Jimmy Leow

That’s where I will stand. There were times when we produced a short video report, we were caught in a situation whether to upload it to the world to see. Questions like, “Have we covered all the angles?” or “Are we being balanced in our report?” kept on creeping into our minds when the issue reported involves the well being of the victims.

I was nearly fooled by certain people the other day, believing what they said was the truth and nothing but the truth and I nearly jumped into a pit full of pit bulls, just waiting to chew me up into pieces.

So, it does not mean that if they dare to say it in camera, it is the truth. I mean several presidents too had lied in front of the cameras in recent years.

We tend to be “biased” straight away when it comes to the “victim” of society. We tend to tune our “pitifulness” towards them and at the slightest murmur of agony, we rushed in to assist without much hesitation. We turn up the volume and we asked for justice. I called it, blind justice…I was blind for a while by such acts of emotional manipulation. 

It took me years to understand the kindness of human beings, but it took me just one day to understand how manipulative they can be, especially the “victims”.

Bumiputera or Bumiputra is a Malay term widely used in Malaysia, embracing ethnic Malays, Javanese, Bugis, Minang and occasionally other indigenous ethnic groups such as the Orang Asli in Peninsular Malaysia and the tribal peoples in Sabah and Sarawak.

This term comes from the Sanskrit word Bhumiputra, which can be translated literally as “son of earth” (bhumi= earth, putra=prince) or prince of the soil. Economic policies designed to favour Bumiputras (includingaffirmative action in public education) were implemented in the 1970s purportedly to defuse inter-ethnic tensions following the May 13 Incident in 1969.

These policies have succeeded in creating a significant urban Malay middle class but have been less effective in eradicating poverty among rural communities and have caused a backlash of resentment from excluded groups (such as the Chinese and Indian Malaysians).