Are you bored reading about Malaysian politics on news sites? I am. Stories of party squabbles, mugshots of Anwar, faces from Pakatan Rakyat, PAS and Umno; corruption in the public sector, poor governance, police violence. Same old angles. Same old sources.

But two events in the past week shook me out of my boredom. First was an email petition I received from a Malaysian academic in the US with the subject line: ‘Overseas Malaysian Academic Community Demand for the 13th General Election’.

election malaysia The petition makes two basic demands: absentee voting right for all and automatic voter registration. In its concluding remark, the petition says: ‘Home is where we decide, not just reside. We call upon all Malaysians, both overseas and at home, to join us in putting this demand to the Prime Minister.’

The petition goes on to say that, with communications technology and increased human mobility. ‘the notion of citizenship is defined no longer by residence, but by the sense of belonging. No matter where we reside, Malaysia remains our home. And it is in this home, our common interests lie, and for this home, we must cast our ballots.’

Second, was an email from a friend in England who told of how, on March 2, a group of women met in church to pray for Malaysia as part of the Women’s World Day of Prayer (WWDP) movement.Similar prayers were held in the US.

The theme, ‘Let Justice Prevail’, poses this challenge: What should we do when ‘the ideal of peace and harmony is undermined by corruption and greed and it is distorted when voices for truth and justice are silenced. Do we engage or stay neutral?’  

The WWDP rationale says: ‘We have come to understand that God calls us to be righteous citizens of our country. So we do have a role to play by speaking out against all forms of injustice.’

Indeed, regardless of the faith we follow, or not, we should collectively engage in the political process as we have done since 1998 through non-violent sit-ins and street marches; through writing letters to the press, through advocacy campaigns in the social media,  through citizen-generated stories, through lobbying our local MPs, and through teaching our children about what responsible citizenship means.

If we don’t engage with politics, if we just shrug it off and say we can’t do anything about it, we might as well serve the next election back to Umno on a nasi kandar platter. Political change rarely happens in a flash. It takes time to mobilise the people. It takes sensitive patience to bridge the religious and racial divide and speak with one voice.  

Malaysians living overseas have tapped into the convenience and speed of online petitions to mobilise and remind the government that small in numbers we may be, our votes should still count.

The World Bank 'Malaysia Economic Monitor' (April 2011) report says about one million Malaysians are living and working overseas with more than half in Singapore, followed by Australia, Brunei, UK and the US.

The baby boomers, though, who have seen the country deteriorate politically through the decades, feel that regime change will not happen in their lifetime. Only prayers can save Malaysia now, as a friend remarks in a recent email.

Take a stand

We will certainly need more than prayers to fight the infection from the entrenched culture of political patronage and institutionalised policies of racial exclusion. We need to talk louder as a collective of concerned citizens. The steps are pretty basic and workable with the Internet.

One is to engage with the main agents of change, those who hold a modicum of influence in the public sphere. They’re our journalists, the editors, informed bloggers, and writers who are critically minded to go beyond reporting the euphemisms mouthed by politicians and their cronies.

I say let’s discard the myth of ‘objective’ and ‘impartial’ reporting - which the conservative pro-government mainstream media do not practise anyway.

 

azlan Journalists are today equipped with tools of technology to initiate and foster change to improve the human condition.

How could journalists, and concerned citizens, who know of the social injustices happening in the country not investigate the cause of these injustices, or attempt to fairly and truthfully represent the plights of those with little voice?

How could journalists unthinkingly assume that their editors would dump these investigative stories because they would upset the government? Our journalistic inertia just kills me.   

Malaysian journalists reporting for online media should consider the professional and moral value of taking a stand on issues currently under-represented in the mainstream papers.

Journalists ought to have a defined purpose to do some good in society, especially in ‘advocating’ for marginalised groups and fighting against social injustices.

Yes, advocacy exposes journalists to being accused of ideological bias and so forth. But, if it’s being biased towards what’s right and just, I’d be comfortable with it.

DR ERIC LOO left Malaysia for Australia in 1986 to work with the print media. He currently lectures at University of Wollongong, Australia, and also mentors international journalism students via UPIU, run by United Press International. He is founding editor of Asia Pacific Media Educator. His recent books are ‘Best Practices of Journalism in Asia’ (2009); and ‘Journalism in Good Faith: Issues and Practices in Religion Reporting’ (co-authored with Mustafa K Anuar, 2009).  Email: eloo@uow.edu.au