Last week, I went to The New Straits Times group building in Bangsar to hand a copy of my latest book "Berpetualang ke Aceh: Sirih Pulang ke Gagang?" ("The trip to Aceh: The prodigal son returns?" or so) or BKA III to the Berita Harian literary section for review. It was a short stop as I had much to do that day. Only the next day did I went there again, this time spending a whole day to get a friend to help me with the graphics of a bunting I'm designing to promote the whole "Berpetualang ke Aceh" book series.
I took the opportunity to visit almost every section of the dailies The New Straits Times, Malay Mail, Berita Harian and Metro where many people still knew me from the old days. One of them suggested I visit my old haunt... The sixth floor of the building where, believe it or not, I used to spend almost 3 years bunking and sleeping on the floor while working as journalist! Hence the pictures here....
Now, much have changed since I left the company at the end of 2001... For one, the control over the company have changed hands a number of times but the essence is still the same... Those who work for the powers-that-be of the day control the place... It doesn't matter much who is or are actually at the helm... What matters are, do they work in the tandem with those who control the present national policy.
I don't care anymore who rules the company literally or not. Once, I was banished from the place... In fact I was banned from stepping foot within the confines of the office building by a former cabinet minister of yore who then become the most powerful editorial personality in Malaysia. Then again he was sacked a few years later when the country changed reins again...
What do concern me is the change of atmosphere at the work-place... Somehow much have changed... Perhaps the whole personality of the company!
For one, the floors have shifted. When I was still around, the 4th floor used to house the main editorial components of The New Straits Times paper and Berita Harian. It also houses the Malay Mail while Metro is at third.
Now, NST is in 2nd, Berita Harian 4th... Hmm... Funny, I've forgotten the exact location of the editorial floors of the two other dailies under the NST group.
Still, that's besides the matter. What troubles me is the interior decor which looks much sleeker than before... Sure, aesthetically, you could say it is much pleasing but somehow to me (and some of the guys still serving there too), it is just too plastic...
Instead of looking like a place for people of the press to juggle the importance out of the day's events for public consumption, it felt more like an advertising place... It doesn't feel like a place where people returned to and sort things out after finding news... It looks like a factory to manufacture news!
The full brunt of the change only occur to me when I went up the old haunt, the 6th floor where I have spent many nights within a period of 3 years snuggled inside a sleeping bag alone... Sure, the place, an open-air car-park looked much more developed with a Futsal court on it but the many slogans dished out on the walls say it all.... H.G. Wells (or was it Orson something)'s big brother have arrived full-time in Malaysia to keep an eye and determine what's news, what's not...
The testimony to that is the conspicuous absence of many senior journalists from the mainstream papers... Once upon a time, they can boldly argue with the upper editorial figures as to what makes the pages. Now, it's more like hear ye, hear ye... Follow the line or take the walk to oblivion like I did six years ago.
It didn't take a genius to figure out, this place is now under strict control... Of much bigger proportion than it ever was including during my days. Enough said....