(Person) Percentage - Sabanci University Research Database

The Asian Media & Mass Communication Conference 2010 Osaka, Japan
The Western media is called upon to mitigate the circumstances. But almost without
exception the Western media
aggravate matters by exaggerating and telling deliberately slanted stories about
Muslim terrorists. Has the media forgotten that the terrorists in many of the colonies
of the West have since been described as statesmen and were in fact freedom fighters
struggling to liberate their countries? And after achieving independence they are
recognised as responsible leaders in the governments of their independent countries.
Who was Jomo Kenyata, President of Kenya, if not a terrorists? (Ibid.)
He reemphasises that ‘the irresponsible fighters against oppression’ of today are ‘the
imitators of Western methods of fighting for a cause.’ In the future, these fighters would be
statesmen. If at all they do become statesmen, who would have imagined so? Such a
condition have been induced by the marginalization and oppression of the Muslims. Short of
calling the West oppressive, Dr. Mahathir expresses that
(T)here is not a single Muslim power in this world. They are totally bereft of the
capacity to protect themselves. They are totally dependent on their detractors and
those who are covertly or overtly against them. Any kind of injustice can be
perpetrated against Muslims and the perpetrators will not only get away with it but
will be actually glorified (p. 70).
Constructing the image of self and other, the former the oppressed, the latter, the oppressor,
Dr. Mahathir tells the story of the Serbs and the Muslims Bosniacs as aired over television.
In one case a British officer was very upset and furious as he condemned the burning
of a house where women and young children were still inside. Thousands were
murdered by the Serbs in Srebrenica even as the European forces who were supposed
to be protecting them retreated and looked the other way (Ibid.).
Dr.Mahathir accuses the West of being unfair in not giving a fair reportage of the non-
Western world. The Muslims are not as asking for the media to be biased toward them, but
“(A)ll they are asking for is fair reporting.
At the very least after a biased or an unfavourable report agains thtem, they
should be given an opportunity to be heard, to give their side of the story.
Without doubt they will not be able to explain and justify all the things that
they have done in the name of Islam and justice or whatever but the world
could have an opportunity to make their own judgment (Ibid.)
Dr.Mahathir depicts the Western media as powerful and “even more powerful” when they act
together. And
power as we all know corrupts. The almost absolute power of the Western media
corrupts almost absolutely (p. 72).
Dr.Mahathir counters the Western media by asserting that it has its “own agenda now.
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