Avoiding the dreaded 'P' word

Look at the newspaper coverage of the MTUC’s Labour Day gathering at Dataran Merdeka on the night of 30 April.

A huge crowd of about 6,000 gathered for this year’s celebration, making it one of the biggest workers’ gatherings in recent years. The theme for this year’s celebration was “Globalisation erodes workers’ rights” especially via the onslaught of privatisation.

But most of the media reports studiously avoided mentioned the “P” word in the run-up to the gathering and its aftermath. Although the Malay Mail did mention Privatisation in its coverage of the gathering, the media were united in not identifying two of the biggest privatisation issues that are worrying workers no end: healthcare and water privatisation. The Star, that self-styled "People's Paper", in a colourful 8-page pullout on Labour Day also failed to mention the dreaded “P” word and analyse its implications. Neither did it seriously explore the oppressive conditions faced by workers in marginalized sectors, with only brief and superficial reports on foreign workers and estate workers.

Imagine, all these media reports on Labour Day - and nearly all of them studiously ignored the Two Big Privatisation Issues! Isn’t that amazing? Are they allergic to the "P" word or something? Did you see any mention that the MTUC is part of the Coalition Against Water Privatisation? Was there any mention that the MTUC is actively involved in the campaign against healthcare privatisation? Indeed, the media have also largely ignored the fact that civil society groups are campaigning against such privatisation.

This is how the corporate media play the game to protect elite interests. They promote what is in the interests of the corporate sector while ignoring or playing down the real fears, insecurities and concerns of millions of ordinary workers (including foreign workers).