Monday 2 July 2012

Editors' job hazards

I was quite surprised this morning when I read postings by my senior pro-BN bloggers about their unhappiness over a report by BH Ahad which was rather sympathetic of Tan Sri Abu Bakar Abdullah whose services as Public Service Department director general ended yesterday.

My seniors mostly feel that Abu Bakar deserved what he get when he claimed that he was rather unfairly treated and more or less unceremoniously jettisoned from his position. He was after all responsible for the very damaging proposed civil service's new remuneration scheme which was aborted following an outcry. My senior bloggers more or less feel that BH should not published a sympathetic angle of that story about Abu Bakar.

The whole thing came to me as a surprise as  caught in the crossfire was Jalil Hamid, the rather recently installed NSTP group managing editor. Jalil was formerly from the PMO.


Personally, I don't think the man had intentionally tried to sabotage BN by letting through the story as alleged by some of the more hard hitting bloggers. I also disagree to calls for him to be sacked because of the story. I think that's a bit too extreme. Come on guys, the man I believe is fighting on our side and his appointment probably got the endorsement of the PM himself. He can't possibly be some sorts of an agent working for the other side. I find it to be far fetched lah. Anyway, I don't think we should be too harsh on our own "soldiers" as it will affect morale.

I don't know much about Jalil but had met him a couple of times. I found him to be a pleasant chap. He was formerly with Bernama, then Reuters, then Securities Commission, then PMO, then NSTP. From the few conversations that I had with him, I think he is committed to his job and trying his best under the circumstances which I am sure is not easy.

Whatever it is, I believe this episode confirmed my assertion that pro-BN bloggers are more independent minded than those on the Pakatan side. They are not afraid to openly criticise even the most powerful if they feel there is a need to do so. Not even someone who is probably close to the PM is an exception. I can't remember any Pakatan bloggers criticising people close to their leadership. Not even when such person over bodek their leaders to the point of damaging their own cause.

Had any blogger from the Pakatan side tried to correct Guan Eng's publicity handlers over the "51 pictures in a 28-page publication" hilarious comedy? I don't think so. Guess North Korean style propaganda is ok to them.

12 comments:

  1. I totally agree with you. I think some of the bloggers can only see one side of journalism, their side and the way they interpret it to be. As a layman, I dont see much wrong with the report and how its reported.

    The only default I see is the perception that the man was terminated prematurely. Can someone enlighten me or us out here if he was really terminated. Could he be retired early in the name of public interest (two different things of course). What we dont want to see is the public perception that he is being terminated for something he has done wrong, yet he may still be getting a hefty pension and benefits, despite the word `terminated'.

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  2. Pro-BN bloggers and Pro-Pakatan bloggers dua kali lima lah ! Knee jerk emo betul. lol

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  3. For once I disagree with you BigCat.

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  4. Mark my words. The next move Abu Bakar will shake the hands of arse-digger and join Pakatan. Same modus operandi.

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  5. This is another classic knee-jerk reaction of a party that is totally gripped by the fear of losing power.

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  6. bigcat,

    if jalil is to be removed, it's because he cannot do the job. it is too big for him. he has ZERO experience in running a newspaper. i hate to be petty and nitpicking but we all remember why he left bernama -- domestic inquiry over a shahrir samad story. jalil was found "guilty", i beleive, and so he had to leave bernama. then he joined reuters (answering to foreign masters) and then blahblahblah...
    and do we not remember his bungle while doing PR for the PMO? the email that leaked out?

    who the F put him at NST? that person must be slapped in the face!

    Georged.

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    1. Ok, I'm fine with removing those who are not up to the job, but going by the standard of this issue, I think lots of people are going to lose their job lah.

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  7. Check out Azmin's latest tweet about the saga : "Pertahan profesionalisma anggota perkhidmatan awam. Keadilan untuk Tan Sri Abu Bakar Abdullah." :B

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  9. Sack Sidek Hasan.....

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  10. Priceless pix ... less than 24 hours after he divorced his wife via sms while son was in hospital to be with his secret lover of three years. Talk about being a newsman, his sms came in same as adzan maghrib. Champion and top boss right hand man has "outstanding" morals

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  11. WHO THE F PUT HIM IN NST? SOMEONE WHO WOULDN'T PUT RIGHT A WRONG

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