had also shun extremism?

They have been promoting the English Premier League (EPL) to the extreme, everyday, giving them many pages in the sports section.

They continue to do that even though they have not been given any due recognition by the EPL or even one EPL football team in England.

England has also not offered any of their editors due recognition much less a knighthood for helping to promote the EPL.

The Star newspaper therefore can be charged for being the laughing stock of world of journalism because they are serving the cause of the other countries in this way.

And no newspaper in the world has said they also endorse what this newspaper is doing, much less to want to report on it and to also recommend to the selection committee of the Pulitzer’s Prize to give due recognition to them.

No newspaper in England is devoting even a single column on Malaysian football; even the Wimbledon badminton finals are not covered extensively by any newspaper in England, the reason being no English player has made it to the finals in ages.