Sharifah Aini, the pop star, and The Star

I must say that The Star has a strange notion of what constitutes newsworthiness. It is bad enough plastering Sharifah Aini’s picture all over the front page. But wait, there’s more, the news reports relating to her court appearance take up the whole of page 2 and 3. Is there no other more significant news in this blessed land?

Even theSun frontpaged Sharifah Aini, though it did carry a report on Thailand mulling over the introduction of an ISA-type law (heaven forbid!)

That reminds me, a relative of mine who returned to Malaysia the other day after a long absence, marvelled, “Anyone who is new to Malaysia and who takes one look at the newspapers will think this country is full of road accidents, murders, and what have you! And the political news is all about 'this minister said this' and 'that minister said that'.”

He sure has a point. Why should this be so? Are we facing an acute shortage of news?! I don't think so. Surely there are other pressing issues that can be reported. Some investigative reporting on money politics for instance; a critical look at biotechnology perhaps; an analysis focussing on whether Parliament and the Judiciary are functioning as democratic institutions in line with the separation of powers…

But no, our newspapers prefer to exercise self-censorship; hence the only news-items they feel they can “safely” report are those on road accidents, murder cases, ministerial statements … and now, yes, Sharifah Aini!

(By the way, after reading three pages of the reports I am still not quite sure exactly what she is accused of doing apart from the general charge!)

Am I the only one who feels this way? Tell me what you think.