A police report has been lodged against Sarawak Report for purportedly falsifying documents pertaining to 1MDB and colluding with opposition lawmakers.

This was revealed by BN strategic communications director Abdul Rahman Dahalan, who urged the authorities to take action.

Apart from this, the minister said police were also given a video confession from an ex-editor of Sarawak Report as well as an email allegedly from the London-based whistleblower website’s editor Claire Rewcastle.

In the email dated March 1, 2015, Rewcastle purportedly wrote: 'Thanks! Yes it was quite a job!.. Sitting up night after night cleverly forging all those documents!!!!'

*updated:

Abdul Rahman (photo) initially refused to give out any names including the opposition leaders he claimed were in league with Rewcastle and Sarawak Report, and on a ‘mission to criminalise Najib and 1MDB'.

He however relented and gave out the serial number of the police report for reporters to check out.

The police report, sighted by Malaysiakini, was lodged by one Ramesh Rao Krishnan Naidu, an NGO leader, and was made before noon in Petaling Jaya today.

The report mentions that Ramesh travelled to Kuching to meet one Lester Melanyi, who had confessed to be involved in the falsifying of documents along with Rewcastle.

Abdul Rahman then asked the Interpol, United Kingdom and Malaysian police to work together swiftly and investigate thoroughly Rewcastle's email.

He added he was confident the police would do so in the most professional and transparent manner.

“I am also confident Interpol will extend its fullest cooperation to the Malaysian police so that the truth will prevail on the issue of the falsification of information by the Sarawak Report," he concluded.

 Malaysiakini


Click here to read Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan's press statement.

Continue reading

Those who hate the status quo and are intent on overthrowing the government will stop at nothing in spinning their yarn to confuse Malaysians.

The latest blog post of a former newsman here (also featured here) begins with the tale of a sick child whose RM700 machine now costs RM742. The warped angle of the story distorted beyond measure must be highlighted so as to understand the hidden agenda of that short post.

What is most appalling is how another website reposted by manipulating the headline to Kadir: Millions suffering under GST, no Aidil Fitri cheer to stir the wrath of those who will be celebrating Raya next week.

1. The use of that scenario was to create pathos in readers so craftily that the 42RM increase in price (exactly 6%) can fan stronger anti-GST feelings in the minds of readers.

Now what that writer conveniently chose to omit is the rationale for GST.

GST was implemented as a tax reform programmed to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the existing taxation system.

Internationally,  GST is a better tax system as it is more effective, efficient, transparent and business friendly. Apart from stirring economic growth, it has increased competitiveness in the global market.

GST generates a more stable source of revenue to the nation because it is less susceptible to economic fluctuations.

Due to the misinformation spread by the Opposition and some media, Malaysians perceive GST negatively.

Therefore, to use a sad tale of ONE family to state the current economic climate WITHOUT factoring other intra- and inter-causal economic effects is nothing short of irresponsible.

What we see is something more serious.

Those quarters who used to condemn media for criticising the government and then taking action against them seem to be working hand in glove with the very people they hated in the past - all because they have one common enemy - the status quo.

That they can feature such a lopsided and warped report is nothing short of irresponsibility and non-compliance to Code of Ethics for media and also Malaysia Communications and Multimedia Content Code, especially Section 7:

Content, which contains false material and is likely to mislead, due amongst others to

incomplete information is to be avoided. Content providers must observe measures outlined in specific parts of this Code to limit the likelihood of perpetuating untruths via the communication of false content.

7.2 Content is false where prior to communications reasonable measures to verify its truth have not been adopted or taken.

7.3 Content which is false, is expressly prohibited except in any of the following

circumstances:

(a) Satire and parody;

(b) Where it is clear to an ordinary user that the content is fiction.

7.4 Code Subjects must take all necessary steps outlined in the specific parts of this Code to limit the likelihood of provision of false Content. 

2. The twisted link between GST and hardship felt of masses completely ignored the current climate whereby Malaysia is NOT the only nation suffering from a slowdown.

Although economic dynamics in the ex-Japan Asia region were stable in Q1, with GDP expanding at the previous quarter’s annual rate of 6.2%, growth came in slightly below the 6.3% increase expected last month. 

