Malaysian Insider headline: NUJ president found guilty of tarnishing Utusan.
Seeing as ‘tarnish’ means ‘to make people think that someone or something is less good‘, I contend that this is an impossibility on the scale of 1 = and = 1 simultaneously.
From Malaysian Insider, via Malaysia Today:
NUJ president found guilty of tarnishing Utusan
By Melissa Chi, The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, April 14 — National Union of Journalists (NUJ) president Hata Wahari was found guilty today of all eight counts of tarnishing the image of his employer Utusan Malaysia.
He told The Malaysian Insider that the “punishment” will be decided by the Umno-owned newspaper’s top management and he will be informed in a fortnight.
“I am prepared for the worst,” he said, referring to the possibility he might be sacked.
“I will leave it to the top management to decide but I don’t know what to say,” he said when asked what he thinks the punishment might be.
The senior journalist said he was still an Utusan Malaysia employee until notified otherwise, although he has been suspended since January 11 pending the disposal of the domestic inquiry.
The decision on the inquiry was read out this morning by committee chairman Mohd Basir Abdul Rahim, with NUJ-Utusan chairman Taufik Razak and its executive councillor, Hayat Sueet, present as well.
Hata had been accused of insulting Utusan’s management and tarnishing Utusan’s image through statements he issued to various news portals between September 21 and October 14 last year.
He had caused a stir when he urged the authorities to act against Utusan’s editors for stoking racial sentiment in its reports.
He had also blamed the drop in the national daily’s sales on the editors for pushing what he called racial rhetoric.
Hata was issued with a notice on December 27 last year, ordering him to appear before the domestic inquiry, which was scheduled to begin on January 6 at the company’s headquarters in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur.
He was later issued a suspension letter on January 11, stating that the senior reporter would be denied entry into any Utusan office throughout the course of the inquiry unless given permission from the company management.
The inquiry was first postponed from January 19 to January 25, and was postponed again because Hata was hospitalised for chest pains.
It was postponed yet again from February 9 because of his medical check-up and finally held on March 1 and March 10.
The Malaysian Insider reported that Hata had announced he would start a new newspaper if he was sacked by his current employer.
Hata said he had presented the newspaper called Utusan Rakyat to both PKR and Umno, adding that the newspaper would be non-partisan.
However, PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar had also come up with the same name for a similar project of her own, naming Hata as its chief editor.
Hata said he then decided to rename his project Harian Malaysia and turn it into an online paper.
He said he was working on it with his brother, a graphic designer, but said that it was still in its infancy.
Utusan Malaysia had also dismissed in 2009 its NUJ branch head Amran Ahmad, who said the newspaper had accused him of being a DAP agent.
Umno took over ownership of the Malay-language broadsheet in 1961. Hata said that before that, it was still credible and objective.
April 16, 11 at 4:28 am
Interesting blog you have here. I came across it during a google search for something entirely different (LGF stuff), and found that you’ve linked to Patterico, Weasel Zippers and Jihad Watch. Keep up the good work, and I’ll be back.
April 16, 11 at 8:24 am
Thanks mate. Actually I usually frequent Moonbattery, Gateway Pundit, AoSHQ and Jawa.
http://scottthong.wordpress.com/2011/02/07/conservative-blogs-i-frequent/
April 16, 11 at 9:10 am
Yep, I saw that list. That’s one of the things that kept me from being a drive-by viewer. I’ll see if we can throw some traffic your way.
April 16, 11 at 9:43 am
Lol thx! Most of my recurring hits come from practical rather than political posts – the Plants vs Zombies guide and how to stop chilli burning.
April 21, 11 at 9:15 pm
From Malaysia Kini
Attacking press freedom through NUJ president
Tuesday, April 19 @ 02:53:42 CDT
Open letter to Mohamed Hashim Ahmad Makaruddin
Executive Chairperson, Kumpulan Utusan
Dear Sir,
We at the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) are deeply concerned by your company’s verdict that Utusan Malaysia senior journalist and National “Union” of Journalists (NUJ) Malaysia president, Mohamed Hata Wahari, is guilty of “tarnishing” your company’s image and “revealing corporate secrets”.
We are aware that Article 10 of the federal constitution guarantees freedom of expression of all citizens, and a journalist is no exception to the rule. Hata, we believe, is just performing his duty of ensuring that the truth is uncovered if only Utusan Malaysia will practice fair and ethical journalism.
We therefore ask you and your company to refrain from taking any action against Hata, respecting his rights as a journalist and as a “union” leader—and any other journalists for that matter—to freely comment on the state of media freedom and issues that affect their livelihood and profession.
Taking any action against the journalist “union” leader whose alleged crime had only been to speak for press freedom would not be in keeping with Prime Minister Najib Razak’s progressive message three days after he assumed his post in April 2008, envisioning a freer media that would “hold the government and public officials accountable” and “report without fear and favour”.
Should Hata continue to be persecuted — and that is how SEAPA views this situation — it would only cause the further decline of the Malaysian press’ standing. We note that the country’s press freedom ranking has been steadily declining over the past years, placing it at the 141st position out of 178 countries, according to a 2010 index by Reporters Without Borders.
For these reasons, we reiterate our call for your company to stop taking action against Hata and instead respect his decision to perform his duty as a journalist and “union” leader.
May 4, 11 at 5:55 pm
Sacked Utusan newsman
joins new Malay weekly
BY ALYAA ALHADJRI
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
PETALING JAYA: National
Union of Journalists (NUJ)
president Hata Wahari (pix)
who was on Monday sacked
from Utusan Malaysia
yesterday confirmed that he
has accepted the post of
chief editor of Utusan
Rakyat which has yet to have
its printing permit approved.
Hata told theSun however that
the Malay weekly is now in its final
stages of obtaining a printing permit
from the Home Ministry.
“They requested us to drop the
word ‘Rakyat’ from the paper’s title,
but we argued that by doing so, the
paper will lose its soul as the word is
meant to represent the voice of the
people,” he said after meeting
ministry officials with Lembah
Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar who
is Utusan Rakyat’s advisory panel
member.
Although the ministry has not
given any indication on when a
permit will be approved, Hata said
his start-up plan is for the paper to
have 24 pages of
reports on general
news, entertainment
and sports – with an
editorial team that is
expected to consist of
senior reporters and
younger blood.
“Utusan Rakyat
will strive to provide a
new platform for
journalists to report
on current issues in a
fair and objective manner,” he said.
“It was a meaningful meeting
considering we are celebrating
World Press Freedom Day today
(May 3). In line with that spirit, we
reaffirm our right to use the name
Utusan Rakyat,” said Nurul Izzah.
Hata, who was axed for issuing
statements deemed against the
terms of his employment, said he
will file an application to the
Industrial Relations Department, to
request reinstatement.
NUJ general secretary V.
Anbalagan in a statement said NUJ
will hold an extraordinary meeting
to obtain views from exco members
regarding Hata’s dismissal.
January 19, 12 at 2:22 pm
now he joins DAP, hopefully brings along winds of change to bolehland