To be fair and honest is to call them racists

I like being a journalist as it allows me to be on the ground, experiencing and observing things as it happens. And I get the prestigious job of relating this to the public.

One thing that I pride myself on as a journalist is the fact that I try very hard to be open minded, fair and honest with whatever I observe and relay.

So let me relay to you, as open-minded, fair and honest as I can, what I saw while following the campaign trail this GE13 so far.

As all of you would know, politicians like to campaign, and one of their favourite campaign activities is to ‘go on the ground’ and visit people.

One weekend, I decided to follow a Barisan Nasional candidate as he visited a pasar malam. And you can’t get as down and dirty with the people then at a pasar malam!

I arrived early and so I decided to visit the BN operation centre at the entrance of the pasar malam while waiting for him.

The candidate happens to be from Umno and while I was waiting, I listened to the recording of a ceramah the BN operation centre was playing out over their loud speakers.

I don’t know who the person on the recording was, but he was spewing out racist remarks almost throughout the whole time I was listening.

I heard him scream out that DAP members are all Christians and their objective is to turn Malaysia into a Christian country.

I heard him scream out that if Pakatan Rakyat were to take over the federal government, all the big and lucrative projects will be given to non-Malays and Malays will be left to rot.

I heard him scream out that the Chinese and Indians in Malaysia think that the Malays are all stupid and don’t know how to do work (I assume that his target audience are Malays).

The most shocking thing to me is that a group of Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) members (they spoke Tamil and wore MIC shirts!) were there waiting to greet the candidate.

They seemed very happy and excited to be there and even more so when the candidate arrived. You could see it in their faces!

And all this while racial remarks are being made against their race on the loudspeaker, by a component party that they are aligned to under the BN coalition.

They smiled and laughed as they opened the candidate’s car door, extended their hands to shake his and guided his step away from rain puddles on the ground.

At that moment, I felt a barrage of emotions. I felt embarrassed for them as they kow-towed to someone who represented a party that uses racial hatred (against their race!) as campaign material.

I felt angry and sad as I thought of all my Indian relatives and friends who I care for and respect dearly, and who are Malaysians true and true.

Then, I felt a sense of responsibility as a journalist to inform the public of what I have just observed and experienced so as they know what is happening.

Many people may consider me to be too opinionated and even biased. But let me assure you that I’m just being fair and honest.

The media and political landscape in Malaysia has been shaped for so long in a certain way that even the slightest push towards being balanced is seen as a shove off a cliff.

But it is clear now that the media and political landscape is fast changing. And this is proof that Malaysian society is maturing and becoming more well-informed.

The public has a right to know and it is the job of journalists and the media to relay the truth so they can make informed decisions. That is all I’m trying to do and I am thankful that I can do it.