Political Analysis

On the night of meeting my old primary school classmates, I chanced upon having an interesting conversation with one of a renowned political analyst guest. We discussed on the right way of writing article on the political scenario and constructive criticism so that the public in general or  readers of newspapers and magazines could be given an impartial view and update on the actual situation of the country.

He mentioned that the media is very much controlled or monopolized by pro-government businessmen or proxies of some political parties.The publishing licence is granted for short term renewal and is constantly being scrutinized under the watchful eyes of the authority, the issuance of which could be revoked any time at the whim and fancy of the power-that-be. Writers are given certain space in the media to write and in return they are rewarded for their service. Since political parties have vested interest in the media, any one sided criticism would not benefit the power-that-be behind the media and also the livelihood of writers. The writers are in a difficult dilemma. Therefore the thriving political analysts must be able to master the skill of administering the rightful amount of criticism; even at certain times they must have the gut to sling mud onto the face of the political party affiliated to their pay-check employer, just to add in a dosage of impartiality! A successful writer must be able to juggle this well, optimize all considerations and apportion the right amount of criticism and at crucial moment, even has to abstain from any heavy bombarding to give them a breather. This is a technique employed to attract the interest and draw the attention of the  readers, and take into consideration the very fact that by so doing their privilege of being able to keep their space and getting paid for their article regularly in the media are not at stake.

I disputed this kind of compromising writing style with monetary gain as their hidden primary objective. Under this situation, the tendency to become non-independent is questionable despite all that skillful camouflage. With the advent of internet, there are many intelligent readers out there that scan every piece of available information and compare notes. They would be able to evaluate and distinguish the genuine political wrtiers and their ulterior motives.

In view of our differing opinions, I counter proposed to him that a good political analyst writer should read the review of other fellow writers as well and determine what are the areas of weaknesses of their written article to be further improved or beefed up for future writings. View the topic from different perspectives and see how the flow and the logics of argument to lead the readers, and drive home the points the writer wanted to convey. At the same time also recommend an alternative or more innovative, above the pack kind of proposal to better tackle the particular controversial topic or situation. In the end, a respectable political analyst writer, in the name of independency and impartiality, should prepare even to lose his/her job and write for free in the internet!

The topic then changed to who should we cast our votes to. I said we should vote for those performers in the interest of the "Rakyat". To me, it really does not matter which party rules the country as long as there is a denial of two third majority which acts as a check and balance for the good of all Malaysians. I am equally happy if BN or PKR could win the election, it is a collective decision by the "Rakyat", which should be based on how the candidates collectively had contributed and performed for their constituencies and country, instead of just by emotion or the demagogue of just wanting a change situation.