RECENTLY, several news outlets picked up a story about how a Barisan Nasional “emissary” fabricated numbers to fool the Gabungan Parti Sarawak into supporting Perikatan Nasional for the the appointment of the prime minister.

The allegations in the article are damning, to say the least. They involve the fate of the nation which supposedly rests in the hands of a handful, chiefly the BN envoy

Why couldn’t the media name the emissary and get their side of the story? By not giving the person the chance to respond, the media becomes party to the scheming by political operators to cast doubt on the BN-PN alliance.

It’s not as though the emissary had committed a crime. What the person allegedly did was perfectly legal although ethically questionable.

By choosing to shirk its responsibility to fair reportage, the media has dirtied its hands and tarnished not just the image of political players, but also that of an independent press. As the Fourth Estate, the media should stay above the fray and retain a semblance of independence.

Sadly, many media outlets have forgotten that and are party to the wheeling and dealing in national politics.

In any case, it’s presumptuous of the media to think Gabungan Parti Sarawak could have been so easily hoodwinked. The coaliton is is made up of seasoned politicians. Surely they would have the means to fact-check and verify any of the person’s claims.

In case the media has forgotten, it was Pakatan Harapan that tried to fool around with the numbers. PN already had 115 MPs on its side, complete with statutory declarations (SDs) as requested by the Dewan Rakyat speaker.

PH did not have the numbers (till now we do not know who are the MPs supporting the coalition). In fact, Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had lied to the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong when he said that BN’s 30 MPs were fully supportive of Anwar Ibrahim to be PM after the coalition’s Supreme Council had said that the party would not support either coalition.

It’s obvious the numbers game was more complex than the media had made it out to be. But by running that piece, many media outlets have taken sides and misled its readers.

With Anwar now PM, we hope things will change and the media will stay above the fray. – November 30, 2022.

* Mohd Bakri Sallehuddin reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.