Che Kem determined to diversify Sinar Daily and Sinar Harian's discourse over GE15
SYDI ALIF15 Nov 2022 10:43am
Kamarol Bahrin Haron - FILE PIX
In an interview, he reflected on GE14 which saw a new coalition lead the country followed by the infamous Sheraton Move among other things when revealing what hopeful Malaysians can expect to indulge in the discussion of Malaysia's dubbed "mother of all elections", GE15 on Sinar's platform.
He pointed out a dichotomy outlook among the public on what happened over the last polls.
"They'd say it's either BN or PH that's good, or that they cannot be good at the same time. So that zero-sum game is what I think I want to break, and I can help break that just black-or-white, A-or-B mentality by helping Sinar to have more diversified discussions," he expressed
In regards to his preparation to grace the discussion table with the utmost aim of asking the most serious questions ahead of the nation's political landscape turning point, he revealed that he had been perusing and researching as well as engaging in conversations.
"A lot of things I've gathered nearly 30 years of being a journalist, but I'd been on a sabbatical kind of thing for the last nearly two years, so to get back in the groove, I've been reading and I've been Googling and I've been meeting some people because even though it's the digital age, nothing beats people to people communication.
"I'll give you one example; my home state is the smallest, the biggest is Sarawak, and if you don't include Sarawak in the conversation, how could that be if democracy means no one is left behind? If we're leaving the biggest state behind in terms of mainstreaming the discussion involving them, that's why we'd always have this A-or-B like either you follow Malaysia's Agreement 1963 or not, and on the other side, they'd say that we have not been doing justice to them."
The veteran journalist who fondly addressed himself as "Che Kam" further broke down his view on the scenario, "I don't think it's healthy to have that kind of discourse only, I think it should be more diversified than that because certain things when it comes to badminton, football, for example, we don't care.
"We'd just go for that one player that's going to give us that first Olympic Gold for example. So why does it matter when it goes to other things?"
"So justice and inclusivity must be there automatically," he insisted.
"I mean why else would I want to become a journalist if not to be more inclusive? Unless you want to be a partisan which doesn't require you to join the mainstream media, you could just join a party's publication or media and just espouse only on one side of the view," he added.
