Exercise critical thinking when reading political news

Exercise critical thinking when reading political news





POLITICIANS use herd mentality to achieve their own political agenda. Our counter-defence is to think critically what we read.


Critical thinking does not necessarily mean criticising a political leader but the ability to analyse and ask the right questions.

We will use a message from a lady living in Australia who – together with her husband – had stayed on in Malaysia after they completed their studies. Hopefully, it will unravel some important gems.


She wrote in response to our piece “Remembering May 13 and What It Was Not”. The details except for one paragraph are intentionally left intact in order to preserve her true feelings about the incident. Caution has to be exercised in not to overreact to some of her views.



It is certainly not our intention to stir up racial or religious sentiments – or being seditious – as we want to achieve national reconciliation through the present government, however imperfect it may be.

From the lady’s perspective and anyone reading her story, it is easy to understand why some think May 13 was a ‘racial riot’ from the way she described how some Malays were incensed to kill the Chinese.

But, only after reading “Remembering May 13 and What It Was Not” did she realise that there was racial harmony throughout the country.

In terms of statistics, what could have been the ratio of rioters to the rest of the population?

If May 13 was indeed a racial riot, why did the Malays protect the Chinese and the Chinese protect the Malays?

If there was animosity between the races, why did she mention that the Chinese respected Bapa Malaysia Tunku Abdul Rahman and that she and her Malay classmates continued to get along very well (paragraphs 7 and 8)?

From the news angle, this lady’s dramatic story would make it on Page One. However, since May 13, local editors have learnt to exercise self-restraint.

In hindsight, based on the declassified documents cited by Dr Kua Kia Song in his book “May 13: Declassified Documents on the Malaysian Riots of 1969” and what the Tunku wrote in his column, who then were the hidden hands that exploited the situation?



In paragraph 8, we quote the lady’s observation: “The ill feeling only comes in after Tun Razak and Mahathir started to show extreme biasness towards the Bumis at the expense of the Chinese.”

To be fair to the former premiers, Tun Razak Hussein and Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, did they only give contracts to the Malays? Were there Chinese business tycoons who benefited?

Is it wrong to help the Bumiputra in both East and West Malaysia if they needed intervention to lift them out of the vicious cycle of poverty? Did the New Economic Policy (NEP) achieve its original intentions or did it really certain politicians and those within their circle?

Fast forward recent times, we see that not only the Chinese and Indians but the Malays, too, are unhappy that distribution of wealth through the years have been inequitable.

So, what went wrong – the policy or here again, the race thing? How long more can the country sustain with generous hands-out?

From yesterday’s article, even people can be divided over just one word, when the word ‘rahamim’ or its root word ‘raham’ simply means ‘compassion’ or ‘womb.’ The original concept of ‘raham,’ after all, is to foster brotherhood of all born from that one womb of Eve (Hawa).

We get easily conned by politicians if we fail to exercise critical thinking. – May 12, 2023