Using the media to play up racial and religious issues for short term political gain may turn Malaysia into a conflict-torn nation, fears Hata Wahari ( below ), the newly-elected National Union of Journalists (NUJ) president.

NONE “That is why in my manifesto for the NUJ elections, I focused on (the need to monitor sensitive) issues of race and religion, because this is what is being fanned by certain media.

“If those issues continue to be fanned, Malaysia may be like, I don’t know... like Somalia in the future,”  the NUJ chief told Malaysiakini in an exclusive interview.

The republic of Somalia is the poster child for a dysfunctional state, wrecked by debilitating sectarian violence and decades-old civil strife.

    

Hata singled out his ertswhile employer, Utusan Malaysia , as one paper whose current slant in portraying racial and religious issues, he said, is “too extreme and without control” and may lead to social unrest.

This is not the first time that Malaysia has been said to be on the road to joining the list of failed states.

Constitutional law expert Abdul Aziz Bari, for example, once opined that Malaysia’s deplorable track-record of political and executive interference in enforcement and the judiciary will soon see it resemble the authoritarian state of Zimbabwe in all but name.

    

Heading towards chaos

Hata, with 15 years of journalism under his belt, said that he has seen enough of what the destructive grip of political ownership can do to a news organisation, having worked for Harian Watan that he said was owned by a politician.

“After he got his posts and titles, he abandoned the paper to a slow death, leaving all the journalists, photographers and graphic artists out in the cold,” said Hata.

namewee photo burnt by perkasa members 2 Politicians, he said, are only concerned with their own self-interest and will do everything to gain wealth and power without thinking of the damage done.

But more seriously, Hata pointed to the prominence given to the racial diatribes of entities like Perkasa as the actions of those whose desire for short term gain may plunge the country into chaos.

Other than political interference, the union president added that government harassment and restrictive laws also impede the media in their job of reporting the truth to the public.

        

The veteran journalist stressed that the ‘NUJ giant’ will reawaken to fight to extricate the media from political control and restrictive laws, though it conceded that this will require the support of others.

    

Press freedom caucus

    

Hata recounted the 1999/2000 petition signed by journalists urging  the abolition of the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA).

“In the end the petition died down, maybe because they did not have enough people (momentum),” said the Utusan journalist, adding that this is why the NUJ can’t go solo on this.

    

His aim is to propel the NUJ and its allies into a head to head fight against the PPPA and all restrictive acts that prevent the media from realising its role as the ‘fourth estate’.

flash mob klcc one muted malaysia He said that the union will set up a permanent secretariat to fight for the liberalisation of the media, and welcome anyone with a similar interest to join in.

The public, NGOs like Writer’s Alliance for Media Independence (Wami), One Muted Malaysia, Center for Independent Journalism (CIJ), as well as alternative media like Malaysiakini and electronic media like Bernama TV , are all invited, he says.

“It will be a caucus for press freedom. It is like the wave of popular support that pushed for the abolition of the Internal Security Act (ISA),” he said.

He related how nobody wanted to abolish the act, but after the consolidation of voices against it, the government was forced to at least amend it.

  

“We can do the same thing (with the PPPA),” said Hata.

Code of journalistic ethics

Other than holding true to this declaration, he said that the NUJ will also work to strengthen journalism ethics and look after the welfare of journalists.

To do this, he proposed to revive the 1978 Code of Journalism Ethics drafted by the Coalition of Asean Journalists for use in all member countries.

“Part of the code is to be ethical, transparent and not incite unrest. Don’t cause fighting between parties. And also in the code, there shall be no political ownership of the media by politicians,” said Hata.

He also vowed that the NUJ will again look after the welfare of its members and support those in trouble, and restore confidence in the organisation that many said stood silent as journalists were victimised for standing up against unjust policies.

The 41-year-old reporter also maintained that as part and parcel of maintaining the journalistic code of ethics, the NUJ must remain free from partisan politics.

While he has received the support of opposition politicians in his crusade, he stressed that even if Pakatan were to rule, the NUJ will still go against any government that seeks to shackle the press.

Long absence

Quizzed about it his long absence from NUJ and its struggle, Hata attributed it to health reasons.

“I was an the exco in 2002, but I was diagnosed as diabetic. I told my president at the time that I needed to leave the NUJ to take care of my health. I even became an executive,” he said.

But as an executive, Hata related that the struggle within him started anew as he saw how reporters were victimised, or forced to follow political directives.

Sickened by what he saw, he soon gave up his executive post to returned to reporting and to be active in the union once again.

His re-entry into the NUJ in 2006 and his recently-announced crusade for press freedom has put him on a collision course with his employer Utusan , and the Malay daily has already published several articles directly attacking him.

“I am actually thankful to Utusan for their antics, because it popularised the NUJ again. Reading about it, people say hey, the union is still alive!

“Their ‘growls’ fanned my spirit... strengthened my purpose,” said Hata in conclusion.

 

THE HATA WAHARI INTERVIEW

Part 1: President: Sleeping giant NUJ is arising

Part 2: Utusan has lost its way, decries NUJ chief

Part 3: Free press or face chaos, warns Hata