Appendix B
This blog post is taken directly from Johari Ghani’s blog (http://joharighani.blogspot.com/2010/10/youtube.html). Without his approval, obviously.
Taken on Oct 29, 2010.
Taken on Oct 29, 2010.
Youtube
Thursday, October 28, 2010
In these days and age of the internet, real time communication and interaction, I always make it a point to ensure that my children are up to date with the latest development in the IT world so as not to be left behind and be able to compete with people of their generation.
With technological advancement, comes the downside. There will be people who are unscrupulous and will not have any qualms in using the same technology to manipulate a perfectly innocent situation into that which will suit their own agenda; regardless of the effect it may have on the individual person whom they are targeting.
That happened to me recently. A video of an extract of the speech which I have given at a recent closed door discussion amongst the members of UMNO Bahagian Titiwangsa was posted up on Youtube. As a result, I received so many negative comments and unsolicited e-mails condemning me in respect of the speech I have given which clearly was taken out of context.
I publish below one of the unsolicited emails, which represents the general tone of the backlash which I have received as a result of the said video and my reply to the same. I hope that the readers of this blog will use their best judgment in seeing clearly how, in the wrong hands, technology can be used to manipulate the general public thinking.
With technological advancement, comes the downside. There will be people who are unscrupulous and will not have any qualms in using the same technology to manipulate a perfectly innocent situation into that which will suit their own agenda; regardless of the effect it may have on the individual person whom they are targeting.
That happened to me recently. A video of an extract of the speech which I have given at a recent closed door discussion amongst the members of UMNO Bahagian Titiwangsa was posted up on Youtube. As a result, I received so many negative comments and unsolicited e-mails condemning me in respect of the speech I have given which clearly was taken out of context.
I publish below one of the unsolicited emails, which represents the general tone of the backlash which I have received as a result of the said video and my reply to the same. I hope that the readers of this blog will use their best judgment in seeing clearly how, in the wrong hands, technology can be used to manipulate the general public thinking.
Email from Melinder;
Hello,
I was watching your speech on youtube regarding votes. You said that the malay votes are more important than the chinese and the indians. I will like to share my points about your racist point of view of the malays being the most important people in malaysia. Sadly barisan national have not kicked you are and your followers out. By allowing you to speak against the non malays, it shows that the government really is not focusing on 1malaysia but more on segregation. The disgusting approach your taking is bringing malaysia down, mahatir had his share of fault but he was a man of his words. He took the country from being crippled to a country that I am proud of. Your approach however is taking 20 steps back. Instead of showing a good example to malaysians, your promoting racism and thus allowing the non malays to be looked under. The lord name you take before you do sins does not actually wash away the sins, its more like you will get what you deserve when time is right. This is honestly not a threat from me for I believe in unity. I do hope that we will one day get rid of your racist mentality and change it to a mentality that have ONLY respecting the people of Malaysia as one. Do you think that malays/muslims are better than everyone else? Because of people like you, we have terrorist. Or more like you are the terrorist. One day, our country will cripple and on that day I want you to look at yourself and your despicable follows and think, did I do this? The answer is YES. YOUR TO BE BLAME.
Do reply me back with your beliefs of Malaysia because I will love to laugh about it with my NON MALAY FAMILY & FRIENDS
Thank You,
Melinder Kaur
My reply:
First of all I would like to thank you for taking the time to write to me and for expressing your views on the extracts of my speech on Youtube.
The video recording of the speech, or rather the extracts of it, was made during a closed door discussion among members of UMNO in July 2010 which discussion was part of a series of discussion following the 2008 General Election where, as we all know, Barisan National suffered the lost of an unprecedented number of seats and five states. Obviously shaken, UMNO began an almost immediate post-mortem and detailed analysis of the results and the trends of voting amongst the various races in this Country. The post mortem led to one major conclusion – the lost of the Malay support for the ruling Barisan Nasional. This is especially so in the Constituent of which I am now in charged, the Parlimen Titiwangsa, which was lost to the Opposition. Parlimen Titiwangsa has always been a Barisan Nasional stronghold; therefore, the loss was shocking to say the least.
Thus the closed door discussion was centred mainly on the Malay votes and the approach needed by UMNO to regain the Malay trust and support. Seeing the racial composition in Parlimen Titiwangsa which was a Malay Majority and based on a simple mathematical analogy, if UMNO can secure 70% of the Malay votes in Titiwangsa, Barisan Nasional can win Parlimen Titiwangsa.
If you notice, prior to the segment which was conveniently repeated again and again so as to make me out as a racist in the said video, I also said that as far as the Chinese and Indian voters in Parliament Titiwangsa are concerned, the Barisan Nasional Election Machinery is capable enough in engaging them in order to regain the lost votes. It was not that I could care less about the Chinese and Indian voters, it was that my main focus was the split in the Malay votes and how, based on simple analogy as said above, 70% of the Malay votes could secure the win. The speech was taken out of context and had you heard the entire speech during that closed door discussion, you would have arrived at a very much different conclusion and you will see that I am not a racist as I was made out to be.
I believe in 1Malaysia. As far as I am concerned, 1Malaysia is not just a concept or an ideal. It is something that I practise in my everyday life. You see, I am the Managing Director and a Major Shareholder of a Public Listed Company. The Chief Executive Officer of the Company is an Indian. The Director of Sales is a Chinese, so is the Head of Finance, the head of Production is Indian, and the various heads of department are a mix of Malaysian, born and bred in this country of ours. I recognise and reward talents and performance when I see it. I live in 1Malaysia.
Nevertheless, I would like to sincerely apologise to you for being offended by the extract of my speech and I wish to assure you that my interest is to serve the people in the Parlimen Titiwangsa specially and Malaysian generally. The Pusat Khidmat Barisan Nasional Titiwangsa in Desa Pandan in which I opened last 16 October 2010 and attended by representatives of MCA and MIC, welcomes all Malaysian, regardless of race, creed or political affiliation. Despite losing the Parlimen Titiwangsa to the Opposition, I felt that it was necessary to continually provide services to the people especially since the Opposition till today, has no such equivalent centre in the constituency.
Again, I apologise and hope that you will understand that it was never my intention to discriminate anybody based on race or beliefs.
Yours sincerely
Johari Abdul Ghani
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