Penang Watch

The 1st issue of state funded paper `Suara Rakayt' has come out -but the government said that the paper will not be independent as campaigned for by NGOs. The government even want the YBs to sit in the editorial board! But consider these reasons for making it independent-before they regret what a partisan paper will cause/cost them:

1. The partisan paper will lose crediblity in no time and get ignored by the public -as it had been before; Why publish a paper just to store them away?

2. The partisan paper will be losing money since it lacks readership-thus also lack appeal to advertisers;

3.  The partisan paper will be a cause of disunity among the ruling Pakatan parties-given that PR parties are not so united -any unhappiness in the paper will be attributed to the party background of the editorial board. Leaving the paper to independen, professional hands will allow the government to distance itself from the stand of the State Government. 

4. The paper can play a role to hasten the communication between the PR parties so as to come out with united stands on various issues-if its editorial is independent. If the paper is partisan the editors' partisan stand will slow down the evolution of united voice among the Pakatan governing parties; The paper will become a field for partisan fights and not a media to serve the public;

5.  Pakatan parties have been criticising the BN parties for abusing public fund to run partisan press-now they will lose credibility if they commit the same crime once in power.

If they must have Ybs in the editorial board then allow Ybs fro all parties -ruling and oposition, to sit in the board. But too many cooks spoil the soup-so leaving the YBs out is still a better solution;

The best way is to tender out the editorial team of the paper so the best appointments can be made.

To see what the paper may look like go to government departments eg MPPP offices in KOMTAR.