Someone who goes by the nick, OFF, sent a comment in my previous posting on Usman Awang, criticising Astro and some newspapers for having "taken over ownership of what is supposed to be a list of 50 Malaysians, highly regarded in their own fields because of their contributions, and turned it into a ranking exercise of unequals. All for profit!"
Here is what she had to say on what would have, otherwise, been an apt exercise to remember some of Malaysia's great sons and daughters who are no longer with us in celebration of our nation's 50th anniversary.
"Do you know that Usman Awang is among the 50 nominees of Anak Gemilang Malaysia (all deceased). Well-deserved nominations indeed by a distinguished panel!
What you should look into and invite your blogger colleagues to comment on is the way Astro Prima and some newspapers have taken over ownership of what is supposed to be a list of 50 Malaysians, highly regarded in their own fields because of their contributions, and turned it into a ranking exercise of unequals. All for profit!
In simple language Astro Prima charges 50 sen for every SMS vote and the final ranking depends on who gets the most public votes.
You and I know Nuraina that SMS voting is the activity of the young, most of whom have no idea who Usman Awang or Zain Azrai are. Yes they know Sudirman who came out 3rd yesterday after Tun Razak (2nd) and Datin Seri Endon (1st).
My point is and I hope you agree Nuraina - do we need to rank these outstanding Malaysians whose contributions in their various fields are unique and special.
The organisers should reorganise the list. Enter the nominees' names alphabetically with honorary titles within brackets (Tun, Tan Sri...) - field (politics, profession...)
STOP THE SMS EXPLOITATION OF THE PUBLIC BY ASTRO!
BRING BACK THE DIGNITY THAT THESE OUTSTANDING MALAYSIANS BROUGHT TO THE NATION!"
To know more about Astro's Anak Gemilang Malaysia, read this and this.
Why rank them? If they have all contributed greatly to the country, they are considered equals among each other. Give them the honour and don't put them in competition.
ReplyDeleteDear Kak Ena,
ReplyDeleteThat’s this thing about astro…sikit, sikit buat "poll", pemilihan & pengundian melalui "sms" – bertujuan mengaut seberapa banyak untung.
You know-lah how sms works. The more you vote the better the ranking of the one you have voted for.
And the system can be abused (in fact, the voting system/method sucks), especially by those with money dan yang berkemampuan dari segi kewangan.
Just like Akademi Fantasia, it’s no reflection of the winner’s ability or talent.
I agree with OFF:
STOP THE SMS EXPLOITATION OF THE PUBLIC BY ASTRO!
Salam Ena
ReplyDeleteI would have thought the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage would have come up with this idea for the 50th Independence celebrations or would have at least some control over what is being organised to commemorate this historic year.
But then again, the heritage list was a fiasco, I'm not surprised if this is too!
Assalammualaikum .
ReplyDeleteDatin Seri Endon( 1st )?...surely there are better ones who deserved recognition ...didn't know her until she became Mrs PM
yep ...Tun Abdul RAzak ought to be highlighted ..Sudirman ? Got to think twice ....
SArawak has its own unsung heroes like ..... Rosly Dobby ..the guy who killed the Resident DUncan Steward in Sibu ...or Rentap ..who fought against the orang putih and who were just sick and tired of these intruders .......
Salam and have a nice day ....
OFF is very right to draw attention to this SMS voting exercise. It is a bad idea. A very bad idea.
ReplyDeleteDatin Seri Endon at No.1 ? Isn't she Badawi's late wife? Tun Razak at No.2 ? Isn't he Najib's late father.( admittedly, in Tun Razak's case, he deserves to be in the list).
My question... Is there a proper audit of the SMS votes that come in or could any brown nose arbitrarily put in No. 1 and 2 whoever he pleases? No prize money involved so who would bother to check. .
[ from urban dictionary:
A brown nose is a sycophantic person who has their head so far up somebodys ass that they have a brown nose, hense the name.]
That asked, I agree with OFF that SMS votes and ranking of the 50 is a bad, bad idea.
the 50 most gemilang malaysians shouldn't be ranked. their contributions are unique to their own specialty. and the voting via SMS --- aduhhh, with due respect, if M*w* is dead, then surely M*w* will win. i agree with OFF, he/she is not Off at all.
ReplyDeleteYou'll love the whole idea, if you are a businessman. You'll hate it if you are a nationalist. You won't mind sending sms just for the heck of it, or to test your new cellphone, if you are a teenager. And it's this segment of the marketing they are targeting. To a lot of Malaysians, they won't see what's the big fuss is all about because they are the product of Malaysian education system who can't be bothered who fought for what, or died over what or whatever.
