WHEN Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi declared that the new media was negatively spinning issues about the government, perhaps he was referring to examples such as this YouTube video by nasilemak2020. I’m certain the Umno vice-president, who is also defence minister, also had other examples in mind when he called on Umno cybertroopers to [...]

*Corrected on 31 May 2011, 10.30am: This was earlier published as “partly free”. THE Barisan Nasional (BN) government is hardly an exemplary proponent of press freedom. Its wide ownership and control of much of the Malaysian press probably contributed to Malaysia’s “not free”* rating in a recent survey by Freedom House, a global press watchdog. [...]

*Updated 4 April 2011 GOOD journalism involves asking the right questions. Asking who, what, when, where, why and how is part and parcel of any journalist’s toolkit. But how effectively did the traditional* print media apply these tools when reporting on the recent Government Transformation Programme (GTP) first year celebrations? Were there some questions, perhaps, [...]

More than two decades have passed and the National Health Financing Scheme still seems up in the air in terms of concept and implementation. Will it be a flat-rate or not? Will it take a year or ten? Despite continuous studies on the proposed scheme, is Malaysia anywhere closer to a health financing scheme which is affordable, fair and accessible to all levels of society?

Is Najib serious? (pic courtesy of theSun) “BUT to shape society’s knowledge, so that we are more intellectual, critical, and can think objectively, this is also the role of the press. You can’t report only stories that are sensational, hot or about conflicts only.” These were Umno president and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak‘s [...]

“I will not leave the party like a fool but I swear I will destroy the people who tried to destroy the party.” MIC president Datuk Seri S Samy Vellu, when announcing that he would step down from his presidency in late 2011, eight to nine months before his term ends in May 2012. Two [...]