Responding to the criticism by Unmo Youth head Hishammuddin Hussein that the Chinese-language press is "shallow thinking", leading personalities said they reject any form of political intervention in their professional duties.

Hishammuddin's scathing attack on the "sensationalist" Chinese press came after he had been criticised for demanding the revival of the contentious New Economic Policy (NEP) during the Umno general assembly.

Veteran Chinese-language journalist Teoh Kian Hoon called Hishammuddin a "populist" who has repeatedly resorted to "hocus-pocus" in the past.

Teoh was formerly the chief leader writer for Nanyang Siang Pau and a former researcher at the Centre for Malaysian Chinese Studies, a major think-tank for the Chinese Malaysian community.

Describing Hishammuddin's remark as "loser's logic", he said: "The Malay community has had many advantages, but he is still disgruntled. This shows he is an outdated politician who has turned to populism to seek support."

Teoh questioned the alleged 'sensationalism' of news by the Chinese press, asking whether the same definition would be applied if the (English-language pro-government daily) New Strait Times placed certain issues on the front page.

However, Teoh also advised the Chinese press to report issues in their historic context instead of reporting these as stand-alone developments.

"The press should ponder why the Malay community's problems have remain unresolved although the NEP has been in place for more than 30 years," he said.

'No self-censorship'

Kwong Wah editor-in-chief Judy Wong said the daily would review its reports in the wake of Hishammuddin's criticism, but that "self-censorship" will not be part of this process.

"We have our own policy on discipline and it will not be influenced by politicians. We will make adjustments if our reports are sensationalised because national interest is still our priority," she said.

Oriental Daily News executive editor Eng King Sia said Hishammuddin's outburst was a "political act".

"That was (part of) Hishammuddin's periodic acting to build his image as an 'ethnic hero'. It would be embarrassing for him as a Youth chief to back down to the Chinese press," said Eng.

"In the past when there were limited opportunities to spread information, politicians could practise racial politics by giving different statements to different language media."

Eng said such tactics have been made obsolete by access to information technology today.

He said the Chinese press was merely expressing the opinion that a 30-year period was sufficient for the NEP to have had its intended effect, and that Umno (Youth) was not progressing by calling for its revival.

Chinese news magazine Yazhou Zhoukan staff correspondent Lin Yew Soon pointed out that Hishammuddin was championing the status of the Malay community by attacking the Chinese press.

"He was doing that to advance his own status...(if he did not do so) it would expose his fragility," he said.

He viewed the remarks made during the Umno general assembly as "premeditated and with certain intentions".

"Some of the responses of the Chinese press were knee-jerk reactions. Both Umno and the Chinese press have certain racial sentiments which limit their ability to think out of the box and sometimes result in inaccurate judgements," he added.