Anwar Ibrahim became the media’s favourite despite being absent at the Malay Dignity Congress

The ‘Kongres Maruah Melayu’ (Malay Dignity Congress) made a historic moment in Malaysia’s political scene as politicians from both sides came together with the intention to unite the Malays.

Representing their respective parties, the ones who were present are Bersatu chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, PKR deputy president Datuk Seri Azmin Ali, PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang and UMNO secretary-general Tan Sri Annuar Musa.

Previously, it was reported that PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was not invited to the congress. However, he later clarified his absence, stating that he received the invitation, but it was too late for him to attend the congress as he was in Port Dickson.

Interestingly, Anwar appeared in more articles pertaining to Malay Dignity congress compared to Azmin, despite the former being absent. The PKR president appeared in 86 articles, while its deputy was mentioned in 69 articles. There was a difference of 17 articles between the two PKR leaders.

According to media share, Malay-language newspapers, Utusan was leading when it comes to the topic of ‘Malay Dignity Congress’, with 48 articles published about the congress in the past month. Coming in second with 45 articles on the congress, Malaysia Chronicle is not far behind Utusan.

But the related influencers on the topic by the two top media differs from each other. It is observed that Malaysia Chronicles was interested in quoting Anwar’s statement, while Utusan wasn’t.

During his opening speech, the event’s secretariat chief executive Zainal Kling said only ‘Malay-based’ parties are invited to the Congress. This came after the people were questioning about the absence of Anwar Ibrahim and PKR in the event.

Zainal noted that PKR is not a ‘Malay-based’ party. This, however, does not provide explanation for Azmin’s presence in the event which may appear interesting and newsworthy to Malaysia Chronicle.