Malaysiakini doesn’t pass on Pas

The manifestos of opposition parties—especially DAP and Pas—have taken a beating throughout the mainstream publications at the hands of Barison Nasional candidates. Armed with the mainstream media as their personal assault weapon, BN candidates stated that both the DAP's and Pas’ proposed manifestos would destroy the economy.

Such admonishments, accentuated by biased headlines and story placement, effectively generate fear amongst the electorate and attempt to rally fence-sitters behind BN. Not surprisingly, very little space was available in the English dailies to grant the opposition the benefit of the doubt; once again, alternative news sources provided space for the opposition to reply to criticism.

In “Pas hits back at ‘undoable’ economic plans” on Malaysiakini (29 February), Pas party spokesperson Roslan Shahir Mohd Shahir made a “cheeky” refute: “The opposition parties’ economic plans will indeed bankrupt the nation…But only if these plans were implemented by a government led by Barisan National leaders”. Roslan maintained that the “billions of ringgit” lost due to “inefficient administration” and “abuse of power” within the BN government would sufficiently support Pas' and DAP’s proposals without hurting the economy.

In fact, Roslan was so confident of their feasibility that he challenged both BN and opposition leaders to an open debate on the manifestos—an opportunity for representatives from all parties to answer questions, field criticism, and elaborate policies on an equal playing field, while voters gain in-depth knowledge about the potential policies and leaders that will govern their nation. It doesn’t seem logical that a party with “hollow promises” would encourage such a notion.

So will it happen? It’s unlikely that the BN administration would take part in a discussion that requires candidates not only to talk, but to listen as well. They prefer to hide behind the pages of unbalanced and mono-logical newspaper stories.