Tsunami alert: ntv7 shines as other stations snore

Our television stations never learn.

Tremors were felt along the west coast of the peninsula just after midnight last night following an 8.2 earthquake off the coast of Sumatra at 12.09 am today. It triggered a tsunami warning across the region.

As usual, our television stations – with the notable exception of ntv7 – were either sleeping or in a world of their own.

By 2 am, TV1 was showing a Malaysian football match (Kedah vs MK!), TV2 had gone to sleep, TV3 was showing American basketball (though it later had scrolling news headlines of the quake at the bottom of a programme about polo!) while 8tv was screening its after-hours music videos-cum-SMS chat. All these stations were either sleeping or living in a world of their own. Shame on them!

To its credit, ntv7 was the quickest to go on air to begin continuous live news transmission. By 2.30 am, it was screening live footage from Banda Aceh. (Ironically, video footage of the situation in Malaysia was only screened from 3.00am)

Most Malaysians had to once again resort to foreign television news and websites to find out what was going on.

In fact, all programming on local television should have been immediately interrupted to break the news and advise the public about the situation and what they should and should not do.

It is a sad reflection of Malaysian television journalism that only one television station saw it fit to report comprehensively about the tsunami warning in both Malay and English. Surely this is a matter that is specific, urgent and of public importance (to use parliamentary lingo); so where were the other TV stations when the people needed them most?

Obviously, some television stations still have not learnt the lessons of the 26 Dec 2004 tsunami – maybe they were once again waiting for “approval/confirmation” from the “official gatekeepers of the breaking news” before reporting the news to the public.

Malaysiakini should have grilled US envoy

Indpendent webportal Malaysiakini has provided an important forum for independent news and views, which are often neglected or omitted from the mainstream media.

So its interview with United States ambassador to Malaysia Christopher J LaFleur afforded an excellent opportunity for the online portal to grill the envoy on a range of pressing issues.

Malaysiakini did manage to question the envoy on some topical issues. Still, there were other questions that could have been raised as well.

The envoy was given plenty of room to articulate US positions on various issues including their pet topics such as Intellectual Property Rights, government procurement (presumably so that US firms can bid as well) and other areas of concern to US firms intending to penetrate Asian markets.

Fair enough, but he should have been pressed more on issues that are of concern to Malaysians and local civil society groups. For example, he could have been asked whether US firms were eyeing IPR over Malaysian genetic resources especially those contained in our rainforests, which are a priceless natural heritage that must remain in public hands.

As for FTAs, he should have been pressed to state his stand on labour and trade union rights and whether he actually supported such rights, including the right of electronics workers to form a national union.

But the most important issue he should have been grilled on is the illegal US occupation of Iraq, which has eroded the US standing in the eyes of the world. As the representative of the US government, which is led by leaders whom many critical analysts regard as ‘war criminals’, the envoy should have been grilled about the illegal invasion and occupation of a sovereign nation under false pretexts (non-existent WMD and the bogus Iraq-Al Qaeda link cooked up by the US administration).

We must remember that this illegal war has claimed 100,000 lives including tens of thousands of civilians and those responsible for it should have faced indictment had international justice been allowed to prevail. We must remember the horrendous destruction the US inflicted on the city of Fallujah. They didn't even spare medical facilities: US-led forces destroyed a civilian hospital in a massive air raid, captured the main hospital, and severely restricted the use of ambulances in that besieged city. These are war crimes.

The envoy should also have been questioned on reports that depleted uranium and cluster bombs have been used in Iraq – WMD that kill and maim civilians and combatants alike. He should have been asked to explain his stand on the 100,000 deaths in Iraq. What’s more, the envoy should have been asked his views on the anti-war demonstrations by the Malaysian Coalition Against War outside the US embassy this Sunday and what message he had for the protestors. They will join protestors around the world in condemning the occupation of Iraq.

The envoy should have been interrogated about US attempts to try to justify torture and detention without trial in direct violation of international law. He should have been pressed on the US policy of ‘rendition’ of alleged terror suspects to third countries whose human rights records are atrocious and where there is every possibility that they could be tortured.

