October 30, 2015
To my friends Premesh, Steven, Guna, and the men and women behind Malaysiakini
and Kinibiz, congratulations on this significant award from me in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. May it be Gold the next time.
Because of the Internet, I, as a loyal subscriber and keen reader, am able to access your portals and as a result, I am up to speed on political, economic and social developments in our country. I thank you very much for this service, and urge to keep up your good work. Please try to challenge yourselves and explore ways and means to communicate better. Being in the news business, you know, as well as I do, that we cannot please everyone. But we must never fail to try to be balanced and fair.
Your portals and I have been identified as being pro-Opposition. Nothing is further from the truth than that. We may be critical but we are not pro any coalition or party and certainly not anti-government which is elected by Malaysians, irrespective of the flaws in our electoral system. Unfortunately, I have had a hard time to convince UMNO and BN supporters that I am not the “enemy”. I have not stop trying.
Since coming to Phnom Penh and being an academic at Cambodia’s top private university, I am conscious that my friends and associates here look at me as a Malaysian and judge me on how I conduct myself as a Malaysian and on the quality of my pedagogy and research work, although when they read my blog, they know that I have been critical of my country’s leadership and their policies. Stereo-typing is convenient, but never helpful.
We are going through difficult times, to put it mildly. But as an optimist, I am embracing myself for better times ahead, anchored in my belief that tough times do not last, but tough Malaysians do. Lest we forget, Malaysia is not just Najib and his henchmen in UMNO-BN. Malaysia is all of us. We must work together for a great future.–Din Merican
Congratulations, Malaysiakini
Independent news portal Malaysiakini has been hailed as one of the top brands in Malaysia at the 6th Putra Brand Awards (tonight). While Malaysiakini has won awards on two previous occasions, it is the first time the portal bagged the silver in the Media Network category.
It picked up the bronze award last year and at the inaugural Putra Brand Awards in 2010. Wayne Lim (photo, left), CEO of Malaysia SME, handed over the award to Malaysiakini CEO Premesh Chandran at a gala dinner in Majestic Hotel, Kuala Lumpur.
The other media outlets that won awards in the Media Network category were Astro, TV3, and Era (Gold); Hitz FM (Silver); and The Star, ntv7, and The Malaysian Insider (Bronze). Meanwhile, Maybank, Malaysia’s leading bank with the widest network, won the Putra Brand of The Year award.
According to the brand awareness award host, the Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Malaysia (4As), the Putra Brand Awards is unique as Malaysian consumers themselves are the judges.
A consumer research polling system involving 6,000 people helped select Malaysia’s most preferred brands across a spectrum of 24 categories, with the top three brands in each category being honoured with a gold, silver, and bronze ranking.
This is the largest consumer research sampling of its kind nationwide, covering both East and West Malaysia.
We thank our subscribers, readers, advertisers, and most of all the Malaysiakini team, who work tirelessly to give the country the news and views that matter. “The awards reflect that the internet today is the mainstream, with two internet brands winning awards,” said Premesh (photo).
Malaysiakini, launched in 1999, is the country’s top news website.According to comScore, the portal has the highest number of visitors in the first half of this year, ahead of both Star Online and The Malaysian Insider. American-based comScore is a global leader in digital media analytics.
Din Merican: the Malaysian DJ Blogger 
There are VERY FEW online newspaper that have succeeded – for a country with less than 30m population, its remarkable achievement but its based on the fact UMNO/BN destroying the mainstream media with their politics. Malaysiakini is part of UMNO/BN’s karma and proves their ideology is a dead-end one..
I think Malaysiakini had lost some, if not much of its shine of its earlier days, on presenting fair and balance news and articles, especially on recent critical and crucial issues facing the country.
It has expressed freely, but never the same as before, whether is for the opposition or against the establishment.
Congratulations!
There are rooms for improvement to make your views and news that really, really matter. It is all about education and information, rather ”greedy” propagations for numbers.
And the Gold goes to Astro, TV3 and ERA?
Dear dato din i will be in Kl for a few days in NOV any chance of meeting you and Steven will also like to meet up with CONRAD I was close friend of late Gnanathurai Have been working closely with many young Cambodians they are truly an amazing bunch of kids. As to Timor leste a place to watch in the future.
Thaya
____________
Thaya,
I am afraid I won’t be in KL. But if you can come over, you are welcome to stay with me in Phnom Penh. I will live only 15 minutes from the airport. The University of Cambodia is across the road from where I live, Din.
Breaking News
Al-Qaeda leader pledges allegiance to new head of the Taliban in Afghanistan after drone strike killed predecessor
Description: http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2016/06/11/14/5D0d9AfCwm13ba44e8d27426832e-0-The_Afghan_Taliban_have_appointed_Haibatullah_Akhundzada_as_thei-a-59_1465652484604.jpg
Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri has pledged allegiance to the new head of the Taliban, Haibatullah Akhundzada, who took over after his predecessor was killed in a US drone strike.
Revealed: How ISIS jihadis are cutting off their beards to pose as migrants and sneak on to Libyan refugee boats bound for Italy
Description: The jihadis who are cutting off their beards posing as migrants and slipping on to refugee
Fanatical Islamic State terrorists are on their way to Europe posing as migrants after being driven out of their Libyan stronghold by British-backed forces, The Mail on Sunday has learned. As the Libyan troops and jihadis fought a running battle in the port city of Sirte yesterday, we uncovered disturbing evidence that IS fighters and prisoners (right) are fleeing the onslaught and shaving off their beards and hair to blend in with refugees on their exodus across the Mediterranean. A basin was found full of beard and head hair (top left) at a school near the city of Sirte, which was held by Isis until recently. Fleeing Islamic State terrorists have been seen to leave Sirte by boat (bottom). Meanwhile, a Libyan Brigades fighter was photographed in Sirte (top middle).
Now THAT’s going to make you saddle sore! Hundreds of cyclists ride naked through London in protest against car culture
Description: Now THAT’s going to make you saddle sore! Hundreds of cyclists ride naked through London
Wearing body paint and trainers – and little else – scores of environmentally-aware riders braved the summer downpours to take part in the London leg of the World Naked Bike Ride. The event, which first took place in 2004, is intended to raise awareness of the danger of cycling and the ‘car centric’ culture in the capital. Three cyclists were killed in London in the last month.
Please pass on