Al Bukhary Media

Redberry Group

The cat is out of the bag. The ongoing negotiations between the Redberry Communications (as part of the Ancom Bhd Group) and representatives of the Al Bukhary Group for the take over of English business daily The Malaysian Reserve has been made public.

It is timely that the successful Malay corporate giant not only has his own English business daily, but a media group.

There have been structured and consistently growing subtle and direct attacks on Malay-based institutions and corporate groups which include all those under the Al Bukhary Group wing of late, in stories and opinion carried by Chinese control English-based business dailies, like The Edge, Kinibiz and Focus Malaysia. At some point and angle, even by The Star.

The Malaysian Reserve website

These attacks are part of the strategy to demonise the Malaysian Government policy against the Bumiputera business community such as NEP and preference for Malay-based conglomerates such as PNB, LTAT, Tabung Haji, JCorp and lately, FGV.

They manipulate the various perspective of ‘subsidy’, ‘preferential status’, ‘affirmative action’ and use them to instigate in the tone of ‘cronysim’, ‘unfair’, ‘opportunities denied’ and eventually perpetuating the notion of the ‘continuous practice of corruption’. Worse of all, it is ‘All the way to the top’.

It is a conniving strategy using business, corporate and economic perspective to achieve a political objective.

Hopefully, The Malaysian Reserve with the new owners would see more success stories of the Malay entrepreneurs and industrialists being featured, the right perspective and intonation.

Setting the record straight is imperative, after too much of manipulation and over-politicking. The interest of nation building should take prominence, to build the confidence of Malaysians especially the business community and potential commercial associates from abroad and the global market.