ELECTIONS STILL A HOT TOPIC ON THE AIRWAVES

Still a hot topic

AIR RAVES BY ANTHONY THANASAYAN

MORE than a week after our general election on March 8, Malaysian politics is still a hot item on many radio stations around the world.

Among several of Radio Australia’s (RA) follow-up stories on our recent polls, the latest was a special interview programme.

The Melbourne-based broadcaster’s Asia Pacific show spoke to a number of our local experts from varied backgrounds.

The interviews, which were conducted separately, lasted four and a half minutes. It was aired last Thursday.

The topic revolved around what RA described as PAS’ “huge gains” during the elections.

“For the first time (the Islamic party succeeded in) pushing (itself) into urban middle-class areas (of the country),” added the Australian international broadcaster.

RA’s presenter Bill Bainbridge spoke to five people.

They were PAS MP for Taman Titiwangsa in Kuala Lumpur Dr Lo’ Lo’ Datuk Hj Mohd Ghazali; Dr Norani Othman, Professor and Principal Research Fellow at the Institute for Malaysian and International Studies in Bangi, Selangor; and Tricia Yeoh, Senior Research Analyst at the Centre for Public Policy Studies in Kuala Lumpur.

The other two were also from our nation’s capital: Rev Dr Herman Shastri, executive secretary of the Christian Federation of Malaysia, and Mohamad Dehalan, a Kampung Baru resident and retired town planner.

According to Mohamad Dehalan, the reason why many voters decided to switch over to the Opposition was because they were fed up with the level of corruption in the country.

He also added that whilst he personally would like to see Syariah laws being enacted in Malaysia, he realised that would never happen because a two-thirds majority is required in Parliament in order to achieve it.

Yeoh opined that the fear of Islamisation was what prompted the Chinese and Indians to significantly shift their votes.

On the fears of PAS pushing their conservative brand of Islam, Rev Shastri pointed out that moderates in the party ought to know that “the path to political power is to emphasise their anti-corruption agenda; not strict Islamic laws.”

Meanwhile, the 30-minute swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi at the National Palace on March 10 was carried live by RTM’s Klasik Nasional FM.

Traxx FM conducted a five-minute live crossover round-up of the ceremony when everything was over.

It was a disappointment, however, that RTM’s English radio station did not broadcast the event.

Not only was the event more than worthy of a live transmission, but airing it in English would have benefited many English-speaking listeners in appreciating the details of the ceremony that transpired.

Finally, kudos to Radio 24’s recent coverage of our 12th general election which helped to make the event even more special for radio listeners.

The station which is operated by Bernama presented a lot of insights and views on our voting process.

Its crossovers to the polling booths across the country were generally kept lively and straight to the point.

12th General Elections - Top News On World Radio Broadcasts

World Radio Stations On Our Recent General Elections

Top world news

By ANTHONY THANASAYAN

The winds of change that swept across the country, which shocked and awed the entire nation last weekend, was also strongly felt by many radio broadcasters around the globe.

“Badawi fails to get a two-thirds majority” was the top world news bulletin on All India Radio (AIR).

The New Delhi broadcaster made the announcement last Sunday, a day after Malaysians went to the polls to pick a new government.

Describing the 12th General Elections as one of Malaysia’s ruling coalition’s worst electoral performances, AIR told its worldwide audience that the Barisan Nasional had “lost control of four state governments and failed to win a two-thirds majority in Parliament for the first time since 1969”.

AIR pointed out that the polls results had even “raised questions about the political future of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi”.

It also mentioned Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu’s parliamentary seat loss, describing him as “Malaysia’s lone ethnic Tamil Minister”.

“The elections were held amidst complaints of racial inequality by ethnic Indians and rise in crime and corruption”, concluded the South Asia broadcaster.

China Radio International (CRI) from Beijing called the poll outcome “a setback for the BN”.

Radio Australia (RA) commented that “Malaysia’s opposition parties had pulled off a historic election performance posing the first challenge to the BN in five decades”.

The Melbourne-based broadcaster added that while “Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi’s coalition government will stay on in office, for the first time since independence in 1957 there will be a sizeable opposition in Parliament”.

RA said former Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim described the phenomenal event as a ”defining moment in Malaysia’s history, and a big success for the opposition”.

The Australian radio station also quoted Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s accusation of the Prime Minister of “destroying” the coalition, and suggesting that Badawi quit his post.

Washington DC’s Voice of America broadcast’s Luis Ramirez from Kuala Lumpur – speaking to local analysts in Malaysia – narrowed down the BN’s shocking poor performance to complaints of complacency and corruption.

Quoting James Chin, a politics professor at Kuala Lumpur’s Monash University, Ramirez said that the BN ought to look for pragmatic ways to rebuild support or face extinction.

“The BN government has heard the message loud and clear,” Chin told the VOA. “(Now) they (must) do something about it (if) they (want) to win the next election,” he concluded.

Note: This article appeared on Friday. Air Raves will resume on Wednesdays from next week.

Election In The Air

News & Features, The Star, Wednesday March 5, 2008

Election coverage on air

Air Raves by ANTHONY THANASAYAN

MALAYSIANS go to the polls on Saturday. The exercise is to decide who gets to govern the nation over the next five years.

