It was started by Brother Haris Ibrahim. The aim of the blog was to keep an eye on mainstream media, to ensure their reporting was free and fair, and to highlight any lies, falsification/distortion of news and propriety in news reporting.
It described itself: Hartal MSM is a mediawatch group which had its beginnings in December 2007 in the People’s Parliament, an initiative convened by civil rights lawyer Haris Ibrahim. The group seeks to promote a free and fair media as an impetus to Malaysia’s stalled nation-building process.
Brother Haris then left the running of the blog to a few of his colleagues.
It was a media watchdog as Bersih was once an election watchdog [note grammatical tense, wakakaka].
I even contributed one item of incorrect news reporting for Hartal msm to publish - it was an incorrect report that Dr Lim Chong EU turned froggy and leapt over to the United Democratic Party (UDP).
It was a media watchdog as Bersih was once an election watchdog [note grammatical tense, wakakaka].
I even contributed one item of incorrect news reporting for Hartal msm to publish - it was an incorrect report that Dr Lim Chong EU turned froggy and leapt over to the United Democratic Party (UDP).
I believe the reporter wasn't malicious in saying so - 'twas probably a case of poor careless scholarship or ill informed recollection.
The fact was Dr Lim Chong Eu, then as party president of the MCA had a disagreement with Tunku in the early days of our nation when the political parties in Malaya (days before Malaysia) were only UMNO, MCA, MIC, PAS and the Socialist Front.
The fact was Dr Lim Chong Eu, then as party president of the MCA had a disagreement with Tunku in the early days of our nation when the political parties in Malaya (days before Malaysia) were only UMNO, MCA, MIC, PAS and the Socialist Front.
The Socialist Front was a merger of Lee Moke Sang-DS Ramanathan's Labour Party (Parti Buruh) and Ahmad Boestamam's Parti Rakyat Malaya.
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DS Ramanathan, 1st Mayor of Penang City Pak Haji Hadi Awang shouldn't have feared local elections as the Chinese Penangites chose an Indian to be its 1st mayor, wakakaka |
Then Dr Lim wasn't happy with the seats allocation to the MCA by Tunku in the 1959 general elections. Many believed Tunku had actually manoeuvred a defiant and too highly independent-minded Dr Lim out of MCA so that a more compliant Tan Siew Sin would take over the party presidency.
Dr Lim did indeed resign from the MCA and left to form his own party, the UDP, which subsequently combined with the Labour Party and some notable individuals in 1968 to become the powerful successful 1969 Gerakan Party. I believe the UDP's battlecry of 'Satu Hati' has been adopted by the Gerakan Party.
The six founders of the party were Professor Syed Hussain Alatas, Dr. Tan Chee Khoon, Dr. J.B.A. Peter, Lim Chong Eu, Professor Wang Gungwu, and V. Veerapan.
Tun Razak was shit scared of the then very very powerful Gerakan Party which in 1969 was a truly multiracial party, headed by intellectuals and unionists.
Dr Lim did indeed resign from the MCA and left to form his own party, the UDP, which subsequently combined with the Labour Party and some notable individuals in 1968 to become the powerful successful 1969 Gerakan Party. I believe the UDP's battlecry of 'Satu Hati' has been adopted by the Gerakan Party.
The six founders of the party were Professor Syed Hussain Alatas, Dr. Tan Chee Khoon, Dr. J.B.A. Peter, Lim Chong Eu, Professor Wang Gungwu, and V. Veerapan.
Tun Razak was shit scared of the then very very powerful Gerakan Party which in 1969 was a truly multiracial party, headed by intellectuals and unionists.
In my blog here, I had then pointed out the reporter's terrible mistake in referring to Dr Lim as a political frog, and Hartal msm duly picked that up and published my correction on the news media's wrong reporting.
Then Hartal msm was doing a great job, as had Ambiga Sreenevasan with Bersih 2.0, who kept the NGO politically impartial and non-aligned, and highly reputable.
