Note: It has been 2 years since I applied for the Fulbright scholarship which brought me to New York University’s Studio 20 program to pursue my masters degree in new media and digital innovation. The 1.5 year scholarship sponsored by the U.S. State Department has expanded my understanding about journalism to a whole new level, and empowered me to dream bigger, to achieve things that I have never imagined before.

If you are like me, passionate about something but lack the resources to do it, don’t give up, work harder and prove your capabilities to earn the recognition and support of others.

Study Objective

While studying Chemical Engineering in university, my involvement in student activism drove me to look to social issues around me. Upon graduation in 2005, I pursued my passion of making Malaysia a more democratic and open country by becoming a journalist. I joined Malaysiakini, Malaysia’s leading independent media organization, now reaching over 2.5 million readers in four languages. I was part of a three-member team that established the Chinese-language desk, making it one of the nation’s top Chinese news portals. In January 2011, I took on a new challenge by joining the English desk.

I have specialised in covering corruption, electoral fraud and other critical issues. Some of my reports have led to government inquiries, the resignation of top officials and charges against corrupt ministers. Among others, a series of exposes resulted in the sacking of the Anti-Corruption Agency chief in 2007; and my intensive and persistent coverage on the Port Klang Free Zone scandal contributed to the prosecution of two former cabinet ministers in 2011.

I have also uncovered several vote-buying operations by the ruling coalition during by-elections and the Sarawak state election. In 2011, the bulk of my work involved investigating and exposing electoral fraud including allegations that non-citizens are being given voting rights, and that there are multiple registration of voters in the electoral roll. This sparked a public outcry that led to two major street rallies being held for electoral reform.

In addition to daily news coverage, I have played a key role in Malaysiakini’s venture into social media platforms and its Citizen Journalism programme — a training course to empower citizens to report on issues that concern them and their community.

I have come to realize that quality and bold journalism needs to be supported by innovative editorial and business models that take advantage of social media, crowd sourcing, live TV, data journalism and other products powered by new technologies and social behavior. The success of Malaysiakini has proven that innovation in technology and business can enable resource-challenged independent media to compete with government-supported media giants in a difficult political and business environment.

Individuals at the nexus between good journalism, entrepreneurship and new technologies are severely lacking in Malaysia. I would like to equip myself with these skills to develop and transform new media in countries where the media is not free. I believe that courses on entrepreneurial journalism such as that offered by the City University of New York’s Graduate School of Journalism or the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism will enable me to begin this next phase of my career.

If I have the opportunity to study in the US, my first priority would be to establish a data journalism center in Malaysia. The free flow of information is one of the pillars of democracy, but the government has been keeping state information off-limits to public scrutiny. This is slowly being challenged, after two state governments under Pakatan Rakyat enacted Freedom of Information Act and declassified certain types of state information.

The center would serve two purposes. Firstly, it would be a platform to allow crowd sourcing and public participation in generating a public database, for example, of an ‘Umno business empire’ that illustrates the network of businesses and individuals related to the ruling party, and the government contracts awarded to them; or of an electoral corruption map to collect and verify graft allegations during elections. The database would then be visualised into user-friendly forms for public consumption.

Secondly, it would educate both the public and decision makers on the importance of transparency and freedom of information, as well as encourage the culture of constructive debate based on statistics and facts, by showing how open information and a curated database can facilitate quality public debate and policy making. The emergence of a two-party system after the last general election has generated more policy debates, but the lack of data and the ability to contextualise it has impeded meaningful discussion.

Malaysiakini has already raised funds and committed itself to moving in this direction. But it currently lacks individuals who can provide the innovative leadership needed for such a project to succeed. Malaysiakini wishes to build and test products in Malaysia, where free market competition is distorted by state intervention and monopoly, and to share the knowledge to survive and excel in such an environment to other similar countries through its partnership with the Southeast Asian Centre for E-media, a regional organization dedicated to supporting new media organisations in the region.

I believe that, during this critical juncture in Malaysia’s political history, where a change in the incumbent regime which has been in power for the past 55 years seems likely in the near future, I can play an important role in shaping the media landscape towards a more democratic Malaysia.