In fact, most of the economies in the region fared worse compared to the previous quarter in Q1, including the region’s driving force China. 

Only India, Singapore and Thailand accelerated in the January–March period.  (Source: Here June 25th 2015)

You can see Singapore's National Debt HERE whilst that for Malaysia is HERE. Do not just compare the absolute figures but please remember the differences in terms of size and population. Perhaps then you can see things in a clearer perspective instead of through the warped lens of naysayers.

3. When Fitch ratings go up, they are unhappy and if otherwise, they are STILL unhappy. Nothing makes them happy until they topple the current government.

What can you say about such naysayers and spinners who have no scruples at all and would stoop to the lowest low just to run down this country and to inflict the greatest damage on our country's economy and the loyalty of Malaysians?

Well, those crooked villains push crooked pens for a crooked master!

"There was a crooked man," 

BY MOTHER GOOSE 

So, who is that crooked master with his crooked minions pushing crooked pens?

Continue reading

The chain of events in our country is now more exciting than any Academy Award winning movie, and does not come close to Furious 7 or even Timbuktu (2015).

Firstly, Sarawak Report has made so many disparaging remarks about all involved in 1MDB, PGI, Thai Police, NST and the list goes on.

Yet, they are threatening to sue others? Are they kidding?

Secondly, I wonder what sort of server they have to store the three million emails allegedly from PetroSaudi.

Errrrrr.....isn't it a cyber crime to stash company emails that belong to others?

Thirdly, despite my highlighting the need for email headers, their latest post once again does not show email headers for any of the purported emails.

In the court of law, such evidence is worthless. Please report to the relevant authorities, not on your website. I have already given you the contact details in my previous post.

Fourthly, in their lame and desperate attempt to defend themselves with all the artwork etc, *yawns*, they have done what others accused them of doing for all and sundry to see.

They wrote their comments IN those documents.

Hello....if that is not called tampering, what is tampering then, pray thee tell me?

Any comments should not be within the 'offending' document but outside...that is IF they are trying to prove the legitimacy of those documents.

But, they have not observed such guidelines.

Finally (till the next SR episode that is...), can a thief steal from another thief and proclaim that he is the saviour of the country? Can he argue that he is above all laws in this entire universe, faultless and blameless and only he and he alone is RIGHT, all others WROOONG?

Well, Robin Hood did that but under different circumstances. Even so, the Sheriff of Nottingham still pursued him.

The fact is, a theft is a theft. Keeping stolen goods is also a crime.

Now how about that, Sarawak Report?

Are you yearning for Saint Sarawak Report title to be bestowed upon you?

Or are you guys desperadoes in action?

Ooops, your panic state is showing because of the many errors in your post which never used to appear at all. What happened to the stiff upper lip?

Here are some of those glaring slips and verbose convoluted sentences which are most uncharacteristic of SR (perhaps the latest post was written by someone else) and possibly indicates your panicky mental state:

1. Most notoriously, (COMMA MISSING) the Home Minister Zahid Hamidi has claimed to told the press that this allegation proved that our reports were “intentionally spinning” and that facts had been “twisted”. 

Yet, (COMMA MISSING AGAIN) we can show in precise detail how these comments can be proved to be entirely untrue. 

Our proof has been obtained by We examininged the evidence on which the company PetroSaudi, (which is behind the allegations)  based its claims.
Thus is was that on Tuesday, COMMA MISSING staff from the UMNO owned newspaper New Straits Times were transported to Bangkok, in order to photograph the staged arrest of an alleged PetroSaudi whistleblower, whom they claimed was the source of millions of emails that have provided Sarawak Report information about siphoning of billions of ringgit from 1MDB.

Oh boy! That was a mouthful of a run-on sentence. Please tell it clearly such as:

On Tuesday, ??? (WHO?) flew staff from the UMNO owned newspaper New Straits Times  to Bangkok to photograph the staged arrest of an alleged PetroSaudi whistleblower.

What a bizarre allegation!

It confounds me how Sarawak Report thinks NST is so into photography these days that they would be interested to allow someone (who???) to fly their staff/ or that they flew their staff to photograph the 'staged arrest' of the alleged whistleblower.

