KUCHING: State government must keep up its
participation in the new media to better engage the young people in its
programmes and activities as well as to clear any misconception. Chief Minister
Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud said the approach towards achieving the state’s
politics of development mission was to include the people instead of having
them as mere recipients.
“We need to keep up our participation with the new
media. We need to seek the best ways on how to approach and interact with the
younger generation who are in schools and universities for they are the ones
who will play the major role in our politics of development and successful
transformation,” he said when officiating at Angkatan Zaman Mansang’s (Azam)
annual dinner here Saturday night.
He said the people now had easy access to several
sources of information through the borderless new media and this could go both
ways, bad or good.
He cited the controversy surrounding the Penan
community as an example of new media being used to confuse the people and
distort the Sarawak government’s image.
He felt that there would always be difference of
opinions on how a community should be cared for or how things should be done
but these opinions and criticisms should be constructive ones rather than
criticising just for the sake of it.
Taib, who is Azam’s patron, said the new media must
be exploited in a way that would result in the people understanding the
direction on which Sarawak was heading to and what they could do to play their
part in its development.
“Today’s economy is way apart from those in the
yesteryears. What we practise today is no longer the same model of economy as
before where different income group are treated differently. The aim here is to
get all into the high-income level and for this to happen, we need to include
everybody and also let them know what the benefits will be for them.
“We also need to tell them how to exploit these
opportunities,” he said.
He said Azam, being the key communicator for the
state government’s development agenda, must find ways to feed the people with
information on happenings within and beyond the state’s shores.
He explained that Azam was an inseparable part of
the state’s transformation agenda, adding: “Azam must find a way on how to
reach out and let the people know what’s really going on. You must not side
with just any particular person or even the government.
If the government is wrong, it’s wrong. That’s all.
“You must present views that reflects what’s best
for our people,” he added.
The dinner with the theme “Development
Communication: New Media, New Opportunities” was held in collaboration with
Azam’s sister organisation Sarawak Development Institute and its group of
companies.
The event also highlighted the importance of
engaging the society to understand the state’s development agenda not only
through traditional means in development communication but to also employ new
communication platforms like online social media.
It featured the organisations’ integrative efforts
via respective programmes and activities.
Later, Taib presented awards to the groups that
participated in the ‘Yes, I see’ programme of Azam, SDI and Faradale Media-M
Sdn Bhd that engages youths in communication.
Team “Sarawok” won the most socially enterprising
award, “Success mean survival” won most socially innovative and “Umai Jeb” won
most culturally relevant award.
By VANES DEVINDRAN
(news
extracted from http://thestar.com.my )
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