The media has its faults, but it behoves all members of the Cabinet to have good working relationships with us.

IT’S rare for a Federal Minister to face a table full of news editors to apologise for his remarks about the media, but that was what Fahmi Fadzil did last week.

The Communications and Digital Minister had found himself facing a salvo of criticism from the press for his comments against a report on the overnight policy rate (OPR) by Berita Harian (BH).

Fahmi was upset that the heading of the report made it look like it was an official decision by Bank Negara.

BH, on its part, defended itself by saying that the report was based on the views and predictions of analysts.

The publication relented after a meeting between Fahmi and its editors that a question mark to the heading would have been more appropriate.

Just a few months earlier, the unity government minister also lost his composure over survey findings by O2 research, which were published by five media outlets, namely Sinar Harian, The Star, Astro Awani, Sin Chew Daily and Malaysia Nanban.

He disputed the results of the survey that showed Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had not won enough Malay support after 100 days as the Prime Minister leading the unity government.

In both instances, the Lembah Pantai MP used very strong language to accuse the media of making defamatory remarks.

Of course, anyone with some knowledge of the law would know it’s not applicable at all. He also described the reports on the survey as “dishonest” and “an attempt to deceive the public”.

For this, Fahmi also expressed his regret. He is certainly a gentleman and the cool dude that he is most times.

He has reasons for losing his cool. He is, after all, a human being facing tremendous pressure as the unity government is sailing through uncharted waters.

But Fahmi needs to restrain himself better in dealing with the media.

This is the first time we have a unity government, which includes long-time political foes. Most of the PKR leaders, except for Anwar, have never been in government before. Used to heaping criticism, Pakatan Harapan politicians are now in government and suddenly find themselves on the receiving end.

In all fairness, the media is also not without flaws. The Fourth Estate must be prepared to face scrutiny and is no sacred cow.

If it flounders and has indeed damaged someone’s reputation, it should be held accountable and face legal action.

Ideally, though, we’d prefer to have a good working relationship with both sides of the divide.

It doesn’t hurt Cabinet members to meet journalists more regularly – not merely at press conferences – to share their predicaments and limitations. Their positions and background information would serve as a basis for commentary pieces.

The narratives are often more powerful than news reports quoting these ministers.

Anwar is surely a master at dealing with the media. For those of us who’ve interacted with him since the 1990s, he has remained reachable. No matter how busy he is as the PM, he attempts to reply to WhatsApp messages.

He is more reachable than some ministers who, until now, have shied away from the media.

Transport Minister Anthony Loke reached out to the media, which had acrimonious issues with previous DAP leaders, even before GE15, with a pledge of a different type of leadership.

Local Government Develop-ment Minister Nga Kor Ming has gone one step further. He has appointed a panel of experts to provide advice and proposals from major stakeholders, and it includes a representative from the media.

Umno ministers including Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin, Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir, Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan and Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz know the importance of having the media on their side or, at least, to make themselves available for information.

Understandably, many Pakatan ministers are new, especially those from outside Kuala Lumpur, and are not comfortable dealing with a large group of local and foreign media, which can be pushy sometimes.

Politicians and the media have a love-hate relationship, but I believe both sides just prefer a good working arrangement. Anything too close would also be uncomfortable.

The year is almost halfway through, yet some ministers remain elusive. Let’s hope we, at least, get to meet and have some acknowledgement from their media teams.

NO one is prepared to talk about what happened in Saudi Arabia where the Prime Minister had failed to meet King Salman Abdul Aziz Al Saud or Crown Prince Mohammed Salman Al Saud.

His political opponents have gone to town to demand an explanation from Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for what they described as a royal snub.

They described it as a diplomatic fiasco and a waste of public funds as Anwar and his delegation could only manage to perform their umrah.

Given the political and diplomatic sensitivities involved, what happened has remained a mystery and, unfortunately, led to speculations and raised more questions.

But high-level sources said the PM would not have been so brazen as to proceed with the trip, described as an official trip in a Wisma Putra release, without a confirmation.

They said the green light had been given in a short notice and indeed the programme, which included an audience with His Majesty, had been approved.

‘’We received a third-person note. Surely, we would not go ahead without that,’’ said a senior source.

The third-person note is a term used by diplomats to describe an official letter of communication between an embassy and the Foreign Ministry.

The contents can be on anything but mostly bilateral matters, including visits involving leaders and especially heads of state.

The national media had caught wind of the visit to Saudi Arabia since last week but there was no confirmation until the late press release by Wisma Putra.

Many had initially thought that PMX – as Anwar, being Malaysia’s 10th Prime Minister, is popularly called – would make China the first country he would visit after Asean, where it is customary for a new government leader to visit every member country.

The sources said because of the late confirmation of the Saudi programme, the PM had to decide on short notice.

‘’If he didn’t take the slot, the worry would be that the Saudis would be offended.

“A quick call had to be made and the PM decided to proceed with it,’’ a diplomat said.

