SABAH HAS PERTINENT ISSUES THAT PEOPLE IN THE PENINSULA DON'T UNDERSTAND.

Flow of news doesn't reflect 1M'sia: Editor

Published on: Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Kota Kinabalu: The national news agency, Bernama, must increase its presence in Sabah and Sarawak if it wishes to contribute more meaningfully towards the 1Malaysia concept of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

There simply has to be more reports about Sabah's economy, leaders, cultural heritage, environment, tourism or about the people so that Malaysians in the peninsula would better understand and connect with the situation in these two states without whose consent Malaysia would not even have been possible in 1963.

"This is where Bernama can play a big role to bridge the information gap between Sabah and Sarawak and Semenanjung."

Stressing that there is now an imbalance in Bernama's news coverage which seems to be dominated by West Malaysian happenings, Daily Express Chief Editor, James Sarda, JP, said:

"If integration is to be given importance and in the light of political developments in the peninsula since March 2008, Peninsular Malaysians will benefit from reading more about events and happenings in Sabah and Sarawak."

Sarda said it cannot be denied that over time, the national news agency has become a cementing agent for unity. "In the wider context of Sabah and Sarawak, this can be translated into integration."

He noted that due to political developments post-2008, it is the Rakyat in peninsula that are lacking integration but not people in Sabah and Sarawak.

He noted that integration has never been a problem in Sabah and this was acknowledged by KL leaders themselves.

"In fact, the people in Sabah were already experiencing 1Malaysia before Malaysia was formed."

Sarda said an average of 10-15 scheduled events take place in Sabah in a day, out of which at least half may be of interest or of some relevance to Malaysians outside Sabah.

"However, the Bernama reporters are only able to cover four to five events because of manpower shortage.

"Maybe Bernama also feels their coverage of these events are best left to the local papers. If staffing is the problem, Bernama could pick them up from the local papers the next day or even present them in the form of a weekly round-up," Sarda suggested.

Sarda was asked on his perception of Bernama's role (since its formation in 1968) in promoting national integration for a special documentary on Bernama's history and relevance to be aired on National Day on RTM1.

Sarda, was the recipient of two of the nation's highest journalism awards - the Malaysian Press Institute top prize for Special Reporting (1999) and ICI-CCM Malaysian Environmental Journalism prize (1997).

He has a Masters in Journalism from Cardiff University and is the co-author of the "Spirit of Borneo" on Hollywood's first wildlife documentary shot in Sabah in 1920. He also edited "A White Headhunter In Borneo" "about Stephen Holley's role in the formation of Malaysia.

Holley was a Malaysia Agreement signatory and Sabah's first State Secretary.

Sarda said Sabah has pertinent issues that people in the peninsula don't understand.

"For instance, we have a serious problem of illegal immigrants, especially from the Philippines. On an average day in the Sabah courts be it in KK, Sandakan, Tawau, etc, they are the ones mostly jailed for various offences from fish bombing to Syabu trafficking, rape, robbery, murder, false identity card possession and the like.

"But because these cases only get reported in the local papers, people in Semenanjung, especially Federal leaders, do not get to know this.

Hence, they do not know the severity of the problem," he contended.

Sarda believed that Federal leaders would take a more proactive and serious view of the Sabah situation if only Bernama put out these reports so that they get carried in the peninsula papers.

"Can anyone blame the Opposition then for championing these issues for their agenda?" In this regard, he feels not just the national news agency but also the peninsula press could play a bigger role.

"Only when the story is sensational and concerns a local personality like the murder of Assistant Minister Datuk Norjan Khan by a foreigner does it get any national media attention."

Citing another example, Sarda said Daily Express devoted pages for several days, to reports on the recent State Assembly sitting whereby many issues were dealt with.

"But Bernama only covered the important ones and they numbered perhaps five or less. Yet, the coverage of the Dewan Undangan Negeri of the other states in the peninsula, like Kedah and Pahang, was greater.

This means people in Sabah get to know more about what is discussed in the state assemblies in these peninsula states than them about Sabah," he lamented.

"This lop-sidedness in news coverage must be addressed for the sake of 1Malaysia".

At the moment, he said Bernama's role benefits Malaysians in Sabah from three aspects:

• Firstly, Malaysians in Sabah know about the happenings in the Peninsula and Sarawak, the people's problems and how they get on with their lives there and vice versa.
• Secondly, Malaysians in Sabah are able to know and understand better government policies, which is important since Putrajaya is 1,000km from Kota Kinabalu;
• and Thirdly, Sabahans know the Government's "official stand" on issues that arise from time to time.