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Join Date: 10 Oct 2002 Location: In front of my BenQ Joybook 7000 notebook!
Posts: 29,719
Reputation: 2878 Rep Power: 64 |  Face to Face with John Berthelsen
My parents like to say, " If one person says something, it could be biased. If two persons say the same thing, it could also be biased. But it is certainly not biased if everyone says the same thing".
I believe their adage applies to the worsening situation here in Malaysia, where the police can arrest opposition leaders within the confines of the Parliament and threaten to jail those who protest, indefinitely and without legal recourse under the draconian Internal Security Act.
Take a look at what another foreign Malaysian watcher has said about the current situation in an interview with Face to Face : Quote:
John Berthelsen is a hard-hitting journalist with more than 30 years of experience all over Asia. He has covered the Vietnam War for Newsweek, stirred controversy with his piece on financial dealings in Malaysia for the Asian Wall Street Journal and served as Managing Editor of the Standard, HK. Now he seeks to re-define serious journalism in Asia with Asia Sentinel, an online regional news journal. Will Asia be able to stand-up to the scrutiny of serious journalism? John Berthelsen shares his views on Malaysia and Asia with Face to Face in this interview.
1. Imran Imtiaz Shah Yacob: Its been more than a decade since you left Malaysia. What is the most striking difference of the Malaysia today to your mind?
John Berthelsen: Malaysia has continued to move forward very quickly, although many of the projects that Dr Mahathir got the country involved in have not worked out. Nonetheless, the country is far more prosperous, its infrastructure is better, its people are more urbanized and sophisticated. It is disheartening, however, that as the country has continued to rise economically, ethnic tensions, if anything, have got worse – not as bad as 1987, but certainly they are not good, and despite Abdullah Badawi’s periodic pronouncements, the leadership of UMNO particularly has failed in its responsibility to heal ethnic tensions.
2. Imran Imtiaz Shah Yacob: The Asian Wall Street Journal lost its permit because of your investigative reporting. On hindsight, would you have done anything different?
John Berthelsen: In a word, we would not have done anything different.
3. Imran Imtiaz Shah Yacob: The ensuing case was decided in your favour and you are allowed to re-enter Malaysia. Were you surprised at the verdict considering the bad press that the Malaysian Judiciary has?
John Berthelsen: The Malaysian judiciary did not have bad press in 1986, when the court decided in our favour. Subsequent events have injured the quality of the judiciary.
4. Imran Imtiaz Shah Yacob: How does Malaysia compare to other nations within Asia in terms of freedom of the press?
John Berthelsen: The big problem is not that you can’t say anything you want to say, but you mostly have no place to say it except on the Internet. The mainstream media is obviously owned by the major political parties. The coverage of the Altantuya Shaariibuu case, for instance, clearly demonstrates a lack of aggressive reporting that is essential in a democracy.
5. Imran Imtiaz Shah Yacob: As a Malaysian observer, how would you rate and compare the administration of former Prime Minster Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad to that of Abdullah Badawi?
John Berthelsen: You can’t say Dr Mahathir lacked vision. I personally believe he was a flawed prime minister. He took too many people on faith, and they ended up not serving him well. Too often, the people that he entrusted with major parts of the economy ended up ruining whatever it was they tried to run. But he clearly saw where he wanted to take the country, and he is personally responsible for a great deal of where Malaysia is today -- both for good and ill. I think we all had high hopes for Abdullah Badawi. But he has too often caved in to economic and political interests to the detriment of the country. He has obviously not been a strong leader.
6. Imran Imtiaz Shah Yacob: What is your assessment of the Deputy Prime Minister, Najib Tun Razak and what are the expectations of him in the international scene?
John Berthelsen: I really don’t think I am in a position to answer. I have not been in Malaysia for several years and my only real contact has been through Asia Sentinel’s stories on the Altantuya case and the ancilliary events, including the purchase of the French submarines and the Russian jets. None of this inspires confidence.
7. Imran Imtiaz Shah Yacob: There has been a lot of flak in the international media on anything to do with Malaysia from race relations, mega-projects to the National Economic Policy (NEP). Does Malaysia really deserve this treatment by the international media?
