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Tv & Radio > News & Features Sunday January 7, 2007
The Xmas that could, should have been
AIR RAVES
By ANTHONY THANASAYAN
IT was a joyful but generally quiet Christmas for most Malaysians last month (and last year). The weather was fine in the parts of the country that were not affected by the heavy rainfall that had deluged several states, resulting in some of the worst floods Malaysia had seen in decades.
Despite the grim situation, on Christmas Day, at least, some of the victims could take comfort in the fact that the floodwaters were slowly receding in areas where they lived.
I was most fortunate to be safe and dry in my cosy little room in Petaling Jaya, Selangor.
However, although I was hundreds of kilometres from where all the gloom and doom, I couldn’t take my mind off the reports that came on regularly over the radio, the news bulletins about people whose year-end festivities had been ruined by the terrible waters.
It was 4pm on Christmas Eve, and I was by my radio set. My first impression of the X’mas specials, however, was one of disappointment.
Even though news of the floods was featured hourly on the airwaves, the deejays made virtually no mention of the disaster.
They appeared to be more interested in Christmas parties and events. They spun one seasonal song after another and came across as if they were in such a jolly mood, oblivious to the predicament of the tens of thousands of flood victims in Johor, Malacca, Negri Sembilan and Pahang who would be spending a miserable Christmas in makeshift shelters.
I wonder if the deejays paused to think for one minute that hundreds of these people could have been tuned in with their battery-powered radios and mobile phones, hoping to hear the latest updates on the floods or, perhaps, advice on how to cope in the situation.
Quite frankly, I couldn’t for the life of me envisage listeners who had just been forced to flee their inundated homes tapping their feet to Andy Williams’ It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year, which TraxxFM was playing at the time.
Even the listeners who called in to radio stations spoke only about how they would be spending the occasion at church, in shopping complexes or at the dance floor with their chums.
I thought that radio stations could have seized the moment to spread the true spirit and meaning of Christmas. It is about giving rather than receiving, and it is about spending time with those who have less or, in this particularly case, nothing at all!
Our broadcasters should have opened up their studio phone lines and invited listeners from unaffected areas all over the nation to share an encouraging word or maybe a poem, a song or even a prayer to those suffering because of the floods.
The exercise would have made us all stop and think first about our fellow men, women and children – and even the animals under our care – before our personal wishes in any celebration.
It would also have helped those not affected by such a crisis to plan ahead should they, God forbid, have to face something similar one day.
It would also have been interesting to have seen the ideas that Malaysians from all walks of life can come up with to help the flood victims cope.
Even getting some carol singers into the studio for an on-air “gathering” of sorts for those without the prospect of a joyous Christmas – and inviting them to call in and share their personal stories – would have been a great X’mas moment for everyone.
Despite living in the cyber age, Anthony Thanasayan insists that radio still provides a unique window on the world. When he isn’t scanning bandwidths, he trains service dogs for disabled people through his organisation, Petpositive (Malaysian Animal-Assisted Therapy for the Disabled and Elderly Association). You can write to him at athanasayan@hotmail.com.
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