In Malaysia, Loyalty May Not Count 
International Herald Tribune
January 20, 2000
Thomas Fuller

The New Straits Times, an English-language daily in Malaysia, has rarely missed an opportunity to lavish praise on the government of Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad.

Flattering articles on the prime minister appear in almost every edition and the paper always prints the full text of his speeches.

For one of Mr. Mahathir's birthdays, the New Straits Times printed a poem sent in by a reader: "Let all the Malaysians of our sovereign country/ pledge our allegiance/ and unflinching support for your leadership."

So it came as a shock to many Malaysian journalists Wednesday when they learned that the paper's top editor, Kadir Jasin, was fired for being too critical of the governing party, the United Malays National Organization, or UMNO.

Mr. Kadir was considered the most powerful — and doggedly loyal — editor in Malaysia. Under his leadership the paper was so overtly pro-government that opposition leaders twice called for a boycott of the New Straits Times. The latest was announced several weeks ago.

The newspaper had yet to make a formal announcement on the shake-up late Wednesday, but staff members confirmed the dismissal — and conveyed their confusion.

"We thought we had bent over backwards for UMNO to the point where people were embarrassed about the product we've been producing," said a long-serving journalist at the newspaper. "And now they say it's not enough."

The dismissal of Mr. Kadir comes just one week after four opposition figures and a printer were arrested and charged with sedition and other offenses.

Although those developments seem unrelated, journalists here say that both the arrests last week and Mr. Kadir's dismissal are a measure of the precarious political environment in Malaysia these days where 100 percent loyalty is not enough.

Mr. Mahathir's party is still smarting from losses to an Islamic party in November elections, although his coalition won an overwhelming majority in Parliament.

During the election campaign the New Straits Times ran scores of full-page advertisements for the governing party and practically ignored the opposition.

The paper published dozens of photos of opposition supporters gathered at an unauthorized rally to make it easier for the police to arrest them.

When Mr. Mahathir criticized foreign publications for being too critical of his policies, the New Straits Times called for the imprisonment of those "prejudiced" foreign journalists under the Internal Security Act.

"What else could he do?" said Rustam Sani, a former columnist who now works for an opposition political party, speaking of Mr. Kadir. "There's no way he could have been more pro-government. They blacked out news about the opposition and printed advertisements about them that even fair-minded people found offensive. I can't explain this."

According to the journalist at the paper, Mr. Kadir told senior editors Saturday that he was under pressure to leave because people "at the top" of government felt he had not been supportive enough of Mr. Mahathir's party.

The departure of Mr. Kadir is being interpreted by some journalists as reflecting rising tensions within Mr. Mahathir's party after the removal from office of Anwar Ibrahim, a former deputy prime minister who is on trial for sodomy.

Poor election results in November for Mr. Mahathir's party have not helped diminish the strains.

"The more complex politics become in this country, the more it affects the New Straits Times," the journalist at the paper said. "Every time there's a battle within UMNO, the battle will be carried out here."

It is not the first time that loyalty issues have brought down an editor at the New Straits Times. Munir Majid, who served as group editor during the 1980s, left the paper under similar circumstances.

"I am 100 percent loyal to UMNO," Mr. Munir is said to have told his staff upon leaving. "But they wanted me to be 120 percent."

Copyright © 2006 the International Herald Tribune