Radio 24 news carries cautionary reports and warnings

Radio 24 was more alarmist yesterday, 18 February, in its reporting: its top news midday was on the warning by the Inspector General of Police against extremist groups during the election campaign. A one-minute news clip focused on the statements by Musa Hassan, who also cautioned that police would make strict checks during the campaign period. One wonders with all the attention to these extremist elements, which were of course undefined, whether there will be any follow up action on the various crimes, in particular to locate the kidnapper of young Sharlinie.

Of the 10 minutes of seven election news, the most time was given to Rafidah Aziz (almost three minutes), who said she would provide names for women candidates in all states except Terengganu to the party president by the end of the week. She deliberated on the importance of women candidates and concluded that at the moment, the party was not yet strong enough in Terengganu to field the Wanita. She seemed to allude to the very conservative approach that women need safe seats provided by the men and they would find it difficult to contest in difficult areas. A story in The Star yesterday on DAP's Fong Po Kuan decision not to contest in the election raised similar concerns about the gender portrayal of women candidates. In The Star report, outgoing Perak Menteri Besar Tajol Mohd Rosli said now that Fong was not contesting, it would be easier for “our candidate who is a lady if she is not fighting against another lady” (page 12 “Perak Barisan breathes easier after Fong's pullout”).

In the earlier part of yesterday, the hourly news over Radio 24 was dominated by the Election Commission's stern warning to parties that have started putting up their banners and flags. Interviews were held with Commission secretary Kamaruzzaman Mohd Noor and Ampang Jaya Municipal Council public relations officer Norhayati Ahmad whose sound bites were aired for a total of two minutes. Norhayati said on air that the council could take action against the parties involved. Again, no specific references were made, casting suspicion that the target of the warning could be opposition parties.

Of the eight minutes during the 11.00am broadcast yesterday, close to four minutes was given to a UNIMAS academic, Jeniri Amir of the Faculty of Social Sciences, to comment on the elections. While the newscaster began by saying that the opposition did not have the confidence to win the elections, the observer focused his comments on the issues important to the people of Sarawak. He felt that land rights and native customary land were prime concerns for the people and warned against the irresponsible use of statistics by all parties in trying to confuse the voters.

An interview with the director of the National Service Department appeared to entice potential voters from among the camp trainers who have been given time off to cast their ballots. At the same time, the director issued a stern warning against the trainees being involved in the political campaign. Our interpretation: its okay to hold a gun, but we won't allow politically enlightened youths.