No live telecast of UMNO General Assembly

"NO LIVE TELECAST (TV)" - While I'm not surprised that pages 1-8 & 16 of the NST today is dominated with news related to the "CIRCUS" in-town, the UMNO General Assembly. I did find amongst all the drama, that in the top-left-corner of page 6 there an in-brief section entitled "NO TO LIVE TV COVERAGE". 

According to the news report, (which relies on the party's website) HERE the party has decided to disallow live-telecast after the General Assembly of 2006 (where live telecast was allowed) because some of the delegates' speeches had bordered on the SEDITIOUS, and this had ALARMED viewers.

"KUALA LUMPUR, 23 Mac – Ibu Pejabat UMNO memutuskan tidak ada sebarang siaran langsung yang akan diadakan dalam persidangan Perhimpunan Agung UMNO 2008 kali ini, yang akan berlangsung selama lima hari bermula esok.

Keputusan untuk tidak menyiarkan sebarang siaran langsung ini dibuat setelah menilai dan meneliti antara impaknya yang secara tidak langsung turut memberi kesan kepada masyarakat di luar dewan persidangan."

On a practical note, the live telecast of the UMNO General Assembly, will not only allow all UMNO members to witness the debates at the Assembly, but will also allow the Malaysian rakyat to witness the debates of one of the main politicial parties in the country. If the delegates bring up seditious or "sensitive" issues during the Assembly, I think its all the more important for the public to view the response from the UMNO Supreme Council,  or the key party leaders. 

The possibility of HOT DEBATES is not a valid reason to bar the live-telecast. I think UMNO wishes to hide their dirty-linen, and disguise the true nature and instability that currently exists in UMNO. 

In November 2008, live-telecast of the Parti Keadlian Raykat National Congress was permitted throughout the congress. Unfortunately the only people who went live with the news was TV Antara, and the party website. Other media organisations were instructed to "block" as much as possible of the going on's throughout the congress. 

I am convinced, that the instruction to block the live-tv coverage of the UMNO General Assembly, has a much more sinister intention of "hiding" the true proceedings from the public. It seems that the more that Najib Tun Razak moves into the picture, the more that we see the return to the Mahathir-era of draconian executive rule.