Wee: Media must help promote good side of Malaysia too

Chairman of Tourism Malaysia says media should strike a balance by featuring not only the negative side of the country but its many attributes as well.

PETALING JAYA: The publishing of too many unpleasant new reports that put the country in a bad light internationally, has prompted the chairman of Tourism Malaysia to appeal to the media to “strike a good balance” by featuring not only the bad but good side of the country too.

In a blog posting today, Wee Choo Keong said that while he did not wish for the media to become “taciturn”, the continuous publishing of news reports about suspected hardcore criminals, terrorists, pirates and religious extremists would “inadvertently and singlehandedly kill our tourism industry”, which he said was among the country’s top income earners.

“We keep on giving space in the mass media to the bigots, racists and fanatics who constantly scream and shout about silly, trivial and hurtful things,” he said, adding that these only served to depress the people and damage the country’s chances of attracting tourists and foreign investments to our shores.

“While we are all anti-extremists, our fixation with publishing all those horrible stories is also a form of extremist behaviour.”

He commented on the weak Ringgit and said, “This is the time where we should be working extra hard to get as many tourists as we can to come to Malaysia and spend as much as possible, as long as possible.”

Calling on the media to give fair coverage to both negative and positive news stories, he asked, “Isn’t there a way where we can create a ratio-of-sorts whereby those ‘not-so-nice’ stories can be kept at a minimum and in less graphic detail while the positive, feel-good stories get more prominence and frequency?”

Saying “enough is enough”, Wee reiterated that while he was not asking for the media to “tolerate any form of extremism in the country”, there was also a need to keep negative news out of the limelight while the authorities swiftly dealt with it.

“In the meantime, we educate our people and show to the world about the wonderful things we have to offer.”

He said Tourism Malaysia’s newly launched “Dekat Je” campaign, aimed at encouraging more Malaysians to take domestic holidays, would also affect the influx of tourists into Malaysia but cautioned, “Still, we need the cooperation of all sectors for that.”