COMMENT Just the other day my Pinoy friend, Chito Del Fierro Delavega, Facebooked me from Manila about a shocker of a scandal surrounding the crown prince of Selangor.
"Is this true Uncle Bob?" he asked me about a sensational story alleging the prince had converted to Catholicism.
This is a story the mainstream media will never ever touch in Malaysia. Although there is no lèse majesté law in the country, unlike in Thailand, anything on the monarchy is strictly off limits in Malaysia.
Rookie journalists learn this from Day 1. But not so with the social or new media. Nothing is off limits, although they tread gingerly on such egg shells.
Out of the 25 remaining monarchies in the world, Malaysia has 10 of them (if we include the Yang di-Pertuan Agong).
Although Malaysia is a Westminster-style parliamentary democracy it is also a constitutional monarchy like Britain, its former colonial masters.
Right from the start, there invariably have been conflicts in such a clumsy arrangement, especially when wayward sultan and their princelings have frequent run-ins with the executive.
So much so that former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad (left) forced his hand on the legislative to rein in the Malay rulers by clipping their wings through a controversial constitutional amendment to put the royalty in its place.
But, the conflict has not stopped
However, this has not stopped the conflict between the Malay rulers and the executive. Neither have the sultan forgiven Mahathir. They have elephant memory.
But the mainstream media invariably remains silent on such conflicts or sides with the executive.
So, when the social media picked up the scandal about the Selangor Crown Prince, which was posted bywww.worldnewsdailyreport.com recently, it went viral immediately. And the mainstream media kept mum.
Its headline says it all: ‘Malaysia: Crown Prince Converts to Catholicism, Shocks Muslim World.’ The lead goes on to disclose that the only son and heir of Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, Tengku Amir Shah, has sent a shockwaves throughout the Muslim community worldwide in what is deemed to be the real life Romeo and Juliet story of our time.
The disclosure is that the crown prince (left) has relinquished all his possessions and a chance to succeed to the prestigious throne of Selangor to follow his heart and marry Spanish top model and superstar Cristina Gomez, a 16-year-old who was propelled to stardom this year when she was noticed on national television in the crowd of a highly anticipated football match.
The report goes on to allege the Malaysian prince known for his outlandish sex orgies and drug addiction problems, having been through rehab no less than three times in the past 18 months, has promised to change his ways and claims to be a new man.
The World News Daily Report describes itself as an American Jewish Zionist newspaper based in Tel Aviv and dedicated on covering biblical archaeology news and other mysteries around the Globe.
"Our News Team is composed of award winning Christian, Muslim and Jewish journalists, retired Mossad agents and veterans of the Israeli Armed Forces," it says in its About Us.
"We are based in Tel Aviv since 1988, where are publish more than 200,000 copies of our Daily Report paper edition every day."
I Facebooked back to Chito and asked him to look at the disclaimer: "World News Daily Report is a news and political satire web publication, which may or may not use real names, often in semi-real or mostly fictitious ways. All news articles contained within worldnewsdailyreport.com are fiction, and presumably fake news. Any resemblance to the truth is purely coincidental, except for all references to politicians and/or celebrities, in which case they are based on real people, but still based almost entirely in fiction."
"I missed that Uncle Bob, " he responded sheepishly.
Not good enough
But that is not good enough for the police. Our inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar said police are looking at the matter seriously and will work closely with the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission to identify those who disseminate the false news on websites.
"Such rumours spread by irresponsible parties can create unrest among the public and I have received a call from the Selangor palace strongly denying the rumour," Khalid said, adding that a police report on the matter had been lodged.
On another note, the Selangor Sultan (right) is now confronted with a political storm brewing in his state as the state assembly is now faced with a real possibility of a hung legislature. The sultan has a tremendous say in who runs the state, should there be a hung legislature.
Therein lies another conflict between the state executive and the palace.
The difference this time is that the ruling coalition or Umno is not the Selangor executive. So the mainstream media snuggles comfortably with the palace and Umno, and the belligerent Mentri Besar Khalid Ibrahim, of course.
But the independent new media is not waiting for any cues. They are already giving running reportage while netizens are giving their two sen worth.
Whether we like it or not, the social media and the new media is the media of choice for all sides of the conflict in progress.
