Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research (ASSEHR), volume 219 International Conference on Psychology and Communication 2018 (ICPC 2018)

Unilateral Conversion Controversy in : A Study on News Coverage by the Star Newspaper

Muhammad Raqib Mohd Sofian , Azman Azwan Azmawati

School Of Communication, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia

Abstract

In recent years, Malaysia has been embroiled with religious conflicts that cause fractions among its citizens. Most of the conflicts involved Islam which is generally known as the official religion of the country. Overall, a total of 60% that represents majority of the Malaysian populations are Malay Muslims, while the remaining consists of other ethnics which include Chinese, Indians, and the indigenous people of and Sarawak. In regard to this matter, the minorities tend to have the thoughts that they are marginalized by the government policies imposed on them. Mass media especially the newspapers have been regarded as a powerful tool in disseminating information to the population. Apart from that, it is also known to have a strong influence on the mind of individuals in regard to its reporting on a particular issue. However, it should be understood that they can either help to maintain good relations or cause more harm among the citizens. Hence, it is deemed very important to study the news that has been reported by the media to the populace, especially in the Malaysian context that is widely known to consist of multi ethnics and religions. Therefore, the aim of this paper was to study how a controversial issue was reported by The Star, an English mainstream newspaper in Malaysia in regard to the conversion of M. Indira Ghandi’s three children to Islam. Finally, it is worth to note that The Star is owned by a political party linked to the previous regime, the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) which has been targeting the middle-class citizens as their audiences.

Keywords: Islam and the Media, Media Portrayal, M. Indira Ghandi, Media Messages, Qualitative Content Analysis

Copyright © 2019, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press. 266 This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research (ASSEHR), volume 219

Introduction converted his three children to Islam from In the socio-political landscape of the his civil marriage to a Hindu wife, M. country, it has long been acknowledged that Indira Gandhi without her consent before there are various “black” histories in the going to the Shariah court to obtain custody context of racial and religious relations. In over them [5]. Nevertheless, Indira successfully this case, it is worth to no te that almost all challenged the unilateral conversion in the the conflicts occurred between the minorities of High Court, but the Cour t of Appeal ruled Malaysian population and the majority against her. However, in January represented by the Malay Muslims. The major 2018, the Federal Court cleared up the incidents include the racial riots that took confusion by declaring that the unilateral place in 1969 between the Chinese and the conversion of the children was unlawful. Malays as well as the disputes that happened In regard to this issue, it is at Kampun g Medan involving the Malays important to empha size that all the stated and Indians. Apart from that, there are also other incidents such as the demolition of conflicts can be deemed worse than the real Hindu temples, the demonstration of the situation when the media are being cow’s head in Selangor, and the laying of irresponsible in their reporting with the pigs’ heads at one of the mosques in Kuala purpose of exploiting the issues. In this era of Lumpur [1]. modern technology, it is undeniable that In addition, it should be noted that mass media play a significant role in shaping the racial and religious tensions which have been happening in Malaysia include the public opinion. According to Van Dijk [6], issues of racial controversy, disputes over the media can maintain and reproduc e social use of the word ‘Allah’ in the publication of the and dominating power relations because it

Christians, issues regarding the has the special access to publish news implementation of Syariah law, attacks on discourse. In addition, the mass media also the churches, and raid on a church plays a significant role in the production and controversy which have caused fractions among the [2,3,4]. Recently, a case of reproduction of the characteristics of beliefs, unilateral conversion of M. Indira Ghandi’s opinions, stereotypes, prejudices, and children towards Islam has sparked ideologies [7]. Further more, mass media is a great deba te among the Malaysians widely known as a significant social agent because it involved the conflict between the which has the potential to influence public Muslims and the Hindus. perceptions [8]. Therefore, it is not In the year 2009, a Muslim convert surprising that the influence of mass with the name of Muhammad Riduan 267 Abdullah or also known as K. Pathmanathan media can have a serious impact on certain Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research (ASSEHR), volume 219 groups through the negative image conveyed Malaysia, which in the context of the present in regard to religion, race, and nation. study refers to the conversion of M. Indira

