Chin Peng and Propaganda Propaganda is defined as an ‘information, esp. of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view’. The basic principles in propaganda lies in the use of ideas to appeal to emotions, repeating the ideas many times (even if it is false), to continuously criticize the opponents and provide only one side (often distorted) side of an argument. Sounds familiar? Since the passing of Chin Peng, there’s been a media frenzy of pro Chin Peng advocates calling for the government to recognize Chin Peng’s so called contribution to the country. There is a wealth of information online on the events thus it is unnecessary to regurgitate what has been written and said. We all know what Chin Peng did and of his ideologies, you can’t change history, so we’ll leave history as that, history. What is interesting is the manner to which this propaganda (i.e. Chin Peng the hero) is being branded upon by MalaysiaKini, MalaysianInsider and The Star. A quick search on MalaysiaKini’s database revealed that Chin Peng / CPM friendly articles have been published since 2011 (probably even beyond). Amongst the pre death Chin Peng articles (in 2012): “real patriots ignored by history” (malaysiakini/news/176767) “it is the victors who write history” (malaysiakini/news/187342) “DAP – govt must reconcile with CPM” (malaysiakini/news/240331) “time to reclaim our true history” (malaysiakini/news/175982) Of course, there was a blitzkrieg of Chin Peng ‘the hero’ articles after his death. MalaysiaKini published 46 articles in 9 days! The Star too has given quite some space in its portal and pages. Reading between the lines, one should question The Star’s motive to covertly glorify Chin Peng as a Malaysian patriot (given its supposedly pro government standing) (thestar.my/News/Nation/2013/09/18/Sitiawan-folk-whisper-about-his-death.aspx) Let’s deduce the Chin Peng Propaganda: i) Built up emotions and portray Chin Peng as a Malaysian patriot? CHECK! In fact, this has been going on even before his death. ii) Repeat, repeat, repeat with stereotyped phrases. Check! Ever heard of the saying, that a lie when repeated many times becomes the truth? iii) Give only one side of the argument? CHECK! The Mkinis, Minsiders, DAP are pros at this. Gotta give them credit to how they somehow managed to skew history and subconsciously plant the idea that Chin Peng was a freedom fighter. iv) Continously criticize the opponent? BINGO! In this instance, the opponent of Lucifer incarnate is the malay racist government, who are pictured as uncompassionate and cruel. It appears that the campaign has been going on for sometime (given the Mkini articles have been going on for years), the build up has always been there, emotions have been played upon and when the time came, there was a floodgate of information glorifying Chin Peng. Of course, DAP’s constant barraging against Tanda Putera’s credibility was expected. Given DAP’s links to the subversive communist movements back then, it is a mark that DAP wouldn’t want the social media generation to find out. Two and two together, DAP has always had a special spot for Chin Peng, without a shadow of doubt and that is why we have seen them (and use of social media) to purge this propaganda to glorify Chin Peng and the CPM. The seeds have been planted, the campaign began long before Chin Peng died and finally, the nail on the coffin (no pun intended) is to make the masses question the nation’s history and to transform a National Terrorist into a National Patriot. Making a martyr and hero out of Chin Peng is to subconsciously revive a very dangerous ideology and movement, Let us not be blinded by such propaganda; besides would a National Patriot bomb the Tugu Negara?
Posted on: Tue, 24 Sep 2013 15:40:03 +0000
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