Malaysians are anxiously waiting to see who will be nominated by the various political parties to carry our voices and hopes to Parliament and the State Assemblies.
Most of the time, the media would quote political leaders, NGO spokespersons, and potential candidates. While that is important, we also need to listen to what the people feel about elections, nominations and campaign content.
There is a 24 hour mamak restaurant near my apartment in Sri Hartamas. This is where I would normally have breakfast, lunch and dinner when I am not working.
And it is a great place to gather information. People from all walks of life would just stop by and tell me what they feel about the elections and nation building.
But most of the time, the questions or comments are not so much about the General Election or about nation building but on the media that disseminate the information.
Here are just some of their views and comments:
From an Investment Consultant while I was having tea with fellow reporter Ashwad Ismail – “I hope you have good programmes on AWANI for the General Election. We normally would check the information from TV, newspapers and the online websites. We check and double check. Malaysians today are so well informed and they know what is news and what is spin”.
From a journalist – “Whenlah is voting day? I bought a ticket to Europe already… aiyo”.
From a young entrepreneur who requested to have tea with me – “Sometimes, you people in the media, I am not saying you lah or AWANI, underestimate the intelligence of your viewers and readers. Don’t talk down to us. Give us the facts and we decide”.
From a total stranger who decided to move from his table to join me while I was enjoying Kashmiri Nan and Tandoori Chicken – “Can we have debates at all levels so that people will know what the candidates stand for, what type of developments they want to bring? Most of the time during the campaigns, A says B is bad, B says A is bad. That is just bad”.
From a university student while I was having roti canai, alone – ‘I really respect you guys. I know your hands are tied but you still try to provide relatively balance coverage”.
And I almost choked on my saliva…
