|
The protesters were generally well-behaved (save for a lack of
tact from some of them when they booed and shouted ‘bodoh’ – stupid - when the
KL mayor greeted them with ‘Salam 1Malaysia’)[1]. The
police and City Hall came across looking good due to their restraint.
|
Reports in the news, as usual, differed on a number of
points.
In this article, we shall take a look at how the event was
reported in the various news reports today (1st January 2013).
Media
Organisation
|
Title
of Related Article(s)
|
Observation
of rally
|
Quick
Facts
|
Sensible
Malaysian’s Observations
|
The
Malaysian Insider
|
Rally
a success, says Turun[2]
|
TMI’s
report was from Turun’s perspective.
Turun
claims that it was a success, that participants had displayed patriotism, and
that no one had plans to topple the government.
|
No
of Protesters:
50,000
Police/
DBKL:
Good
Success
or Failure?
Success
|
Largely
opinion based.
Perhaps
gave Turun organisations too much credit or credibility.
|
The
Malaysian Insider (Bahasa Malaysia edition)
|
Lebih
10,000 rempuh sekatan polis, teriak “Turun” di Dataran Merdeka[3]
|
Admits
that protesters had broken through a police barricade while shouting ‘turun’
and ‘masuk’.
Notes
the presence of some political leaders, but that none of the political
leaders were part of the demonstrators in Dataran Merdeka.
|
No
of Protesters:
10,000
Police/
DBKL:
Good
Success
or Failure?
Success
|
Largely
factual. Nothing much to be taken accept for events that happened.
TMI
was very restrained here.
|
Malaysia-Chronicle
|
Najib,
Umno LOSE THEIR STRANGLEHOLD on the people: Thousands Rally to protest price
hikes[4]
|
Highlights
that the rally proceeded peacefully.
Article
interviewed many Pakatan Rakyat politicians who had strong words for the
Government.
Highlighted
PM’s previous day’s announcement of 11 cost-cutting measures. Was of the
opinion that it isn’t enough and that people aren’t buying it.
|
No
of Protesters:
10,000
Police/
DBKL:
Good,
but biding time before taking action
Success
or Failure?
Success
|
Took
a very strong anti-Government position.
Consistently
highlighted that the Government had used scare-tactics and threats to prevent
the rally from happening.
Focused
heavily on PR politicians and their views of events.
|
News
Straits Times
(taken
from BERNAMA)
|
Anti-Government
protest a bane to traders [5]
|
Not covered. More a prelude to sentiments of the rally. |
Not
covered.
|
This,
‘traders are upset because of no business’ angle is getting a bit old.
|
News
Straits Times
|
Dataran
Merdeka do disrupted[6]
|
“Not
so merry: Revellers leave square in frustration”
Proceeded
by highlighting difficulties faced by the police and the nuisance caused by
the protesters.
Quotes
KL Mayor: "I will not stop you from being here with us.
To all the young people who have gathered here tonight, do not give in to
your emotions until it endangers others."
Compares the situation in Dataran Merdeka with that of Putrajaya and
Penang, which were peaceful in nature.
Quotes families who were upset with the cancellation of the
performances.
|
No
of Protesters:
5,000
(though citing witness accounts of 10,000 to 50,000)
Police/
DBKL:
Inferred
that the police/ DBKL did well and were troubled by those naughty protesters
Success
or Failure?
Failure
|
A
mixture of fact and opinion. Clearly disputing the number of protesters
present.
Pro-Government,
clearly. Focused on the difficulties caused by the protesters to the poor
families from Selayang and the other family whose in-laws from Saudi Arabia
were visiting.
Not
the best reporting by NST.
NST
really needs to have shorter URLs.
|
The
Sun Daily
|
Protest
rally held without any untoward incident[7]
|
Reports
that the Turun rally was a peaceful affair.
Praises
organisers for urging protesters to follow instructions from the police.
Revellers
disappointed because of the cancellation of the countdown.
|
No
of Protesters:
5,000
Police/
DBKL:
Good
Success
or Failure?
Success
|
Relatively
balanced report.
Reported
how both sides had behaved and reacted.
The
only piece that mentioned that Turun organisers were reminding protesters to
listen to the police
|
The
Star
|
Protesters
join in New Year revelry[8]
|
Reported
that the protests were largely peaceful save some minor incidents of bottle
throwing; and the eventual cancellation of the fireworks display.