ReplyDeleteAt the end of the day this whole thing about Anak Gemmilang is about being current, being cool, or being fresh . As for me, it's a great amusement to see ministers caught up in this whole business-oriented thing. I guess that's why present-day politicians know that they had better not do too much for the nation because they know they won't be remembered the way national heroes are honored. The best thing to do is to make as much money as you can while in power. Hmmm, they are pretty smart, aren't they? At least they got their priority right. And thanks to the business community, this whole thing is one big profitable game to those involved. Maybe I should get into the game too.
50th Merdeka? It's another marketing opportunity to sell things. It's just like Christmas, Father's day, Mother's day, Secretary's day. A lot of people are gonna be rich when this whole celebration is done and over with. Don't you love this country? It's a highly business-oriented nation with a lot of products to sell and people in power will just create one marketing opportunity after another to make this whole selling process work.
So when you watch the Merdeka parade this year, bring out your calculator and start to count the cost of putting the Merdeka clothes on each and every guy and girl walking past the grand-stand waving a flag. And by the way, that flag they are waving, that too is being paid for. The supplier have got the 50% plus profit in advance. It may cost about 50sen apiece, but you know how it is, the gomen probably pay something like RM5.00 apiece for it.
It's not too late, there's next year if you want to join this business. Of course, you've gotta have the right connections. Othewise, forget it. But of course, you can write what you feel in a blog. As if that would make a lot of difference to the guys upstairs.
Nuraina, Astro Prima is out to make a quick buck out of this exercise. SMS is not the way to select or vote. Even that list would be a false popularity list. What more top Malaysians.I will not vote.
ReplyDeleteI know it's bad to speak ill of the dead, but I really wonder why Datin Sri Endon made it onto the list in the first place??
ReplyDeleteSudirman, I can understand. Alleycats (are they on the list?) I can also understand.
But Endon? In the short time she was at Seri Perdana, the only spectacular thing she achieved was die in office...
Salaam ena,
ReplyDeletedari pagi sampai malam dok pikiaq abt something positive to say on the subject. quite a difficult task.
all I can say is that maybe astro can donate the sms proceeds for a good cause like american idol pay back program they did last season? that would change everybody's perception on the issue.
I feel like talking to a wall.
salaam
zainul
I agree with OFF and thanks for posting this. Astro must be stopped on this one. And Pak Lah should be the one to stop them from making a mockery of some of the great, dead Malaysians' contributions. I also agree that the late Endon should not be there in the list of 50 and Pak Lah should be able to see that too.
ReplyDeleteEna, you should talk to arwah Tongkat's family. Get his name out of the list. He does not deserve this posthumous insult.
gila.
ReplyDeletethat's all i can come up with as an opinion on using sms-voting system to decide who has contributed more for the country.
contribution is a subjective issue. some contributions may be substantial to some field, but irrelevant to another. usman awang for instance, made a substantial contribution to the literary field, but none for human capital development. allahyarham datin seri endon, well, i have no idea what she contributed.
Is CC Too in the list? I am sure he is annoymous/unknown to even history students.
ReplyDeleteNuraina
ReplyDeleteThis ranking exercise cheapens those great people we honour.
Nobody who values the contribution of these great indiviudals should boycott.
This is not a "Malaysian Idol" crap being commercialised.
They should get off it!
With due respect to Endon, i think Azah Aziz would be beat her hands down for promoting batik, songket & the like. so much for SMS poll. anyway if had to nominate a "malaysian gemilang" my choice would be Tun Ismail Ali!
ReplyDeleteAll I wanna say is that depa yang mencetuskan idea & cara pimilihan melalui afundi "Anak Gemilang Malaysia" have put their head in their blardy ass.
ReplyDeleteBodoh! Bodoh! Bodoh!
Wonder how Pak Lah would react if Datin Endon was the chosen one - garnering the highest number of afundis to be the "Anak Gemilang Malaysia."
ReplyDeleteI read at Rockybru she is leading with some 18% of the total votes.
Will he accept it "graciously" thanking the voters for their stupid choice?
Isn't there a saying that goes like this: little things delight little minds.
ReplyDeleteActally i dont care who win this so called AGM. but please, please and please remove ENDON from the list. was she greater that Pramlee??? come on... dont AMPU like this la.. like english said, "agak-agakla nak mengampu pon" heheh
ReplyDeleteEndon is the winner!! and voting is closed. Who is she and what has she done? ...........other than being somebody's wife and mother-in-law to SIL. Truly the AMPU factor at work.
