BN media goes ‘feel good’ ahead of likely March polls
By Jahabar Sadiq, The Malaysian Insider
The ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) has told its media to play up “feel good”, “positive” reports and to find flaws of its political foes for the next few months ahead of a likely March 2011 federal elections, sources told The Malaysian Insider.
Most of the country’s mainstream media groups are controlled by Umno, MCA and MIC and they have begun running optimistic reports about the ruling federal coalition, which one senior media executive said seems to be “gaining some momentum’.
“We have received orders to just play ‘feel good’ stories. It is gaining some momentum,” the senior media executive told The Malaysian Insider.
Umno owns and controls both the country’s largest media group, Media Prima Berhad (MPB) which owns English and Bahasa Malaysia newspapers, television and radio stations; and the Utusan Group, which publishes both Utusan Malaysia and the Kosmo tabloid. MCA now directly owns The Star and several radio stations and magazines while MIC owns the Tamil Nesan.
Key editorial executives have informed The Malaysian Insider that they expect the general election to be held within the first quarter of 2011 with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak confident of regaining the customary two-thirds parliamentary majority after being denied by Pakatan Rakyat (PR), the informal three-party pact that won four more states and 82 federal seats in Election 2008.
“We can’t run good news forever. The upside is that PR parties aren’t doing that well at the moment,” a senior editor told The Malaysian Insider.
He cited Datuk Zaid Ibrahim’s abrupt departure from PKR and the party’s fractious direct polls which have been marred by allegations of fraud and manipulation. The DAP is also facing signs of division in its two largest chapters, Perak and Selangor. The Perak DAP had state elections last week where Ipoh Barat MP M. Kulasegaran’s faction was wiped out while Selangor DAP elections are this coming weekend.
PAS is just recovering from losing the Galas state seat in its Kelantan fortress to Umno, with younger members now questioning the efficacy of old guards such as state mentri besar and revered spiritual advisor Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat.
“We just have to focus on what is going on in PKR now. People will know they aren’t as great as or better than BN as they claim to be,” the editor added.
The BN-controlled media have gone on an onslaught to show Najib’s efforts to bring back investment and ensure the country’s economy hums ahead for an expected annual GDP growth of six per cent. GDP grew an average of 9.5 in the first half of 2010 but is expected to taper due to slowing demand.
A host of surveys released by the Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu), the agency driving Najib’s New Economic Model (NEM) and its alphabet soup of programmes, show an uptick in diverse industries such as air cargo while the crime index appeared to come off highs in recent years due to more police patrols.