Mustafa [9] stated that it is very Ghandi’s three children to Islam. As has difficult to report religious and ethnic issues been mentioned, this study is deemed very in a multi- racial and religious country, important in order to investigate the role particularly in the Malaysian context. played by the media in reporting Moreover, more issues on religion and controversial issue, especially involving ethnicity can occur when the news on religion Islam. In relation to this, it is highly relevant and ethnicity is erroneously flagged and to conduct a research involving Islam in the biased by the media, thus causing the Malaysian context considering that Islam has audience to come up with a wrong judgment. been widely viewed with suspicion and Other than that, the media have been acting prejudice by the world due to several unfair as a source of conflict between race and and unsubstantiated reasons. religion instead of playing its role as the agent Methodology of change. The present study employed a

On ano ther note, it is crucial to qualitative approach in its investigation understand the discourses presented in regarding the nature of news coverage on the news considering that they are a form of unilateral conversion controversy in cultural products which doen s ot operate Malaysia produced by a local mainstream in vacuum, but instead most of them are English newspaper. The method adopted in subtly loaded with certain ideologies with the the present study involved performing an purpose of structuring the ideas of the analysis on the written texts in the dominant groups to the society, thus newspaper for the purpos e of obtaining a maintaining the existing hegemony [10]. full understanding on how the issue was Said [11] desb cri ed that the media actually covered and reported. Apart from that, the reflects the subject matter of those with a present study also carried out an analysis particular interest, especially those in power on the news narratives in order to understand instead of reflecting on the real issue that is how the issue was constructed and portrayed happening. by the newspaper. A total of three-month

Therefore, this pape r aims to study samples was collected from the month of how a controversial issue is reported by The January 2018 to March 2018 which 268 Star as an English mainstream newspaper in represent the highlighot f the issue, just Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research (ASSEHR), volume 219 before the Cour t issued a final decision on www.thestar.com.my at the seventh place from the issue. the overall total of 30 local websites.

The present study chose a daily Findings mainstream English newspaper kno wn as The In general, it was found that the most published theme by The Star newspaper is Star as the means of data collection. In addition, “supporting the decision made by the Federal it is worth to note that The Star is a party-owned Court” based on the fact that the judges set paper which is associated with the former aside the unilateral conversion of Indira regime, Barisan Nasional. Another fact that Gandhi’s three children to Islam by ruling that should be pointed out is that The Star is owned consent must be obtained beforehand from both by the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) parents. Most sources that were referred by The that is considered as the third-largest party Star praised and supported the decisions made by the court by classifying that the in the opposition, Barisan Nasional alliance. decision was indeed courageous and wise. The Star was chosen due to its distinctive The sources mentioned include several characteristic that is not possessed by other important figures from various parties mainstream newspapers which refers to its such as Barisan Nasional (BN) especially the practice of balanced reporting that provides MCA, Pakatan Harapan politicians, non- space for both parties involved in a conflict Muslims lawyers, human rights advocate, and the public. However, it was discovered that [12, 13]. Furthermore, The Star which has been The Star mostly referred to Muslims references targeting middle-class citizens as their main who are moderate and open-minded such as audience have published the highest number the G25 group, Sisters in Islam, Zainah of circulation for the English-language press Anwar, Zaid Ibrahim as well as Siti Kassim category with a total of 546,553 copies sold in who are well known as one of the Muslim 2015 [14]. liberals. Nevertheless, The Star also reported Furthermore, their online news several opinions that seemed to disagree portal has become one of the most viewed with the Court’s decision as found in two pages in the past years. The Star Online was the articles out of the total of 47 articles top read news portal in 2014 [15]. As a matter collected. For example, the Malaysian of fact, The Star Online ranked ahead of Muslim Lawyers Association described the Harian Metro and Sinar Harian which were decision issued by the court as a “strange” respectively placed at the second and third precedent in the light of a previous Federal Court decision on unil ateral conversion, place among other news portals. Meanwhile, which in this case refers to the issue of R. the report also listed The Star’s website, 269 Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research (ASSEHR), volume 219