ReplyDeleteAnd they left out TUNKU ABDUL RAHMAN!! Can you imagine where this country will be without this great man? Without him there wouldn't even be a Malaya/Malaysia and we wouldn't even be talking about the 50th annivesary.
The organisers & Astro have screwed up things BIG Time.
ReplyDeleteWhat a mockery. What a joke. What an insult to all Malaysians.
Macam Tidak ada orang lain yang gemilang.
What a temberang!!
Dear ingin tahu,
ReplyDeletePak Lah will say:
"Terima kasih. Saya pun tak tau yang arwah isteri saya telah dicalonkan. Apa pun terima kasih."
May I Kak Ena,
ReplyDeletePak Lah:
"Terima kasih kerana mengundi arwah isteri saya sebagai Anak Malaysia Gemilang atas jasa-jasanya yang tidak terbilang."
Yup: Gemilang, Terbilang, Temberang!
You damn right anti bodek. This is mere bodek tactics for long broadcasting priviledges in the years to come ( if BN wins), Results can be changed. Who is there monitoring the statistic board and machine and assuring the number of SMSes! If the machine resulted to the unexpected, well we make the machine .......
ReplyDeleteArwah Endon 1st place .... true bodek.
100% OFF with the piece of crap!
is our dad on the list?? he shud be ..BUT then again, if he's not, then its kinda blessing in disguished coz this whole sms polling-thing by astro isan insult ..
ReplyDeletelike j.t commented "give them honour, dont put them in competition" ...this isnt "Akademi Fantasia"...
Out of curiosity I visited the Astro Anak Gemilang site and this is what its says:
ReplyDelete“ Anak Gemilang Malaysia merupakan sebuah kempen peringkat nasional yang:
* mampu memberikan inspirasi,
* menaikkan semangat patriotik dan
* menyuntik nilai-nilai positif demi mengukuhkan struktur masyarakat majmuk Malaysia.”
Nak muntah aku baca. With Datin Endon getting the highest number of votes how inspiring can that be?
Memang semangat patriotik aku berkobar-kobar – kerana aku benci kepada budaya membodek ini di kalangan pembodek=pembodek yang memberi pengiktirafan kepada orang yang tidak sepatutnya dan buta kepada sumbangan anak-anak gemilang Malaysia yang lain.
Memupuk nilai-nilai positif? Sungguh lucu betul. Nilai positif dengan cara pemilihan melalui sms?
The heck. Does Astro know what it is talking abt?
endon no #1 but mahathir's name not even in it. doesn't make sense at all unless they're trying to bodek Pak Lah to the max.
ReplyDeleteKata Astro: Anda boleh menghantar sebanyak mungkin pandangan.
ReplyDeleteSetiap pandangan akan di kenakan bayaran sebanyak RM0.50 (premium) tidak termasuk bayaran SMS biasa yang di kenakan oleh syarikat telekomunikasi...
===================================
WHAT A RIP-OFF! TIS NOTHING MORE THAN A MONEY-MAKING CAMPAIGN TO EXPLOIT THE UNSUSPECTING VIEWERS WHO HAVE NO INKLING WHAT THEY IN FOR!
am reposting this taken from beritakmu.net
ReplyDeleteRe: Petisyen Kepada ASTRO: Keluarkan Nama Negarawan Dari Senarai Undian 50 AGM (Score: 1)
by serling (serling@yahoo.com) on Wednesday, July 18 @ 21:22:38 MYT
(User Info | Send a Message)
Ngapa dihina Negarawan kita
Dirakamkan rasa sedih dan pilu
Negarawan kita saja dipermalu
Konon menghargai alasan diaju
Tetapi kesannya hiriskan kalbu
Apabila undi SMS jadi ukuran
Dikhuatiri tidak ada kewajaran
Dicatat sejarah jasa negarawan
Bahaya undian jadi penghinaan
Disenaraikan mereka yang mati
Tapi PM pertama sahaja kecuali
Konon berada di kelas tersendiri
PM kedua dan ketiga ngapa buli
Nama Negarawan tidak usah ada
Kalau ASTRO meneruskan juga
Teracun di minda generasi muda
Para Negarawan tidak buat jasa
serling
(18.07.07)
rabu
…..
p/s:
Ahmad Sarji selaku pengerusi wajar prihatin atas kegusaran majoriti