Third Eye - Beginings

Beginning the Third Eye. I was asked by Tony Francis to develop a segment of the paper which usually appears on page 2. It was meant to gossipy, observations (wry or pointed) that journalists spied/ over heard while on the job. Apart from, literally, a handful of contributions from the newsroom, I was forced to cull weird news from the Net. This focus on foreign news gave way to a concentration on local news when Francis Nantha suggested I look at Bernama wires and Ravi Veloo pointed out that local news would be easier. Ravi also describes attempts in a Singaporean newspaper to do pretty much the same but it came to naught (even when they paid for contributions). Third Eye only went on line recently so most of what I post is from the Bernama phase. Will probably load this all onto a separate blog soon. But below was the first Third Eye pieces to go on line (Monday, May 11, 2009). For the record a few Third Eye were written by others (on my days off etc) - I will not claim credit for these. Despite not having a by-line I would like to claim authorship for this work.

SK

MAS TAK SELAMAT

THE TINY man with a limp had single-handedly outwitted the high-security city-State and escaped, swimming across the Straits of Johor. Mas Selamat Kastari, Singapore’s most wanted fugitive, with posters dedicated to his capture plastered at all entry and exit points, has finally been caught.

It is learnt that his capture was kept a secret in order to help the Malaysian authorities catch others in his network. The arrest was kept secret at first but slipped out and leaked to the Press. The PMs of both nations are fighting terrorism. Singapore’s PM noted he especially appreciated the “close cooperation and trust between the Internal Security Department and its Malaysian counterpart, the Special Branch.”

The pillars of our nations.

DLL BLUES

DAYAKS might be the majority in Sarawak but are forced to tick the “others” box. Some are also calling for the term “Dayak” itself to be changed.

Media reports quote a Deputy Minister as saying: "If we look at official forms or documents, in the column for race, they only state either Malay, Chinese, Indian or others. This is despite the fact that the so-called Dayaks are the majority in the State.”

In contrast to the idea that politicians would do well leading sports organisation, he suggested cultural organisations would do well to stay apolitical: “Leave politics to politicians. Your association will suffer if the leaders started to behave like politicians.”

True YB.

FIRST BLOOD

THEY started it. According to media reports, the Perak Menteri Besar has expressed unhappiness with what he claims to be the “unfair reporting by some local media with regard to the ruckus at the Perak State Assembly sitting on Thursday”.

He went on to say: “Reports and pictures published in the media did not portray who actually started the fiasco. I urge the media to be objective and fair in their reporting.”

Perak’s Assembly has been the scene of musical chairs of a political kind with seating arrangements changed and even the Speaker’s chair was damaged. Despite his unhappiness, the Menteri Besar promised he would not bar unsympathetic media unlike a Pakatan Rakyat controlled State.

Of course YB.