BOB TEOH retired recently as a newspaper editor. He was National Union of Journalists secretary-general from 1984 to 86.
"Is this true Uncle Bob?" he asked me about a sensational story alleging the prince had converted to Catholicism.
This is a story the mainstream media will never ever touch in Malaysia. Although there is no lèse majesté law in the country, unlike in Thailand, anything on the monarchy is strictly off limits in Malaysia.
Rookie journalists learn this from Day 1. But not so with the social or new media. Nothing is off limits, although they tread gingerly on such egg shells.
Out of the 25 remaining monarchies in the world, Malaysia has 10 of them (if we include the Yang di-Pertuan Agong).
Although Malaysia is a Westminster-style parliamentary democracy it is also a constitutional monarchy like Britain, its former colonial masters.Right from the start, there invariably have been conflicts in such a clumsy arrangement, especially when wayward sultan and their princelings have frequent run-ins with the executive.
So much so that former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad (left) forced his hand on the legislative to rein in the Malay rulers by clipping their wings through a controversial constitutional amendment to put the royalty in its place.
But, the conflict has not stopped
However, this has not stopped the conflict between the Malay rulers and the executive. Neither have the sultan forgiven Mahathir. They have elephant memory.
But the mainstream media invariably remains silent on such conflicts or sides with the executive.
So, when the social media picked up the scandal about the Selangor Crown Prince, which was posted bywww.worldnewsdailyreport.com recently, it went viral immediately. And the mainstream media kept mum.
Its headline says it all: ‘Malaysia: Crown Prince Converts to Catholicism, Shocks Muslim World.’ The lead goes on to disclose that the only son and heir of Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, Tengku Amir Shah, has sent a shockwaves throughout the Muslim community worldwide in what is deemed to be the real life Romeo and Juliet story of our time.
The disclosure is that the crown prince (left) has relinquished all his possessions and a chance to succeed to the prestigious throne of Selangor to follow his heart and marry Spanish top model and superstar Cristina Gomez, a 16-year-old who was propelled to stardom this year when she was noticed on national television in the crowd of a highly anticipated football match.The report goes on to allege the Malaysian prince known for his outlandish sex orgies and drug addiction problems, having been through rehab no less than three times in the past 18 months, has promised to change his ways and claims to be a new man.
The World News Daily Report describes itself as an American Jewish Zionist newspaper based in Tel Aviv and dedicated on covering biblical archaeology news and other mysteries around the Globe.
"Our News Team is composed of award winning Christian, Muslim and Jewish journalists, retired Mossad agents and veterans of the Israeli Armed Forces," it says in its About Us.
"We are based in Tel Aviv since 1988, where are publish more than 200,000 copies of our Daily Report paper edition every day."
I Facebooked back to Chito and asked him to look at the disclaimer: "World News Daily Report is a news and political satire web publication, which may or may not use real names, often in semi-real or mostly fictitious ways. All news articles contained within worldnewsdailyreport.com are fiction, and presumably fake news. Any resemblance to the truth is purely coincidental, except for all references to politicians and/or celebrities, in which case they are based on real people, but still based almost entirely in fiction."
"I missed that Uncle Bob, " he responded sheepishly.
Not good enough
But that is not good enough for the police. Our inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar said police are looking at the matter seriously and will work closely with the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission to identify those who disseminate the false news on websites.
"Such rumours spread by irresponsible parties can create unrest among the public and I have received a call from the Selangor palace strongly denying the rumour," Khalid said, adding that a police report on the matter had been lodged.
On another note, the Selangor Sultan (right) is now confronted with a political storm brewing in his state as the state assembly is now faced with a real possibility of a hung legislature. The sultan has a tremendous say in who runs the state, should there be a hung legislature.Therein lies another conflict between the state executive and the palace.
The difference this time is that the ruling coalition or Umno is not the Selangor executive. So the mainstream media snuggles comfortably with the palace and Umno, and the belligerent Mentri Besar Khalid Ibrahim, of course.
But the independent new media is not waiting for any cues. They are already giving running reportage while netizens are giving their two sen worth.
Whether we like it or not, the social media and the new media is the media of choice for all sides of the conflict in progress.
BOB TEOH retired recently as a newspaper editor. He was National Union of Journalists secretary-general from 1984 to 86.
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