Even before the dust has set on the fixing of the polling date,
the Barisan Nasional (BN) had already begun the hijacking of the
elections. With the apparent connivance of the Election Commission (EC)– the pit bull ensuring BN’s electoral victory for the past 12 general
elections – they have imposed a 10-minute slot for Pakatan Rakyat (PR)
parties to explain their polls manifesto over the official media.
![GUESS WHO'S THE THIEF? Stealing the elections - Act One]()
According to Rais Yatim,
the Information, Communications and Culture caretaker minister, the
short time offered to PR will be more than enough to showcase their
pledges.
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According to Rais Yatim,
the Information, Communications and Culture caretaker minister, the
short time offered to PR will be more than enough to showcase their
pledges.
Although an attempt has
been made by the EC at damage control over the government’s ludicrous
but at the same time deadly serious intent – it has explained that the
opposition had misunderstood the offer which was intended to be serial
and not one-time – the objective of the government is clear.
This is to use its
monopoly of the official (and much of the unofficial print) media to
ensure a BN election victory by seeing to it that the public –
especially rural and Malay voters – will hear only the good side and
promises of the BN and to downplay, ignore or demonize the PR side.
Quite rightly, the PR has snubbed the offer in response, calling it a “joke” and a mockery of press freedom.
Media manipulation
In fact, media
manipulation has been one of the cornerstones of the BN’s remarkable
record of cheating and trickery in the elections over the past 50
years. So it is not surprising that the BN and its partner in electoral
crime, the EC, will want the racket to continue.
And it will continue until the strongest possible stand is made against it.