A media friend from the Philippines has just confided that she has been exploring the possibility of obtaining a media fellowship to allow her a work attachment in Malaysia, but there seems little prospect of that. Why so?
This is because whereas opportunities to gain such a fellowship exist in many countries, primarily in developed countries, none seems to exist for Malaysia. Increasingly, this must change and not just because it may be flattering for us that those working in media in our neighbouring countries are looking favourably in our direction.
This in itself is quite a turnaround. This writer cut his journalistic teeth decades ago with a two-week fellowship in the Philippines, a peerless and outlook-moulding experience that has instilled an abiding interest in — even affection — for many things Filipino.
The Philippines in the 1980s was a pioneer in a journalistic genre styled as “development journalism”, a welcome departure from the emphasis on sensationalistic scandals and adversarial political reporting that is the staple of much of the Western-inspired media everywhere.
But, with the fall of Marcos in 1986 and the return of a free-wheeling media scene, “development journalism” has fallen by the wayside in the country just as it has taken root in ours.
The turnaround in fortunes between Malaysia and the Philippines today is therefore nothing if not rather ironic. And, it is perhaps also one of the redeeming qualities of Philippine democracy that the country’s decision to turn its back, as it were, on its abiding Western-inspired ethos arrives in the person of President Rodrigo Duterte — via the ballot box, not through a popular revolution.
Unfortunately, the political ascent of Duterte has also brought in its wake a popular backlash against the country’s powerful mainstream media, with many Duterte supporters taking to social media instead to let off their spleen against mainstream media, seen by them as one of the last redoubts of an overbearing, self-centred and self-absorbed Manila-based elite often collectively loathed elsewhere in the country as part of the oppressive “Imperial Manila” from Spanish colonial days.
The search for viable alternative media outlets as foil to the seemingly all-powerful Manila mainstream media establishments has therefore began in earnest. How this develops may in some ways shape the fate of the Duterte presidency and even beyond.
And, insofar as Filipinos and the Duterte administration are “looking West” (towards us) and how we go about formulating and shaping our national narratives and bringing important and influential players such as the media along, we must and should respond.
This should be a good place for Malaysia to start thinking about putting in place mechanisms other countries have long devised to project their “soft power” beyond their shores.
We are already doing it in the way our tertiary educational institutions are a magnet for international students who will eventually return to their own countries, hopefully with positive images and outlooks formed from their stay in this country. The goodwill so generated will be invaluable for us, especially as these students take up important careers in their home countries.
In like fashion, we must craft ways to project indirect but positive influence through media-related fellowships, which allow selected foreign media practitioners to spend time here observing how our media work in practice and to bring home some of the ways that may help in shaping a more constructive, development-oriented outlook among media players.
To be sure, such interactions may also benefit our own media outlets. It will be a huge mistake to take the stance that we have something to impart to other countries but little to learn through the process.
The Philippine media industry is as competitive and cut-throat as they come. The rigours of such competition produce some of the finest journalistic talents anywhere. The only real drawback is that owing to the country’s very uneven economic development and the resulting political implications, such media are susceptible to economic elite capture and, therefore, fall prey to deep resentments and alienation felt in much of the country outside the capital.
Where the Philippines is concerned, its political volatility of course can have direct ill consequences for us, particularly those living in Sabah. All the more reason then for us to help in any way we can to ensure the democratic political revolution Duterte has ignited succeeds and is sustained beyond the six years of his presidential term.
It is in our own enlightened self-interest to help Duterte succeed.
John Teo is a Kuching-based journalist