But just as Maria Chin has now taken Bersih down a songsang path, someone did that to Hartal msm, by turning it into an anti DAP and anti Lim Guan Eng because of personal grievances. It became very feral to anyone criticizing it for being songsang and for not keeping to its raison d'etre. Its ferocious and abusive defensiveness was as if it was populated by some ultra kiasu bloggers, wakakaka.
I then felt that, ironically, Hartal msm which claimed to be a media watchdog would itself require oversighting by another more credible media watchdog, wakakaka.
But just as Maria Chin has now taken Bersih down a songsang path, someone did that to Hartal msm, by turning it into an anti DAP and anti Lim Guan Eng because of personal grievances. It became very feral to anyone criticizing it for being songsang and for not keeping to its raison d'etre. Its ferocious and abusive defensiveness was as if it was populated by some ultra kiasu bloggers, wakakaka.
I then felt that, ironically, Hartal msm which claimed to be a media watchdog would itself require oversighting by another more credible media watchdog, wakakaka.
I wonder how its founder Brother Haris Ibrahim must have felt when he saw Hartal msm going songsang.
That spelt the eventual downfall of Hartal msm - no one believes it to be a media watchdog anymore.
Bersih under Maria Chin will follow that same downward spiral and discredit its impartial non-aligned election watchdog reputation.
Sayang saje.
Sayang saje.
tapi sayang...sayang sayang..seribu kali sayang..buah kepayang ditelan pahit..dibuang sayang...buat macam kuda tua saje lah...
ReplyDeleteTypical one-sided silo view that stubbornly refuses to die!
ReplyDeleteI believe u r involved with the media industry. So let me relates a piece of news to put yr mind to rest.
No so long ago, a new private airline was launched in M'sia, apparently trying to do another Air Asia story.
A reporter, dutifully picked up the story & published it.
She was condemned for doing so, not bcos she broke the story as a piece of news. Rather she was accused to help publicised this airline!
Raison d'etat of reporter?
Don't take side, just report the news as it happens. Right?
Yet she was accused to act as a media promoter in breaking the news!
So, what's the analogy with Bersih & Maria Chin?
How about Bersih as the news organisation. Maria as that poor reporter. Yr accusation of Maria manipulating Bersih as the reporter using the newspaper for airline promotion.
'Bersih under Maria Chin will follow that same downward spiral and discredit its impartial non-aligned election watchdog reputation.' is NOT determined by u & yr similar minded group of silo dwellers.
There r larger group of open & clear-minded people out there, who can see through the chase WRT yr claimed of mis-use of Bersih's impartiality & non-alignment & support Bersih5, political fatigue in tow no doubt.
U SHOULD pick a hard learnt chapter from yr sifu - that perspective interpretation of event needs open & knowledgeable mindset - blur-sotong, puppeteers & carma seekers excluded.
So, still stands on solid ground for yr syok sendiri mindset, cheering on by mindless blur-sotong?
BTW, what happens to Hartal msm is regrettable. It just proves the importance of a clear leadership that can stand on an idea that can resonances with the larger group of the populace OUT there - not a small set group of intellectuals who might have lost touch with the general public in raising social issues confined with pre-setted, narrow & single-minded chacters.
a reporter can report it anywhere he/she likes except to present untrue information or to deliberately distort information.
DeleteThe reporter who broke the news about a new airline was perfectly right to do so, but if she had misrepresented the facts as they stood, then she could be accused of promoting that airline - I am not aware of the circumstances so I cannot agree or disagree with you.
Maria Chin can do what she likes and accepts the usual responsibility but I am disappointed that she has been so foolish and reckless as to turn Bersih from its role as an election watchdog into an anti 1MDB NGO. IT has been a waste of Bersih's renowned reputation built up during Ambiga Sreenevasan's leadership. Maria Chin is obviously the WRONG person to head Bersih, just as Brother Haris Ibrahim was wrong to leave Hartal msm in the hands of immature ultra kiasu people whose hearts were so full of vindictiveness and malice and who misused the blog yo fulfil their personal vendettas
U r obviously no better than those who claimed that the reporter helps to promote the airline, in associating Maria in mis-using Bersih's well-earned reputation.
DeleteThere r many like u, once the mind is set, nothing will help to shake off that bond! That 'intellectual' arrogant mindset refuses to admit wrong by generating false logic!
