LOOSE lips sink ships – that was the mantra by which Americans during WWll were urged not to discuss openly military matters while war was raging. Any loose talk would have taken away the element of secrecy and surprise the Americans would have had in waging war against the Nazis. Literally, ships out in the Atlantic run the risk of being sunk by German U-boats whose intelligence would have been a given a helping hand.
No military expeditionary force was sent off with greater jingoism and an overflowing tide of gung-ho tribalism than the British effort in reclaiming the Falkland Islands from the Argentineans more than 30 years ago. The spirit of War Minister Lord Kitchener – complete with peaked cap, handlebar moustache and in-your-face index finger) was invoked to raise morale.
The events in Lahad Datu may not rival that major conflagration but news reporting of events and public reaction to such coverage now unfolding before our very eyes in the eastern coast of Sabah requires equally deft handling. Has it?
Let’s see how the events unfolded and our reaction to it.
Initially, the government decided to tread carefully as the now infamous group of armed Suluks encamped themselves in Kg Tandao on Feb 11. Firstly, what do we call them?
I would easily plump for the term invaders, armed ones. What does one do with invaders? Shoo them away. Shoot them if you have to. Take a leaf from the playbook of the Iron Lady when she gave General Galteiri more than just a bloody nose and won back the Falklands form the Argentinian invaders.
We do things differently here and the Suluk invaders were initially given food as a gesture of goodwill in the hope of getting them to eventually leave on their own accord. After all, they had indicated they’d leave once their supreme leader arrived. To do what? Presumably to stay on and to rule.
What resulted has become a protracted standoff, a bloody one at that. With no signs of resolution any moment now, what do we make of the way officialdom handled the PR battle?
I must say the years of peace and prosperity that we have been enjoying must have contributed to our initial reticence; rightly or wrongly; to come down hard on the terrorist group right at the very beginning. Their real intention came to the fore the moment they started to kill; as well as torture, maim and mangle.
Some two weeks after the invasion, our air assets – American Hornets and Italian Aermacchis flew their first ever real combat mission, for the first time our airmen dropping bombs in anger. Once aerial suppression ceased, mopping up operations was conducted
Out in the field of battle there was aerial bombardment support, sniper rounds, mortar pounding as well as the occasional firefight.
With no real programme for the media to be embedded or invited to report from the frontline, many journalists simply went to the most convenient big town which was Lahad Datu and nearest hotel available, the Felda Residence in Felda Sahabat.
Yes, we understand the need not to alarm and create panic among the civilian populace. We know too well irresponsible reporting and incendiary remarks can create tension and cause unnecessary escalation with dire consequences away from the battlefield, but hey, we live in a world of instant information. Any form of control will only unleash the unfettered powers of the informal sources of news. Rumours will fester and spread like wildfire. No amount of control will keep the lid on a sensational uncorroborated story.
With the area of conflagration being quite contained, some more adventurous sections of the foreign media were quick in attempt to go into the front line. Unlike the invaders who look no more different than the average local, the well-fed foreign media army were easily stopped in their tracks and turned away.
The local media off course remained meekly obsequious. Understandably so. We certainly do not want to become a hindrance to the security forces. Hearing of the level of craven criminality on the part of the invaders, we’d rather stay several ranks behind our forces on the field.
As a result, it is on the front pages of the mainstream media and the online space that we are still in a state of groping about in the dark.
How does one describe the identity of the invaders? How does one report their demands, dissect the complicated interconnected chain of events leading to the situation, view the role of individuals and political parties dragged into the mix?
Officialdom likes to be able to control the news flow and shape thinking and perception, sometimes they can appear to be merely bumbling in the dark. They therefore direct the media what angle to focus in the hope of painting an approved picture. In the process this they hoped would deflect criticisms of any failure in diplomacy or prevent the opposition (mindful if the looming elections) from taking potshots at the incumbent party’s defenses and failure of past policies.
All the while, the internet space is abuzz with news from the `enemy’ resulting in these becoming a popular point of congregation. And the further they are from the clutches of Kuala Lumpur, the more brazen they postulations. Who’s to control what the Pinoy Paper or the Mindanao Mangler from splashing on their front, middle and back pages `atrocities’ and unfair treatment meted out by us, the defenders; on people, who after all are their brethren?
The control puts the media in a dilemma. References to the degree of brutality of the Sulu invaders have been couched vaguely; never to the extent of announcing the graphic gory details. In fact, their thirst for blood (the invaders) which had only been anecdotally told in the past continued to be suppressed by the media so as not to make anyone’s blood boil. However, it was a minister who first appeared on television on Saturday to actually make references to the extent of the cruelty rather graphically.
Then on Sunday, another senior minister opened his mouth and went on to inform his audience in Perak which part of the Malaysian anatomy had been violated.
Interestingly, almost a million miles away, the people of the Falkland Islands voted in a two-day referendum on Sunday to decide if they wanted to become Argentinean or remain British. A bit of a futile exercise I guess as the majority of the islands 2,900 population (1,672 of whom are eligible to vote) have been vocal in preferring to have the picture of Wills and Kate in their living room rather than Maradona (the footballer, not the singer nor the Saint) above the living room mantlepiece.
The British media was embedded in the task force long before the term became widely used by the Americans in their desert adventure in the Middle East. The British victory was as much theirs in the manner they were able to report events without the silly nitpicking and indecision that sadly, simply shows our battle for the hearts and minds still has some way to go.
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RAZAK Chik does not think he has the stomach to be a war correspondent. He simply cannot live in the same underwear for any prolonged nor continuous stretch at a time.
