Government leaders should take Malaysians into their confidence and say in the local mass media what they tell the foreign media


Media Statement
by Lim Kit Siang

(Petaling Jaya, Wednesday): Government leaders should take Malaysians into their confidence and say in the local mass media what they tell the foreign media.

This problem is illustrated in the latest issue of the Far Eastern Economic Review (18th February 1998) which carried the cover-page story on the executive director of the National Economic Action Council (NEAC), Tun Daim Zainuddin under the heading: "Can Daim Fix Malaysia? - New Economic Tsar Daim Zainuddin".

In the lead article "Calling Doctor Daim", the FEER quoted Daim as describing the economic crisis facing Malaysia as "the worst crisis we've faced since the Second World War".

This is a statement which has never been made by Daim or any government leader in the local mass media. In fact, in the local mass media, government leaders had been at pains to ensure that the words "economic crisis" are not used at all, whether in the newspapers, radio or television, using the anodyne substitute of "economic problems", as if the avoidance of the use of the words "economic crisis" could itself minimise the severity of the impact of the economic turbulence in the country.

Tun Daim also said that "the primary task of the NEAC is to restore confidence", which is again not reflected in the statements and utterances of government leaders in the local mass media, which give the impression that confidence had already been restored.

It is in fact a sad commentary on the economic crisis-management that eight months into the economic crisis, the country is still grappling with the very basic problem of confidence-restoration.

A primary reason why the government has not broken the back of the problem of confidence-restoration is because it has yet to take Malaysians fully into its confidence, as for instance government leaders saying in the local mass media what they say in the foreign media.

For instance, the latest FEER cover-story on the Malaysian economic crisis reported:

There is a need for Daim to explain the implications of the statements he made in the latest issue of FEER as well as how such policy changes are to be effected.

It is unsatisfactory and unacceptable for Daim or any government leader to announce policy measures only to be reported in the foreign mass media, which can only further undermine the public credibility of the local mass media which are already at a very low point in Malaysian mass media history.

(18/2/98)


*Lim Kit Siang - Malaysian Parliamentary Opposition Leader, Democratic Action Party Secretary-General & Member of Parliament for Tanjong