(This message is being cross posted to NativeNet and Seasia-l)
Recently a news article from a Sarawak newspaper (The Borneo Post) appeared
on NativeNet entitled Stop Throwing Rocks at Sarawak. The article focused on
the Northern Territory's Minister for Industries and Development Shane Stone
criticising the stance of various conservation groups on logging in East
Malaysia. Stone's comments were in favour of the logging policies and in
fact he indicated that he believed it was a potential investment opportunity
for NT business.
People who found that posting interesting may also be interested in an
article that I found in the latest edition of Media Asia, vol. 20, no.2,
1993. The title, `Media treatment of a land rights momvement in Sarawak,
East Malaysia' gives some indication of the content, but of most interest is
the author's argument that the Borneo Post has consistently taken an
anti-Penan stance. `In Sarawak, two patterns of media coverage were
observed. The Borneo Post, discredited the defiant natives and legitimized
the government position on the logging industry, while the Borneo Bulletin
gave favourable coverage to the natives' plight.'
It's little wonder then that Stone's comments were given such coverage, and
the Post's inclusion of his views only adds weight to Ngidang's argument.
The author of the piece is Dimbab Ngidang, a lecturer at Universiti
Pertanian Malaysia, who recently completed his PhD at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison.
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Stephen Frost | s_frost@sunarc.murdoch.edu.au
Asia Research Centre | phone: (09) 360 6232
Murdoch University | fax: (09) 310 4944
Murdoch WA 6150 |
Australia