Subashini vs T. Saravanan. In the case that issue for granted considering that it is a took place in 2007, the apex court ruled that a sensitive issue and can trigger racial tensions single parent could convert a child below the among the citizens. age 18 [16]. On a similar note, there was also Discussion a letter written by a public who disagreed with The findings of the present study the verdict issued by the Court and clearly showed that The Star’s reporting sympathized with Riduan Abdullah generally supports the court’s verdicts by considering that his battle is crucial for the upholding and respecting the constitution of rights of all fath ers in Malaysia [17]. the country. Moreover, it is very obvious In addition to the theme discussed considering that most of the sources above, there was a lot of report produced mentioned that the court has made the right by The Star on the struggle of M. Indira decision based on the provisions stated in the Ghandi personally [18, 19]. In this context, it is constitution of the country. The findings of clear that The Star used the “human interest” the present study are consistent with the value in its reporting by highlighting the findings of Eichenauer [21] which states that sufferings and the joy of Indira’s family. More The Star is very conc erned about importantly, Indira was portrayed as a maintaining the har mony among the public fighter, a loving mom, and a pious lady. through its reporting, including the Apart from that, she was hoping that she importance of respecting the constitution of would be able to meet her youngest daughter the country. in the near future considering that her According to the sources utilized in daughter is currentl y with he r ex-husband this study, it can be seen that The Star also who has gone missing. referred to politicians from Pakatan Harapan Last but not least, The Star also (current government party)h suc as Dr. reported on the willingness of the authorities Mahathir and Mujahid Rawa in obtaining to find and arrest Riduan Abdullah who is the their comments andn opi ions on this issue husband of Indira Ghandi [20]. The police despite the fact that The Star is owned by the especially the IGP, Tan Sri Dato’ Sri MCA which is linked to the previous ruling Mohamad Fuzi Harun has repeatedly regime. However, The Star still provides space guaranteed that they will seek and arrest for views contrary to the majority opinion Riduan Abdullah immediately and expect the especially from pro-Islamic groups even help of the communitya to rrest him by though The Star is seen to support Indira providing clues to the police in the effort to Ghandi on this issue. Apart from that, The track him down. Moreover, he also provided Star is seen to have a modest approach in assurance to unite Indira with her youngest reporting the issue s on Islam by choosing to daughter as soon as possible. Finally, the refer to open- minded and liberal Muslims in 270 police also urged the public not to take this commenting on this issueh suc as the G25, Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research (ASSEHR), volume 219

Zainah Anwar, Sisters in Islam, and Zaid newspaper had given a significant importance on Ibrahim. More importantly, they are known maintaining the harmony between multiracial as those who support the spirit of goodwill and multi-religious society in reporting this among different races and nations. As stated issue. It is also importann t to ote that it has a by Eichenauer, The Star often referred to a target group of multiracial and middle-income variety of views and opinions on an issue group considering the fact that it is an English- regardless of one’s political background. language newspaper. Hence , it comes to no The findings are also in line with the surprise that the spirit of unity has been the study of Yang and Md Sidin [22] which main thrust of The Star reporting in regard to stated that The Star tends to frame on an this controversial issue. issue based on “human interest”. In addition, Furthermore, The Star continued to it can be seen that The Star reported about report by taking into account the diversified Indira Gandhi’s personal life in detail. In views and opinions that either support or against this case, the way Indira chose to celebrate M. Indira Ghandi in the context of this case. The her victory was also given the elements of Star was also seen to play its role as a medium for humanity in the story, and she was society to obtain div erse information because it described as a caring mother, steadfast, and actually published letters written by the public, very obedient to God. Finally, the findings of thus making it as a platform for the public to this study also showed that it is in agreement express their views on this issue. Therefore, the with several previous studies as The Star press media in Malaysia is expected to play an referred to the police as one of the major important role in the current political scenario sources in obtaining reliable information for the purpose of preserving the relationship for their reporting. The police is generally among the citizens of Malaysia through a known to have the authority and power in diversified view, which is expected to maintain making decisions, which explains why it has the relationship among the citizens of Malaysia. been the medi a first choice as a source of References news. The Star utilized the police as a news R. Affandi Abd. Rahim, M. Anuar Ramli, P. source to report on Riduan Abdullah’s search Ismail and N. Hayati Mohd Dahlal and their youngest daughter who is still with Dialog Antara Agama: Realiti dan Riduan. Finally, The Star also used the Prospek di Malaysia,Kajian Malaysia, police as a sourc e to ask the public not to Vol.29, No.2, 91–110. 2011. sensationalize the issue for the purpose of Y. Lai Fong & M. Sidin Ahmad Ishak. preventing any conflicts in the multi- Covering Religious Conflict religious society. in Malaysia: How Sin Chew

Conclusion Daily Framed the Lina Joy In conclusion, it is clear that The Star Controversy, Malaysian Journ271al of Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research (ASSEHR), volume 219

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