It’s not enough to just want change … You have to go and make change by voting.
— Taylor Swift, singer-songwriter and country-pop star
As we count days until the polling on Nov 19, a number of political parties have started to disseminate information to the ground and to the local media.
Their hope is to ensure that as many people as possible understand their narrative and why they should be given a chance – and support – to win some seats in the 15th General Election (GE15).
All of it is fair play, everyone is doing that now, the campaigning methods have diversified – meaning political minnows too have their presence in online and traditional media.
However, there is still this consideration on what exactly they can and cannot do. I like to think that journalists need to be the gatekeepers and play their role in a multiracial and multireligious society.
They should know full and well what is the impact of their articles and news piece towards the community and how it shapes the political mind of the voters.
That brings me to the topic of mis-information – oftentimes, journalists being the ones who have access to a multitude of information should play the role of fact-checkers
Against the overwhelming sentiment, they should not simply just write whatever that is being said by political party leaders to get the “latest” or “inside” scoop.
Time and time again, in the context of Sarawak, those vying to go against the government will raise on things that can seem to be repetitive.
They would claim that Sarawak is not developed even after 59 years in Malaysia and that nothing – I repeat, nothing – was ever done to assist the people.
For example, in the past, cybertroopers for these unscrupulous political parties turned to disinformation, grabbing odd pictures of decrepit roads and other infrastructures to claim that development have come few and far between in rural Sarawak.
One instance that I can personally remember is the spread of a photo purportedly depicting the agony in the rural areas, which upon checking, is not at all in Sarawak – it was in Papua New Guinea.
A simple reverse image search on Google uncovered this, with the photo of the four-wheel drive vehicle’s licence plate raising a red flag, as it does not appear to be a local licence plate.
I also remember a time when amid the disinformation over the COVID-19 vaccine injection, whereby it was claimed that people were given injection from empty syringes that a video propped up in the political circles.
That video was sent to the press for the purpose of dissemination, but the journalists were quick to point out oddities in the video, where it could not have happened in Malaysia.
This was because in the video, the lady who was given the injection was seen in a left-hand drive vehicle. All vehicles in Malaysia are right-hand drive by nature.
Most recently, there were two political parties, which I shall not name, who released statements intended to obtain political milage by way of attacking the current government.
The first was by a political minnow alleging that “nothing has ever been done” in regards to seeking the return of eroded rights under Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
Personally, I don’t know if those issuing the statement have done their research or otherwise, because if they did, then they would know that the statement is far-fetched to begin with.
I mean, with the ease of access to information nowadays, it is suspicious they could not find a single piece of article depicting the progress of return of MA63 rights to Sarawak.
I know, myself as a journalist, I must have written hundreds of articles on that particular topic. I also know these articles too were published by other local and national media outlets.
The second statement by another political party echoed a similar sentiment, almost like a whitewash of whatever the state government had done in the past few decades.
Among others it questioned why it took more than sixty years for a Pan Borneo Highway. All this while, there has been road – not a highway; but a road nonetheless.
I think in the 1960s there were not as many cars to necessitate a four lane, dual carriageway road; that sweeping statement is uncalled for and can be seen as illogical.
In the end, I think political parties should not take voters for fools. We are not illiterate; we can read and assess the information given to us for ourselves.
Give us some respect. Educate not mislead.
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of New Sarawak Tribune.