Quotes
Dang Wangi OCPD Asst Comm Zainuddin Ahmad:
"Our
objective is to let the revellers have their fun.
"The New
Year’s Eve countdown and celebration is an important event every year and we
are there to ensure the safety and security for all,"
|
No
of Protesters:
10,000
Police/
DBKL:
Good,
but biding time before taking action
Success
or Failure?
Success
|
A
balanced and fair article by the Star.
It
was nice that they got a quote from OCPD Zainuddin Ahmad.
Interesting
that the final portions of the report focused on celebrations elsewhere
(quite extensively).
|
Bernama
|
Peace-Loving
Malaysians Against Street Protests[9]
|
The
article focused on Malaysians who were unhappy with the planned protest and
plan to topple the government.
Highlighted
the various warnings from the police, NGOs and politicians, and highlighted
the PM’s cost-cutting measures
|
(the
article on the protest proper was largely factual, though a separate article
attributed to Bernama was found- see below)[10]
|
Interesting
angle to take just before the protests.
Pro-Government.
But it came across as fair to remind readers that there are many Malaysians
who aren’t happy with the situation but do not believe that such protests are
the way to go
|
My
Sinchew
(reproduced
a Bernama report)
|
Protestors
disrupt New Year eve concert at Merdeka Square [11]
|
“Revellers
at the concert were apparently devastated over the
incident” (a bit dramatic)
Explicitly
called the rally an unlawful assembly.
Accuses
protesters for screaming ‘reformasi’ and ‘turun’ in front of the performance
stage.
Noted
the heckling faced by DBKL Mayor when he asked them to calm down.
Reports
that protesters ‘raided a reception tent and grabbed food and drinks meant
for guests’
Highlights
that protests were held in Ipoh (only 200 people turned up) and
Alor Setar (500 people) to protest against, among others, the GST and the
Government.
|
No
of Protesters:
4,000
Police/
DBKL:
Good
Success
or Failure?
Failure
|
An
interesting article because it covered the other protests.
Clearly
wanted to paint the protesters in a negative light (though it was done in a
factual way – the oddity being that none of the other reports covered the
same).
Adopted
the NST line that people were angry at the cancellation.
|
Conclusion?
Most of the media reports were quite vanilla, in my opinion. Sure,
they were playing to their angles and their agendas, but nothing much would
turn on the reports in so far as public perception is concerned.
The real winners? The Police.
They’ve shown that they can be reasonable, professional and handle
this emerging exercise of rights by the Malaysian public.
 |
 Police: The Winners of the Night. Credit: TMI and Malaysiakini. |
[1] http://uk.omg.yahoo.com/video/kl-mayor-booed-years-eve-051034107.html
[2] http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/rally-a-success-says-turun
[3]http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/bahasa/article/lebih-300-peserta-demo-turun-mula-berkumpul-di-dataran-merdeka
[4] http://www.malaysia-chronicle.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=207392:crowd-swells-at-dataran-as-msians-gather-in-solidarity-to-protest-najibs-price-hikes&Itemid=2#axzz2p7u7v0rS
[5] http://www.nst.com.my/latest/anti-government-protest-a-bane-to-traders-1.452197
[6] http://www.nst.com.my/nation/general/dataran-merdeka-do-disrupted-1.452203?cache=03D163D03edding-pred-1.1176%2F%3FpFpentwage63Dp%3A%2Fhe3D03Dn63Frea-rti3D19.3D163D03edding-pred-1.1176%2F%3FpFpentwage63Dp%3A%2Fhe3D03Dn63Frea-rti3D19.111w5ii%2Fed-1.1176%2F%2F2.2525%2F2.2525%2F1.33120%2F7.183767%3Fpage%3D0%3Fkey%3DMalaysia%3Fkey%3DKuala+Lumpur%3Fkey%3DMalaysia%3Fpage%3D0%3Fpage%3D0%2F7.425366%2F7.425366%2F7.557712%2F7.557712%2F7.557712%2F7.557712
[7] http://www.thesundaily.my/news/918567
[8] http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2014/01/01/Protesters-join-in-New-Year-revelry/
[9] http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v7/ge/newsgeneral.php?id=1004307
[10] http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v7/newsindex.php?id=1004506
[11] http://www.mysinchew.com/node/94899?tid=4
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