Debate/ Argument on the news regarding the death of a police detainee named Gopal.

After reading from both sides of the arguments, I have decided both sides are wrong, instead of just putting the blame wholly on one side.

Firstly, the police shouldn’t have went over board when hitting or dealing with Gopal. Gopal is indeed a criminal and should not be treated politely, but that does not mean the police has a right to hit him or torture him to the point of death. I understand there are certain cases where violent methods are required to extract information from the criminal, but the criminal is still a human being and has his own rights. Tortures are fine but must be done within the boundaries of law, if not at the very least, done with morality and humanity in mind. We are educated people and so must act and think like one. There is no need to stoop so low to be on the same level as criminals.

Although I have to add in that I am not even sure that Gopal’s cause of death is because the police beat him to death.

My doubt stems from the fact that the he was not alone in his cell. Gopal is actually ‘accompanied’ by various thugs and criminals all around Malaysia. And knowing how rivalry, hate, grudge and revenge seems to be a priority to thugs, it is not strange they might not like Gopal very much and hates him. Gopal may have been beaten up by those thugs and died because of it, not due to the beatings of the police. The thugs may have then pushed all the blame to the police one way or another.

The public must also understand that Gopal is a criminal, not a hero or some poor victim. He has hurt and harm others for his own benefit so there is no reason for anyone to support him or do demonstrations or any other effort to bring justice to him. If I am to be honest, if a criminal like Gopal ends up in the mercy of civilians, he might still die. That is because in Malaysia, there is already so many cases where snatch thieves is beaten to death when captured by civilians, due to their anger. So is it so strange that the police won’t feel the same? Or Gopal ending up dead if he’s in the mercy of civilians? The public must learn to think rationally.

It might also be that this case is just another tool used by someone to spark chaos in Malaysia. Since Gopal is an Indian, a minority race in Malaysia, it is a sensitive issue and many Indians has rallied against the police. The individual may be trying to start a fight of races in Malaysia. So everyone should be calm and think rationally with solid facts to back up their arguments. Not protesting in such an uncivilized way like this.

Review on the article ‘The Paradox of Malaysian Online Journalism’ by Dr. Rahmat Ghazali

Due to recent popularity of online journalism in Malaysia, I had decided to read this long and informative article by Dr. Rahmat Ghazali and provide a review of it, my own two cents.

Firstly, I do agree that because of our complicated social interracial interactions that involves many aspects, and various methods the government has enacted to control the media, like the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984,  online journalism is certainly a saving grace for the weak, for the voiceless to express themselves. To make themselves heard.

But despite the good it brings to Malaysians, it has brought tensions and strife to our colourful society, manipulated by various organizations and individuals for their own benefit. There are no more respect to our elders and our leaders, especially those with influence in our country like the Prime Minister, with the younger generations especially commenting about events and political situations without holding back. All coarse words and insults seemingly without limit. For example like the rude comment about one of Malaysia’s political leaders regarding the issue of the VIP plane purchase and other similar cases that does not sit well among haters.

Even with the internet providing anyone with access unlimited source of information, these commentaries by individuals are almost always written emotionally, no solid facts, biases are present in sentences and formed from baseless rumors.

Dr. Rahmat in his article, also pointed out that ‘Thus, despite the democratic space of online journalism, this paper advocates that it has become a key catalyst of social tension and quite apparent to continue to add more social tension within Malaysia’s multiethnic society. Unfortunately, this kind of sensationalized and speculative stories could strongly win the attention from the public.’

I agree wholeheartedly with the Dr’s comment. Online journalism has indeed give democracy a space in our country, but it in turn has given chance to unknown enemies a tool to manipulate and create chaos within the country using the sensitivity that comes with being a multiracial country. All these hate and anger within the internet about our country’s welfare only showed that there is a never-ending current of resentment going on deep within our social structures and its people.

But despite the unhappiness and arguments that arises from these issues, our people still prefer to read these kind of news and information compared to neutral and official news on newspapers. So who is to blame in this issue? Probably the public itself. They were given a tool to demonstrate democracy but instead misused it to create strife and chaos in Malaysia.

A simple chart to show who’s watching the ‘watchdog’ during GE13

Statistics of how much of mass media is actually being controlled by political parties

Implications of Online Journalism

Farah Amelia Bt Ariff Ong (Thursday Afternoon Class)

Review on Implications of Online Journalism

 

With the advance of technology and internet in recent days, online journalism has become more and more common, accessible to anyone who possess internet. However, not all implications that came with online journalism, or citizen journalism good, positive or beneficial. To be honest, slightly more bad comes with online journalism than good.

Firstly are the rise of citizen journalism. Unlike journalists, they do not follow the code and morals real journalists have to obey before publishing anything.  They can publish anything anytime, and most of the time these are heavily influenced by biases and emotions. It is not exactly reliable material and are misleading. Their readers might be ignorant of the issue and when they read these articles, they might be confused or will also be biased and ignorant about the issue discussed like the writer.

Online journalism is also bad because there is no stopping biased opinions being published, regardless of time,space or people. For example, if your action of violence or bad-mouthing someone or anything that is negative is recorded, whether by friends or strangers, it is of high probability it will be uploaded online, and when it gets online, you can never take it back. The public will watch it and pass judgement according to their own perspective and it is not always good opinions. People will be harsh and judgemental. If your face is easily recognizable, it will damage your reputation as well. Imagine you are going for a work interview and the boss recognized your face from the embarrassing video, your chances of getting hired is surely affected. There are many situations where this problem can occur so you must be careful, wherever and whenever you are.

On the brightside, online journalism also helps the public to voice their opinion. It gives the voiceless a chance to speak up. This also helps the public  to look outside of their box and open their eyes to the things happening in the world. To see that the world is bigger than they thought and many things beyond their comprehension are happening every second of the day. In the long-term, online journalism will slowly educate them to think more, research anything you are suspicious of, and be more aware. In the internet, it is very easy to be lied to so people have to more knowledgeable and aware to survive in cyberspace. Hopefully, the public can be smarter with the presence of online journalism. And less prejudiced and less judgemental.

Online journalism, like all other things, has its good and bad sides. It depends on a person to decide which one it is. As an individual, I sometime finds the bad outweights the good when innocent people are judged harshly in the internet and are drove to desperate walls. But I can’t help but hope for the good to increase when some good miracle happens in the internet. 

The Dangerous Stance of Internet Materials

There are multiple reasons why materials on the internet,or information are dangerous and must be taken or believed with a pinch of salt.

Firstly, there is no evident source for the information on the internet. Most information that are easily reachable are written by normal public citizens with their own biases and perspective intact, and most are written in the height of their emotions.Thus rendering their information not really reliable.

Secondly, there is no obvious or specific laws in the internet that prevents people from writing whatever they want. Unlike in printed media like newspapers, materials on the internet does not take time to find, or even be researched before to make sure the materials are true and legal. They can be written based on the writer’s fancy, and this has proven to be affecting journalism heavily because writers in the internet does not carry the same ethics and morals a journalist applies in their reporting of information.

Also, information on the internet are too vast, and too fast to catch up too. Information change by the second or updated on the internet and thus it is hard to keep track of them or even be sure of their validity.  It is also easier for certain individuals or certain parties to manipulate the public with the information on the internet.

The public may believe whatever they see on the internet without really checking the validity of the information thus it is easier to fool and manipulate the public to do what they have in mind. And direct them to the paths these certain individuals or groups have in mind. Which is not necessarily a good thing. There are many hidden agendas hiding within the internet and one should apply extreme caution before believing anything. So these are my reasons why internet materials has a dangerous stance.