The run-up to our general election (Malaysia’s 12th to date) this weekend, meanwhile, seems to be getting good coverage on Radio24.

The round-the-clock bilingual broadcaster in Bahasa Malaysia and English which is operated by the Bernama News Agency in Kuala Lumpur is currently running a special two-hour weekday talk show on the elections.

Named Hello Pilihan Raya and aired only in Bahasa Malaysia, the programme can be heard today until Friday at 8pm.

Listeners will not only be able to know more about the many political and social issues in the country but also acquire a better background understanding at the end of the shows.

These will be provided by the many prominent political personalities who are invited to proffer their views in the studio. The guests range from political analysts to ex-politicians and observers.

On Saturday listeners can expect to hear voting and result updates from what the station describes as “hot” locations around the country.

These include the states of Kelantan, Terengganu, Sabah, Sarawak, Kedah, Perlis and Perak.

Radio24’s anchors will also be able to rely on the support of Bernama’s own team of news journalists when presenting their live-crossovers and news reports on the broadcast.

Whilst the bad news is that Radio24 can only be heard at the present time by listeners in the Klang Valley on the frequency of FM 93.9MHz – the good news is that people living outside the stipulated area can tune in to the FM broadcaster via the Internet. All one has to do is to got to www.radio24.com.my.

On Radio24’s homepage, web surfers will also find the latest news updates on the general election as a tasty treat.

Recently, quite a few independent bloggers apparently gave the thumbs up to Radio24 for having conducted a poll last month where it was revealed that 80% of its respondents felt that blogs did not jeopardise the democratic process of our nation.

The results of the poll findings were broadcast over Radio24. Well done!

And speaking of alternative views, Melbourne’s Radio Australia ran a news feature last week on our elections.

The Asia Pacific segment of the international broadcaster highlighted a number of interesting topics in the country by speaking to Tian Chua, the information chief for the opposition Keadilan party and social anthropologist Professor Shamsul Amri Baharuddin, Director of the Institute of Ethnic Studies from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.

Despite living in the cyber age, the writer insists that radio still provides a unique window on the world. When he isn't scanning bandwidths, he helps to raise awareness of positive living with pets through his organisation, Petpositive (Malaysian Animal-Assisted Therapy for the Disabled and Elderly Association).

Will Indians vote for change on March 8?/ Note: Ranked No 9 In Most Viewed

Thursday February 14, 2008 Will Indians vote for change? AIR RAVES, THE STAR By ANTHONY THANASAYAN Malaysians are not the only ones interested in our general election. The next one – our 12th to date since Merdeka in 1957 – is likely to occur very soon. Last week, Radio Australia (RA) predicted that there would be a very poor show of support at the polls for Barisan Nasional (BN) this time around from the Indian community, which, the international broadcaster pointed out, has stood by the ruling party for half a century. The Melbourne-based radio station based this assertion on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s recent remarks to The Star. He had admitted that the BN can expect to have less support from ethnic Indian voters in the next election. RA’s Asia-Pacific programme presenter Nasya Bahfen interviewed Manogar Marimuthu, president of the Malaysian Tamil Education Research & Development Foundation, on the issue. Manogar told RA that the Indian community had long complained about a lack of jobs and educational opportunities. “The protest rallies by Hindraf (Hindu Rights Action Force) only drew more attention to the situation,” he added. Manogar said that the sizes of the rallies, which took the Government by surprise, were prompted by the destruction of Hindu temples. Sheer devotion: A group of devotees carrying paal kudam (milk filled container) during the Thaipusam celebrations. He went on to say that whilst he sympathised with the MIC because it was only a “small minority” within the ruling coalition, he thought that the party would “suffer serious setbacks” in the coming polls. RA, on its part, told its worldwide audiences that Abdullah has promised to address the destruction of Hindu temples and other grievances ahead of the election. “The general election is expected to be called as early as next month, although it doesn’t need to be held until 2009,” the broadcaster concluded. Meanwhile, Thaipusam on Jan 23 saw some tasty on-air treats on local radio. RTM’s Tamil-language broadcaster MinnalFM provided interesting coverage on how the event was being observed in various states in the country. One of the crossovers I heard was to Malacca. It was done clearly and glitch-free. TraxxFM’s Wake Up show talked about the incredible feats performed by kavadi bearers at Batu Caves. The deejays gave out information about the special diet and strict discipline the faithful have to endure to fulfil their vows. Finally, Bernama News Agency’s Radio24 once again performed with flying colours. Besides its regular updates on how Thaipusam was being observed in the country, a note of appreciation should go out to the broadcaster for its special festive greeting promo by its staff for the occasion. It seemed to have been done rather spontaneously, with everyone (in the studio) wishing everyone (on the air) a joyous Thaipusam. One could even hear an Indian classical music instrument being played in the background in the audio clip. A simple act like that – and the trouble taken to do it – was enough to immerse us all in the festive mood immediately. Despite living in the cyber age, the writer insists that radio still provides a unique window on the world. When he isn't scanning bandwidths, he helps to raise awareness of positive living with pets through his organisation, Petpositive (Malaysian Animal-Assisted Therapy for the Disabled and Elderly Association).