But the trip has unfortunately ended without a meeting with the two leaders, which would have been the highlight of the visit.

While it’s an embarrassment for Anwar, it has not been completely a waste as he managed to meet several Saudi business groups including Ajlan & Bros Holding Group and Wadi Makkah Knowledge Co – with memoranda of understanding signed with Malaysian partners, as well as meeting leaders from the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) and Muslim World League.

The question now is what has gone wrong. The real powerhouse is the Saudi royalty, and not the country’s foreign ministry.

Given the importance of bilateral ties between Saudi Arabia and Malaysia, much must be done to improve relations, particularly at the personal level.

Total bilateral trade for 2022 amounted to a sum of US$10.26bil (RM45.89bil), which is an increase of 159.2% compared to US$4.23bil in 2021.

There are plenty of opportunities for Malaysians there, including the Neom city project, the Red Sea Project and the Saudi Green Initiative Project.

Neom is a planned smart city in Tabuk province in Saudi Arabia, where a ski resort is being planned and will contain cities, resorts and other developments.

Relations with Saudi are given priority and King Salman was also among the earliest to congratulate Anwar’s appointment as PM.

But as Anwar has said, there are issues that need to be negotiated and ironed out.

In 2018, the then Pakatan Harapan administration had order-ed the King Salman Centre for International Peace project set to be built in Putrajaya to be cancelled. The Saudi-backed anti-terrorism centre was launched in 2017 under Barisan Nasional during Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s premiership.

Pakatan’s then defence minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu also ordered Malaysian troops serving in Saudi Arabia to maintain its neutrality in the region.

Malaysia had deployed troops to the kingdom in 2015 to facilitate the evacuation of Malaysians trapped in Yemen.

For the next few days, and maybe even during the state elections, Anwar’s Saudi trip will be used against him, where comparisons will be made with ex-PM Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s visit when he was accorded full honours.

But the attention will shift to Beijing over the next few days as Anwar makes the all-important official visit to China.

China has been Malaysia’s No. 1 trading partner for the last 14 years consecutively and both countries will celebrate 50 years of friendship next year.

Anwar is certain to get the proper red-carpet welcome and recognition for Malaysia in China.

For now, it looks like what happened in Saudi remains in Saudi without substantiated information.

WHILE some of our pathetic politicians have been busy blowing a lot of hot air by shamelessly exploiting race and religion, a different kind of sound was heard at the Putra World Trade Centre last week.

Singer Datuk Sheila Majid’s beautiful music played at a sold-out concert there.

She is probably the only singer here who can sell out a concert and command a multiracial audience.

It was so touching hearing Sheila’s fans singing along to every one of her hit songs, and how they knew every line of the lyrics.

Almost half of her back-up musicians were non-Malays such as Mac Chew and Jenny Chin, her collaborators who have accompanied her since she started singing.

They were still there last week at the show.

In her own words, they were there with her in the high and low points of her singing career.

The large presence of non-Malays at her Big Band Live concert is proof of how popular she is, and that music is universal.

Here’s the most important point – she sang her songs, which are all in Bahasa Malaysia. But the crowd, mostly urbanites, had no issue that she used mostly English to speak to them.

The Queen of Jazz, as she is often called, dedicated a part of her concert to pay tribute to Jimmy Boyle.

Many present generation Malaysians have not heard of this composer and Sheila rightly put up a video dedication. It would not be wrong to describe the jazz pianist as a forgotten musician, but he composed over 300 songs including Putera Puteri.

United in music: Fans turned up in droves at Sheila Majid Big Band Live In concert, happy to be reunited with the Jazz Queen in Kuala Lumpur last week.

He wrote the Penang state anthem, Untuk Negeri Ku, and Kemegahan Negaraku, which was picked for the inaugural raising of the national flag on Aug 31, 1957.

Negaraku was not ready yet and Boyle’s composition was used for the historic occasion.

His name doesn’t appear in our history textbooks, unfortunately. I only knew about him as a young boy simply because he was a teacher at St Xavier’s Institution, long before I started schooling.

It was a lovely touch by Sheila, who also named the many Eurasian singers and musicians who played their part for Malaysia.

Then there were the personalities from Penang, who are no longer with us but should not be forgotten, like Ahmad Nawab, Ahmad Daud and of course, P. Ramlee.

At a time when politicians are trying to divide us, it is personalities like Sheila who have the ability to create a sense of belonging, trust and empathy. It is such a powerful tool.

As we sang and danced together at Dewan Merdeka, it was about what happens when Malaysia moves together to the same tune.

Who cares about the holier-than-thou religious politicians who lecture us against dancing and gender mixing but hypocritically turn stone deaf when it comes to fighting corruption and racism?

Shame on them.

Essentially, people everywhere are the same in heart and spirit, no matter what language we speak and sing.

Musicians and singers aside, our sports personalities have also shown how Malaysia can stand united as we cheer them in their battles to bring glory to the nation.

