Spinning Report on Fuel Price Hike Rally

Yesterday, 6th July 2008, PROTES organised a fuel price hike protest at Stadium MPPJ Kelana Jaya, attended by approximately 10,000 participants. The rally lasted the whole day. There is an overall feel of a carnival.

Bernama reported Thousands Attend Rally Protesting Fuel Price Hike
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Excerpt:
Supporters of opposition parties and extremist organisations Sunday defied orders by the authorities and joined a rally organised by the Coalition Against the Fuel Price Hike (Protes) at the Kelana Jaya Stadium here.

Comment:
"Extremist organisations"? Yawn ..... By the way, Barisan Nasional, the opposition party in Selangor was not the organiser of the event in Stadium MPPJ (a Selangor area).

Excerpt:
The presence of the police and other authorities around the stadium helped to ensure that the rally participants, some of whom were seen to be aggressive, did not resort to any mischief.

Comment:
The funny thing about this Bernama report is the failure to mention this about Rockers rile crowd at rally (Malaysian Insider). From Malaysian Insider :"It was not immediately clear why the audience was unhappy with the band. However, the story emerged that the band had been performing a number titled "Liwat" which contained rather unsavoury lyrics. The last straw was when the lead singer, turned around and pulled down his pants to expose his underwear."

Is this the cause of aggressiveness? Shouldn't this be highlighted in the same report?

Excerpt:
However, the one-day gathering themed "Protest by A Million People", caused some problems to the neighbourhood residents who had to stay indoors for fear of their safety due to the sudden appearance of thousands of people in the area.

Comment:
This is actually funny. The neighbourhood residents stay near Stadium MPPJ. So, what is a Stadium for? For sporting events, maybe concerts other than this first-time protest. How many people can a Stadium house? Thousands.... So, everytime there is a sporting event or concert, potentially thousands would come. The residents would have get used to it already. These statements are really mind-boggling. Goodness gracious.

Excerpt:
He also said that the police had received not less than 10 telephone calls from residents in the vicinity of the stadium complaining about the rally.

Comment:
I presume that would be slightly more than 10 (maybe 11 , 12) but definitely lesser than 20. It is also possible that only 10 calls were received.

Excerpt:
The rally was organised by the opposition parties to garner the sympathy of the people to protest against the government's decision to raise fuel prices last month.

Comment:
This statement is confusing. The venue was MPPJ, a Selangor area. From what I gather, Barisan Nasional, the opposition party in Selangor did not organise the rally. Pakatan Rakyat is the Selangor State Government. The Barisan Nasional Federal Government was the one who decided to raise the fuel prices last month.

Bernama sshould use the words "Barisan Nasional" and "Pakatan Rakyat" instead of "Government" and "Opposition". It is rather questionable when the latter terms are used.

"Garner the sympathy"? Hahaha.. that is a good one. The last thing I heard, there were many who were not "sympathised" but actually angry at an unconscionable fuel price hike.

There is also a lack of writings on the speeches of various MPs and people who were present in the rally.
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As a conclusion, I would like to state that I do not need any news that side with either Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Rakyat.

I need an equal measure of fair reporting. That's all.

It is not hard to guess which side the Bernama report leans towards.