This is also the main reason why Hartal msm went kaput, when those running the blog shows intellectual arrogance that can't resonance with the readers.
Hartal MSM died a natural death, like so many other blogs because its editors lost interest. The last post was in 2011, and had become less and less active quite some time before that.
ReplyDeleteMany , I suspect , due to blogging-fatigue. Most of Hartal MSM's contributors have dropped out completely from blogosphere, at least their nicks. There was nothing wrong , per se, with Hartal MSM's platform.
Bersih 1.0 and Bersih 2.0 was peaceful and non-partisan. The Government of Malaysia is the one who treated Bersih 2.0 as a threat to national security and used Gestapo jackboot tactics to violently break up the march.
Polis Raja Di Malaysia fired 270 tear gas canisters at the Bersih 2.0 marchers, and shot 15,000 litres of chemical laced lachrymators.
There is incontrovertible video and photo evidence of Malaysia police firing tear gas projectiles horizontally directly into the crowd of marchers, using the tear gas canisters as projectile weapons, in violation of internationally accepted operating procedures, which is to fire tear gas ABOVE the head of the crowd.
Malaysian Police clearly did not care if they killed or seriously injured some people.
This information came, ironically from the British Government and Human Rights groups, because it turned out the chemicals, the tear gas and equipment were supplied by British companies. David Cameron , the British Prime Minister explained that the sale to Malaysia was approved on the basis Malaysia was a friendly Commonwealth country and it was non-lethal equipment.
Faced with heavy pressure from Amnesty International and other Human Rights groups which held that Malaysia had used the British-supplied equipment and chemicals for serious human rights violations, the UK government banned the future sale of crowd control equipment and supplies to Malaysia.
Never mind, plenty of other countries like France or China will be happy to sell those to Malaysia.
After Bersih 2.0, very understandably , the tone of Bersih 3 and 4 turned largely anti-establishment.
The Malaysian Government had already treated Bersih as THE ENEMY even when Bersih 2.0 was not partisan.
Hartal msm went out of business because the readership became less and less when readers realized that the blog's role in keeping a beady eye on msm went out of the window and it became an anti DAP anti LGE blog. Admittedly not all Hartal msm bloggers were that but there were two whom I won't reveal their names here, wakakaka.
DeleteSo you admit that Bersih 3 and 4 were anti establishment - I rest my case.
Incidentally the police as a supposedly impartial law enforcer went songsang in the way Hartal msm and Bersih have done, wakakaka, and that's why I preach against songsang-ness
From Wikipedia and bersih.org website, the 8 demands (since 2011 Bersih 2.0 rally) are:
ReplyDelete*Quote*
1. Clean the electoral roll .....
2. Reform postal ballot.....
3. Use of indelible ink.....
4. Minimum 21 days campaign period.....
5. Free and fair access to media.....
6. Strengthen public institutions, details:
Public institutions must act independently and impartially in upholding the rule of law and democracy. Public institutions such as the Judiciary, Attorney-General, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency (MACC), Police and the EC must be reformed to act independently, uphold laws and protect human rights. In particular, the EC must perform its constitutional duty to act independently and impartially so as to enjoy public confidence. The EC cannot continue to claim that they have no power to act, as the law provides for sufficient powers to institute a credible electoral system.
7. Stop corruption
Corruption is a disease that has infected every aspect of Malaysian life. BERSIH 2.0 and the rakyat demand for an end to all forms of corruption. Current efforts to eradicate corruption are mere tokens to appease public grouses. We demand that serious action is taken against ALL allegations of corruption, including vote buying.
8. Stop dirty politics
Malaysians are tired of dirty politics that has been the main feature of the Malaysian political arena. We demand for all political parties and politicians to put an end to gutter politics. As citizens and voters, we are not interested in gutter politics; we are interested in policies that affect the nation.
*Unquote*
Maria Chin Abdullah took over as chairperson of Bersih from Ambiga since Nov 30, 2013. Thus, it had been Bersih's demands to include the issues of corruption, politics and institutions since Ambiga's time.