Outside Iraq, he should have been questioned about the oppressive wall being built by US ally Israel that has threatened Palestinian communities and cut them off from their livelihoods. He should have been asked to explain the US’ double standards in allowing Israel and its other allies to hold nuclear weapons – not to mention the US’ own massive stockpile – while condemning others who do likewise.

The envoy should not have been allowed to wriggle out so easily on rights violations (like the holding of detainees without trial) and on other contentious issues by arguing that these areas are outside his scope of responsibilities. As if a US envoy’s job is only to look after US business and corporate interests. He is after all the ambassador, the representative of the US government in Malaysia. So he should have answered questions on all aspects of US policy.

These additional questions, we feel, would have enabled the US envoy to address some of the main issues of concern to many Malaysians.

The snipping of Sepet

Yasmin Ahmad’s film, Sepet, must be such a good film that we Malaysians may be the last ones to know much about it although she is a local movie maker. The uncensored original has already been screened in Singapore, where it was very well received by Singaporean audiences. It is now on its way to the International Film Festival of Women Directors in France this March; then on to the Barcelona Film Festival in Spain, come April. Foreign world audiences, movie enthusiasts and critics will know far more about Sepet than we the home crowd will. In fact, they will know the REAL story in its entirety whilst we have to content ourselves with the incomplete censored version.

Absurd, but not surprising. Many other films, home produced as well as foreign-made, have gone under the knife of the Lembaga Penapis Filem Malaysia, our Censorship Board. The ‘surgery’ performed by these ‘censor surgeons’ appears meaningless, as in the case of Sepet, where nine cuts were made.

Cutting your nose only spites your face

Thanks to Bissme S. who interviewed Yasmin for theSun, four examples of the sort of scenes censored by the Board have been illustrated for public information and judgment. All of them when put in context - and some on their own - are totally innocuous. To cite an example, “The Chinese boy and his Malay girlfriend go to a photo shop and take a picture of themselves sitting on a motorcycle.” ‘What’s wrong with that?’ is the first question that comes to mind. That this scene was censored is laughable. If the ‘censor surgeons’ objection was that this was an inter-racial scene, the movie would have to be banned as the whole theme of the movie centers on the romance between a Chinese boy and a Malay girl. Is this how the Board promotes racial harmony and the spirit of ‘muhibbah’ in our multi-racial society?

The other scene, I would like to say something about is one where a husband tickles his wife affectionately in bed. I can’t help completely agreeing with Yasmin when she commented, “I don’t understand why this scene has to be cut. We are allowed to show husbands slapping their wives on terrestrial TV. But we can’t show husbands being affectionate to their wives.”

Very true; terrestrial TV highlights violence especially against women. Every time Asian or other films are advertised in the trailers shown during advertisement breaks, the most sensationalized scenes are of husbands battering their wives, people in fist fights even involving women, people shooting other people, murder, murder-rape victims, bomb explosions in public places, vehicle destruction and every variation of violence. These the Censorship Board approves for viewing by all and sundry including children.

Some films the Board classifies as ‘U’ include scenes or deal with themes which are for adult audiences. Does the Board care about how these affect younger audiences in our society who are not yet equipped psychologically to deal with such issues?
This is prime time television, to say nothing of the unhealthy scheduling of children’s programmes at midnight until the early hours of the morning during school holidays.

Guardians of Public Morals?

The irony of the situation is that although the priorities of the Censorship Board seem somewhat inverted, it seems to want to sport a paternalistic attitude towards the public, wearing the ill-fitting guise of ‘Guardians of Public Morality’.

What these ‘guardians of public morality’ fail to realize is that films like Sepet that are aimed at reflecting our rich Malaysian multicultural heritage and forging racial integration are impoverished by their apparent random, meaningless censorship.

When asked whether the scenes censored were necessary to the film, Yasmin’s reply was pure commonsense, “If the scenes were not necessary. I would not have shot them.” No artist would include anything meaningless in their masterpiece. It would be a sinful waste of precious time and resources.

Sepet should not have been censored. As Sepet has at last arrived home and is being screened in cinemas all over the country, please go and see it and judge for yourselves if the chopped-up version is still comprehensible. Personally, I’d wait to see an uncensored version of it to fully enjoy the rich cultural flavour of Malaysia that it portrays.

So, members of the Lembaga Penapis Filem Malaysia, think carefully before cutting your nose to spite your face!