Aussie reporters think that Najib is under their heels

The Third Force

Two media crewmen from Down Under travelled thousands of miles north just to tell Malaysians what it means to be an Asian leader – jack shit. The reporter and cameraman from Australia muscled their way through a throng of supporters and headed straight for Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Razak, who was on an official visit to a Mosque in Kuching, Sarawak.

The duo triggered madness last Saturday as they transgressed a police cordon that was set around the Prime Minister. Officers with the security detail acted swiftly and in the best interest of the Prime Minister when they intervened to nab the trespassers – who in America, would have been manhandled and thrown down to the ground by the Secret Service, perhaps even beaten.

And there is no reason why it shouldn’t be the protocol here in Malaysia – but it isn’t.

The transgression – and it was a transgression, no matter what anyone says – was a National Security concern that triggered alarm. In the US, the duo would have been dealt with based on conventions adopted by the nation’s National Security Council, and may even have been held in captivity as terrorist suspects.

In Malaysia, however, authorities are better restrained and guarded in their mannerisms – given the nature of our culture – and yet, bear the brunt of oppositionists who regularly charge them of being high-handed.

The Saturday incident led Malaysians to believe that the Prime Minister was avoiding tough questions pertaining to crimes he was accused of committing. One reader in a social media page that I run commented that “what goes around will come around”, and that Najib would eventually have to answer for all his ‘crimes’.

But what these peanut-brains lack is some common sense – the Saturday incident was a matter of National Security, as it would have been in many parts of the western world. If officers at the scene hadn’t acted the way they did, we’d be looking at possible security breaches of like nature in the future – perhaps even by terrorists.

But The Guardian didn’t seem to think so – the British daily went along with several media outfits from around the world and reported the Australian foreign minister, Julie Bishop, as saying that the matter had to do with the freedom for journalists to function abroad.

According to Bishop, he was concerned with the “crackdown on freedom of speech” and would deliberate on the matter with local officials at the highest level. But the way I see it, he may just as well have said, “Najib is dispensable. What would it matter if his life was at risk? It’s not like he’s Obama or something.”

Oh, yes, that reminds me of Obama.

Sometime in August 2008, just before Barack Hussein Obama met reporters at a conference he had called prior to taking office as President of the US, the press found itself wandering at sea – nobody had a clue which reporter he’d call on during the conference.

It was a digression from protocol media crews were accustomed to. Back then, his soon-to-be press secretary, Robert Gibbs, had adopted a new protocol, in which a number would be assigned to each media representative in attendance – from CBS, NBC, and ABC. A number would then be selected at random during the presser, leaving reporters in the dark as to who would be called on first.

The move was thought by some to prevent reporters from fixing the temperature and tone of the conference in ways that would disadvantage Obama. While press corps did not see the need for such a move, they seemed to restrain within the bounds of decorum. Confused as they were, I don’t recall there being an incident where reporters or cameramen barged into Obama.

But in Malaysia, tables seem to turn.

In case you didn’t know, the crew that was arrested in Kuching were from an investigative journalism channel, Four Corners, which broadcasts on ABC in Australia. And while the ABC reporters have no problems with slipshod decorum in the US, they seem to have a problem with rules of conduct in Malaysia. The message they were sending Malaysians last Saturday was this – the Prime Minister’s safety is no concern of theirs.

But hasn’t that always been the Mat Salleh attitude? Back when Malaya was a young sovereign, British officers would fly over and demand an audience with Tunku Abdul Rahman, the (then) Prime Minister, despite not having sought his approval or making an appointment in advance. When the Tunku passed them over, they were known to have harassed the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Tuanku Abdul Rahman, who in turn told them that even His Majesty needed an appointment to meet the Tunku.

Be that as it may, why would anyone bother with decorum when it comes to Najib? After all, isn’t he the criminal who stashed some USD1 billion into his personal account, along with donations from Libya, Sudan, Madagascar, Jordan, Singapore, Jamaica, Argentina, Timbuktu, and ….did I miss anything?

Oh yes – the Republic of Narnia.