Faced with falling circulations because of a growing public perception that Malaysian newspapers had become propaganda tools of the ruling Barisan Nasional, the editors-in-chief of five local dailies issued a joint statement. This was given front page space in each newspaper. Here is the statement:

"We, the editors-in-chiefs of New Straits Times, The Star, The Sun, Berita Harian and Utusan Malaysia hereby issue this joint statement to counter malicious, baseless, and totally mischievous accusations that our papers are not free, that we have failed to safeguard Malaysian democracy and, further, that the news we print are unbalanced, consisting mainly of lies, distortions, fabrications and half-truths. We view these accusations with great seriousness and feel obliged to explain the real situation to whatever remaining readers we still have.

"First of all, as has already been pointed out by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Mahathir Mohammed, freedom of the press means the freedom NOT to print articles either damaging to the government or articles showing the Opposition in a good light. Thus, we have been exercising this freedom most diligently and consider our papers to be among the freest in the world, certainly much freer than the Western media who have no choice but to print everything.

"We are also aware of our responsibility as guardians of the country's democracy. Democracy means the right to choose and, like charity, should begin at home. Hence, by choosing to print only good things about the government and slanderous things about the Opposition, we offer daily proof of our commitment to democracy.

"We also reject wild imputations that we offer highly unbalanced viewpoints of the political situation in the country. This cannot be true in view of the large amount of space that we devote to covering the speeches and antics of Barisan Nasional politicians. Everyone knows that BN's logo is a balance (dacing), hence, there is no way that anyone can say that we lack balance in our reporting.

"Some disreputable persons also charge that we distort the news to the advantage of the ruling coalition. We must remind them that our newsprint is made from the wood of rubber trees. As everyone knows, rubber is a flexible material, hence, some distortion of the news when printed is inevitable. Although we could have used imported woodchips, we prefer to stick to a local product so as boost the national economy and save on foreign exchange.

"The fact that we print a lot of lies is only because our reporters have to work lying down. This is because the Printing Press Act requires all practising journalists to have their backbones surgically removed. Hence, our spineless reporters can often be seen crawling at the feet of government politicians. It is for this reason that foreigners, ignorant of an element of our local culture, deride us as a 'supine' press. We hereby call them a shamefully 'erect' press.

"We are puzzled as to why some people say that we operate in a climate of fear. These same persons also charge us with running a gutter press because we denigrate Opposition figures right, left and centre. But to be a gutter press means to have a lot of guts. To have a lot of guts means that we are fearless. So, how can we be said to operate in a climate of fear? It is just like these morons to contradict themselves.

"Finally, we repudiate any criticism that we do not print enough Barisan Alternatif stories when, in fact, we print more than they deserve. For those who are not too bright, the name "Barisan Alternatif" means "alternate rows." Hence, we print their stories in-between the lines of our normal stories so as to achieve an alternating effect. Of course, we are obliged to use white ink for contrast, but nobody asked them to call themselves Barisan Alternatif in the first place.

"We therefore whole-heartedly reject all malicious accusations of wrong-doing and reiterate that our papers are doing a fine job, so those critical of us should go fly kites. We promise to do an even finer job should BN be returned with a two-third majority in the next elections."

Signed

Editor-in-chief, New Straits Times: Kadir Jasin "The Lizard"
Editor-in-chief, The Star: V.K. Chin "Blow With the Wind"
Editor-in-chief, The Sun, Michael Wang "Need A Spank"
Editor-in-chief, Berita Harian: Ibrahim Ali "The Frog"
Editor-in-chief, Utusan Malaysia: Reza Zainal "BN Pimp"

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