Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein has chided the media for upping the ante over religious and racial issues, and cautioned them against pointing a finger at any one publisher for pushing a communal agenda.

Speaking to azlan journalists in the Parliament lobby yesterday, Hishammuddin defended Utusan Malaysia’s ‘Awang Selamat’ who, in a column on Sunday, had urged BN to review its strategy in relation to the Chinese community in Sarawak.

This, said ‘Awang Selamat’, is only reasonable given the Chinese swing against the ruling coalition in the recent state polls which saw the opposition DAP doubling its presence in the legislative assembly to 12 seats.

Asked if action would be taken against Utusan for pushing BN to adopt a purportedly racist agenda, Hishammuddin went on the offence, swinging the question back to the journalist.

“That idea (by Utusan ) is just an idea. If we look at the Star , they also discuss a variety of sentiments regarding politics,” he was quoted as saying.

“We also see the Chinese (-language) newspapers. I monitor their reports as well on political sentiments in the country, and they are quite bad.”

Warning the print media, the minister said: “Just like the voters in Sarawak, do not be excited that you can sell your paper but (do) it at the expense of causing chaos ... If the country is in chaos, then you won’t even be able to sell one copy of your paper.”

‘Awang Selamat’, a pseudonym used by senior editors, had urged Sarawak BN against being “too generous” to the Chinese community.

azlan “The (electoral) decision needs to be translated by the state government led by Abdul Taib Mahmud. Awang hopes that Taib can set up a cabinet taking into consideration the reality of the ballot boxes.

“Clearly, many Chinese voters rejected the BN and supported the DAP. So the BN state government need not be too generous and give space to elected representatives of that community.

“The Sarawak cabinet must be reflective of the decision and attitude of the voters. The message needs to clearly conveyed. Taib should show greater appreciation to those who supported him and the BN government.”

‘Only a matter of strategy’

In defence of the column headlined Realiti baru (The new reality), Utusan editor Zulkiflee Bakar today said detractors had confused the call for BN to review its strategy with racism.

“When ‘Awang Selamat’ proposed that BN finds a new approach given the loss of support from Chinese voters, it is not racist but (it is a matter of) strategy based on the ever-changing reality of the political landscape,” said Zulkiflee.

Echoing Hishammuddin’s sentiments, Zulkiflee questioned why Utusan is being singled out as being racist when other media organisations routinely publish editorials and reports for or against one or other ethnic community.

“Don’t spout nonsense when there are reports by some Chinese-language dailies that are not only ‘racist’ but offend Malays. It’s the same with some pro-opposition portals that carry articles or statements that can be interpreted as being racist,” Zulkiflee added.

“But none of these purportedly anti-racist quarters express their views as being so or urge action by the Home Ministry.”

While there has been a significant surge, in terms of numbers and proportion, of Chinese votes for the opposition, a swing has also been found to have occured in mixed constituencies, across the ethnic communities, and even among the Malays .