For example, badminton legend Datuk Lee Chong Wei once recalled that in the 2006 Malaysian Open, he saw a little Malay girl with her hands up in prayer for him, an Indian girl crying and a Chinese boy who was cheering so loud that the umpire told him to pipe down!

And we never got tired of seeing Chong Wei hugging his coach Datuk Misbun Sidek after his matches, regardless of whether he won or lost. They remain the most touching scenes ever.

And congratulations to Malaysian rock queen, Ella, who sold out 10,000 tickets for her 35th anniversary concert in 24 hours.

Certainly, you have Malaysia Standing in the Eyes of the World through your songs.

To all these music and sports legends, such as Datuk David Arumugam, Datuk DJ Dave, Jay Jay, Datuk Soh Chin Aun, Datuk Santokh Singh, Datuk Nicol David, and many others, thank you for uniting Malaysians. Thanks for the memories.

To the dreadful politicians who pit Malaysians against each other, shame on you!

TAR UMT is a story of sacrifice, self-reliance and dedication, and proof that when you give back to society, you also reap the rewards of your goodwill.

IT has been a lengthy five-decade journey for Kolej Tunku Abdul Rahman to attain the status of a full-fledged university, but its new branding has changed the lives of over 300,000 alumni.

It started as a modest community college in 1969, then became a university college in 2013 and finally now, is Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology (TAR UMT).

The story of TAR UMT is about the founders, the community and the students who have benefitted from this institute of education. It’s a story of sacrifice, self-reliance and dedication.

But what tugged at my heartstrings most are the accounts of loan recipients who came from financially hard-pressed families.

Heart-warming narratives abound and one only needs to look through the many interviews that have been recorded.

There is Ilham Emir Mohamed Akif Emir, who enrolled in a multimedia design course around the time her parents had stopped working. She was given a loan, which she used to buy a laptop to help her in her course work.

Gan Wei Kang, who was studying for a degree in communications in advertising, was having problems getting a student loan, but help from the campus eased his course and living expenses.

Enrique Ng, who studied marketing, couldn’t afford his first semester fees, so he had to work part time, but the loan lightened his burden.

Lai Kah Mun, who majored in information technology, and her sister studied at the college while their parents struggled to pay for their expenses, but the loan allayed their worries.

If there’s a story of how so little could go so far, then that tale belongs to Thilaganathan Naidu, who did his A-levels at the then Kolej TAR (KTAR), and went on to obtain a scholarship via the college to study at the Lingnan University in Hong Kong. However, his study loan was less than RM9,000 then, and yet, he made it go the mile.

In a video presentation, Thila, who now works as a financial analyst for Bloomberg, spoke of how the loan had helped him.

But what’s most remarkable is that the repayment rate from this interest-free loan is almost 99%.

There’s nary a complaint of outstanding or late payments, or worst, complete non-payment.

The maximum value of the loan award for each academic year is RM12,000 for foundation year students, RM10,000 for degree students and RM8,000 for diploma students. Students can use the loan to pay the university fees or for their living expenses.

Repayment of loans commences six months from the last day of the final examination for students who have graduated and must be settled entirely within seven years.

Over the years, the newly conferred university has produced close to 300,000 graduates: 45% in accounting, finance and business; 41% in science, engineering, technology and computing; and 14% in communication, design and social sciences.

His Royal Highness the Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah Al-Haj, and Tengku Permaisuri Selangor, Tengku Permaisuri Norashikin, attended a dinner on March 11 to celebrate TAR UMT’s upgrade and student loan fund, which has raised close to RM23mil.

Also present at the auspicious occasion were TARC Education Foundation Board of Trustees chairman Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong, TAR UMT Board of Governors chairman Tan Sri Liow Tiong Lai, and TAR UMT president Prof Lee Sze Wei.

Alumni council chairman and Board of Governors member Tan Sri Chan Kong Choy pointed out that one of the donors is an alumnus who had received a RM1,000 loan as a student, but contributed a RM1mil loan fund in return. In the nicest sense, what goes around truly comes around.

From 53 student loan funds, TAR UMT now has a total of 119.

Since 1979, almost 15,000 loans, with a total value of more than RM57mil, have been disbursed.

TAR UMT is a success story for having produced national leaders, chief executive officers, business personalities, industry leaders and trailblazing entrepreneurs.

While TAR UMT and Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) were founded by MCA and its leaders, politics has no bearing on what it stands for.

Politicians like Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail from PKR, and DAP leaders like Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow, Seputeh MP Teresa Kok, Penang state executive councillor Chong Eng and Negri Sembilan state exco member Teo Kok Seong, studied at KTAR.

Kampar, where UTAR’s main campus stands, remains a DAP stronghold although the academic and student population, as well as the business community, have benefited from the presence of the institution, an MCA initiative.

Ultimately, it’s more important that Malaysia wins and benefits.

However, the hard work and dedication of the people who began the journey to build KTAR, TAR University College and now TAR UMT, must be recognised.

Let’s give credit where it’s due.