Hence the current protest against 1MDB and the govt.'s "make dunno" stance in the face of international action is not deviating from the charter. (I am not disputing your contention of the partiality of Maria's actions here).
Wikipedia tells us:
DeleteThe 2007 rally had raised Malaysian citizens' awareness to the irregularities and controversies in the electoral system. Ahead of the anticipated 2012 13th general election, Bersih scheduled a second public demonstration at Kuala Lumpur on 9 July 2011. Bersih 2.0 rally, also called the Walk for Democracy, called for eight points, including the four demands that remained not met in the 2008 general election:
Clean up of the electoral roll
Reform of postal ballot
Use of indelible ink
Minimum 21 days of campaign period
Free and fair access to mass media for all parties
Strengthening of public institutions
No corruption
No dirty politics
Therefore all eight points have been within the context of elections - the 'no corruption' demand was indeed about elections, not 'corruption' per se
we have seen what have happened to afghanistan, egypt, iraq, libya, syria and also recently to a secular muslim country turkey. the usa, uk and nato and other foreign elements are said to be involved? is it malaysia's turn now? there is already a psy-op from usa doj on 1mdb but of which they have excluded american banks / financial advisors /arrangers and also the income to the american film directors and actors from 1mdb source? now, can't we smell the odour? no?
Deleteit is a common knowledge that some people in BERSIH are not bersih too! no? now BERSIH wants to unseat the present government undemocratically? no?
the american economy is in trillions of dollars yearly. it is too naive to assume that the americans - who are considered as the world policemen are bersih? for argument sake just take 5% to 10% of the trillions of dollars as pilferage and leakages every year. bersih konon.. pi lah go figure it out?
If, as per your contention, the additional demands were purely for elections, then Ambiga should not have worded them as though they were general demands, with the elections being mentioned only "in particular".
DeleteIn Demand 6, the 1st two sentences are general demands, and the election commission starts to be mentioned in sentence 3.
In Demand 7, all the 4 sentences are general demands, and the vote buying is mentioned in the last 3 phrases of the last sentence, at the tail end, as if like an afterthought.
what comes after 7?
DeleteOk, if you insist, demand 8 : gutter politics, was added during Ambiga's time, not Maria's. So if Bersih were to rally not on elections but on dirty politics , it is perfectly in conformity with the charter laid out during Ambiga's leadership, and Maria is not going out on frolic of her own .
ReplyDeleteyou misunderstood my point, that Bersih's charter and hence objectives have been directed towards a clean, free and fair Malaysian election process.
DeleteThus the fight against 'dirty politics' as well as 'corruption' and the rest of the demands are consistent with the objective of ensuring, securing and sustaining clean (not 'dirty' politics) and fair process for clean (non-corrupt, non-dirty), free and fair elections.
I am not against Maria Chin personally but her songsang thrust which has now muddied Bersih's erstwhile pristinely impartial amd non-aligned reputation
All Bert, u & I r talking to a wall!
DeleteSave yr thought.
Let the populace decides whether Maria's approach is against the set chacters of Bersih or not.
Maria's songsang thrust which has now muddied Bersih's erstwhile pristinely impartial amd non-aligned reputation - say KT.
& Who's KT anyway?
A clone of I-told-you-so rpk, whom everyone, worth the substance of bolihland SHOULD listening to, to prevent future regrets.
Wakakaka, bravo, both the prophets of demised Malaysiana, using silo logic!
aha, getting personal and abusive - tsk tsk, ta mampu bincang?
DeleteBuang masa bincang sama batu.
DeleteOoops...lebih betul, udang yang bodoh sombong.
Tsk tsk, biarkan lah...batu yang memahani apa yang personal & abusive? Bila ke batu pun ada muka?
Wakakaka...
BTW, know what's personal & abusive? Swordsmith playing semantics, bravo to the nth.
Personal?
Ain't yr write-ups full of dooms for the future of Bersih under Maria?
Abusive?
Ain't yr write-ups about Bersih under Maria, resonances with yr sifu's tone of dont-listen-will-regret-in-future?
Siapa yg tak mampu bincang ni, sekarang ????