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 ©The
Straits Times, Singapore (Used by permission)
Media plays up injured policemen, saying violence harms
racial accord
KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIAN newspapers yesterday criticised the mass rally by
Indians as an unruly and violent show of defiance that damaged racial relations
in the country.
Photographs of injured policemen were carried in the major dailies to underscore
their condemnation.
The media took the government's position that the protest disrupted business
activities, with an editorial in the New Straits Times (NST)
saying it was 'unnecessary' and a setback for racial harmony.
'The rally did turn ugly, as predicted, and both policemen and demonstrators
suffered injuries,' the NST editorial said.
'The normally busy weekend hang-out of Ampang saw shops shuttered; even the KLCC,
which barely has walking room on weekends, was emptied, with many shops on the
first two floors hanging 'closed' signs on their doors, shop assistants
nervously standing inside,' it added.
Malaysia's Indian community staged its biggest anti-government street protest on
Sunday when thousands of demonstrators defied tear gas and water cannons to hit
out against what they perceived as racial discrimination.
The rally, which went ahead despite police warnings against it, was organised by
an NGO, the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf).
Hindraf said the aim was to hand over a petition to the British High Commission
in support of a lawsuit seeking about US$2 million (S$2.9 million) in
compensation for each of the two million Malaysian Indians whose ancestors were
brought to the country as indentured labourers by Britain about 150 years ago.
The Indians also wanted to air their grievances on issues such as lack of
educational and business opportunities, Hindraf leaders said.
For six hours from dawn, riot police fought running battles with more than 5,000
Hindu protesters gathered at various places of the rally route.
Yesterday, three Hindraf leaders were brought to court on charges of sedition
but the case was dropped due to a technicality.
The international media, including the Kuala Lumpur- based Al-Jazeera English
news network, had focused on the Indian grievances that led to the mass
gathering.
But the local media zoomed in on the 'defiance' of the protesters.
The front-page headlines of the two biggest Bahasa newspapers, Utusan
Malaysia and Berita Harian, said the demonstration was 'violent'.
The local media also made much of the fact that four policeman were injured
during the run-in with the protesters.
Among them was sub-inspector Chew Choon Peng, whose published photo showed him
with a bleeding head, while other policemen had their heads bandaged.
The Star, the biggest English-language newspaper, said demonstrators
'broke' into the Batu Caves temple - one of the holiest Hindu shrines in
Malaysia - and 'destroyed' temple property.
Police said the protesters also torched a tourist bus and shattered the
windscreens of passing vehicles by throwing stones and bricks.
Chinese dailies portrayed the protesters as unruly, and showed pictures of
injured policemen, broken car windscreens and damaged public property. The
mass-selling Sin Chew Daily quoted Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi as
saying the rally disrupted business activities here.
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Wah......wah..... Our newspapers are showing double standards, huh ?
Isn't it ironic that the local dailies did not project the mass rally led by Khairy Jamaluddin last 28.7.2006 in front of the US Embassy when Condoleeza Rica was in Malaysia as being "...unruly..." or "...unnecessary..."? There, the protesters burned the US flag and chanted anti-US slogans.
Isn't that an ugly image??
see : http://www.tkb.org/NewsStory.jsp?storyID=132699
Annou Xavier