John Berthelsen: I don’t think Malaysia has been treated badly by the international press. I think generally the international press has been quite fair. The image of the country internationally is pretty positive. Partly because its leaders tell everybody so, the country has an inferiority complex. I remember when I was reporting from there that Dr M used to constantly say the rest of the world thought Malaysians lived in trees. Some uninformed magazine had reported something about tree-dwellers in East Malaysia. Nobody thought Malaysians lived in trees.
8. Imran Imtiaz shah Yacob: Let's talk about race and religion in Malaysia and discuss that against a regional backdrop. What are your thoughts? Have we made any advances at all?
John Berthelsen: Malaysia suffers from racial tension more than any other country in Southeast Asia. I really think the country’s leaders have not demonstrated the necessary courage and vision to attempt to do something about it. The kris-waving business is nothing more than playing the race card for political gain.
9. Imran Imtiaz Shah Yacob: The rise of China and India as well as the phenomenal growth in Vietnam is having its effects on Malaysia’s economic competitiveness. There is a bad feeling that Malaysia will drop into the backwaters of the economic wave in ten years. Justified? Would you like to comment?
John Berthelsen: Malaysia doesn’t need to drop into the backwaters. Malaysia is resource rich and it is benefiting from the rise of China and India, and it will continue to do so. What is having a negative effect on Malaysia’s economic competitiveness is the NEP and Malaysia’s habit of propping up companies and people whose economic viability is in doubt. There is no better example than AsiaAir and Tony Fernandes, who seems to be making a go of it very well while MAS, the government-backed airline, stumbles from crisis to crisis. Proton is another. Propping up these industries is costing the country vast amounts of money and attention that could be put to far better use elsewhere. What’s happening to Malaysia is Malaysia’s own fault.
10. Imran Imtiaz Shah Yacob: Moving on, China seems to be flexing its muscles in particular head-on with the United States. What type of super-power will China eventually turn out to be?
John Berthelsen: China sees itself as peaceful and the United States as bellicose. I am personally more worried about the United States than China. The US spends more on military hardware than something like the next eight biggest spenders combined. China hasn’t invaded any middle-eastern countries lately. China is really feeling its way along right now. The rocket rattling over Taiwan has largely been put on the back burner. I’m not worried about China right now.
11. Imran Imtiaz Shah Yacob: You saw action in the Vietnam War. Now, a greater threat for the hearts and minds of the younger Vietnamese is being waged by western/foreign interests. A war over materialism waged for the hearts and minds of the people. Where do you see Vietnam heading towards?
John Berthelsen: I’m afraid I haven’t been paying a lot of attention to Vietnam. However, the country seems to be pulling itself together after four decades of disaster and more decades of war and colonial dominance before that. As with China (and Singapore), it needs to shake off its one-party dominance and let some real democracy in the door. A little materialism isn’t all bad.
12. Imran Imtiaz Shah Yacob: The United States is facing the prospects of a diminished power in world affaires. Experts say it is economically bankrupt and its declining US dollar is no more than fiat money. Do you agree? And if so, what are the repercussions for the rest of Asia?
John Berthelsen: Don’t count the United States out. The Bush administration has done its best to wreck the country for eight years, with misguided tax policies that have resulted in a US$10 trillion national debt. By not asking the country to sacrifice in the wake of the Sept. 11 2001 tragedy, when by and large it was ready to, the Bush administration lost the chance to take on a lot of unpalatable issues. It has cost the world eight years of leadership in the question of global warming. It will be lucky if it hasn’t started World War III with a religion – Islam. It is very possible that its foray into Iraq is the biggest military blunder since Napoleon invaded Russia. It has spread American forces across half the globe by splitting its military operations without cleaning up Afghanistan before it began as totally unnecessary invasion of Iraq. The latest announcement by the US intelligence services that Iran discontinued its nuclear bomb research four years ago – and told the president about it months ago – demonstrates the administration’s intellectual dishonesty. But democracy has a way of correcting itself. The country remains the most potent economic force on the planet despite its current trouble. That isn’t to say there won’t be painful readjustment. The country deserves it. As for the repercussions for Asia, the Seventh Fleet is still around. To a large extent, the United States remains the guarantor of order, a role that no other country seems to want to take on. I would hope that whatever administration follows this one would exercise its power and prestige more judiciously.
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12th Dec 2007, 11:51 PM
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