Their sentence is slyly written in the passive voice. Who flew NST staff there is deliberately ambiguous!

Look here. if you want to join Hollywood, go ahead. Attend movie scripts classes. Submit your scripts to producers.

But what SR is now brainlessly churning out in their site may not even make it to Grade C movies.

Sarawak Report certainly has a very imaginative mind to suggest that scenario because they are implying that the Thai police and other professionals were part of this conspiracy.

So all of them had scripts to follow? Pray tell when were the rehearsals because if indeed what SR alleged is true, there must have been rehearsals for them to play by cue and to 'stage' the whole arrest scene.

So who were the directors, producers, scriptwriters, props personnel, lighting and cameramen? Please enlighten us, Sarawak Report.

I hope the Thai authorities are reading this and reporting this matter to Interpol.

Such an allegation is very damaging.

To allude that those policemen and spokesmen from PGI were partners in this conspiracy all colluding to support 1MDB?

Are you joking?

Come on. Pass the popcorn while we all wait for Sarawak Report to post all those three million emails in their website and fill in the details of their blockbuster spectacular Justo conspiracy movie.

Bring it on, baby!

In the mean time, while we are waiting for those 3 million emails to be published (FULL HEADER PLEASE), here's a very interesting post by Lim Sian See:

Sarawak Report: Did you just fall into a trap?

In response to a specific example given by Protection Group International (PGI) which says a certain document has been tampered with, Sarawak report just made a post showing two copies of the same document which they allege that it was the one meant referred to by PGI.

Sarawak Report admits PGI allegations that at least ONE document had been modified.

Specifically with regards to this one file, Sarawak Report says "A simple examination of the so-called “meta data” identifying this document from our original report does indeed show that it was opened by Xavier Justo (‘xavierj’) on January 17th 2013.

However, Sarawak Report in detail claims, at least for the purpose of this document, there is "No Difference! - We Prove How The Allegations Of "Tampering" Are Lies".

However, I am of the opinion that with this ill-advised post by Sarawak Report, they have essentially screwed themselves.


Yummy, Is that a trap?

Why?
Sarawak Report essentially condemned Xavier Justo as the source of the data theft - essentially confirming his guilt. I am sure Xavier is none too happy about this.

Sarawak Report essentially confirmed that at least one file has been modified by Xavier Justo but there was no change in this one document. But what about the dozens or so documents and emails that Sarawak Report has already published? Can they similarly confirm that all such documents have not been tampered with, modified and the contents substantially changed prior to being passed to Sarawak Report or changed by Sarawak Report? Remember now that the Police have a copy of those files and can easily compare with PetroSaudi's original files.

Sarawak Report also essentially condemned themselves of being in possession of stolen documents passed on or sold by a suspected criminal, Xavier Justro. No matter how you cut it, Xavier Justro is guilty of data theft. Whether he is guilty of blackmail or tampering with stolen property or for selling stolen property remains to be seen. It is more likely than not that the person(s) behind Sarawak Report will be found guilty and end up in jail.

Now that Xavier has been condemned and guilt proven by Sarawak Report, he is likely to feel betrayed. Hence is more likely than before to fully cooperate with investigations and happily point out those involved in this chain of data theft and show which documents, if any, that he has tampered with and by how much.

If I was a conspiracy theorist, I would think that PGI and PetroSaudi has probably laid a trap for Sarawak Report - which they gladly fell into.

Whilst I am not a legal expert but Sarawak Report's threat to sue others for libel based on stolen property that they themselves say have been modified (but no change) seems a bit far-fetched and unlikely.

You committed a crime which you just admitted to and you still want to sue for reporting on your crime?

In the meantime, I still believe that Sarawak Report has not told us the full story of the PetroSaudi-1MDB dealings and have deliberately and very selectively released only a dozen or so documents to paint and manipulate a story to point to songlap or conspiracy to cheat money.

Since Sarawak Report has said that it has 3 million emails from PetroSaudi, perhaps they should release all of it for our consumption and allow us to understand the full story of this transaction with 1MDB, understand PetroSaudi's business and the real persons behind PetroSaudi.

For months, we have been led to believe that PetroSaudi is a shady shelf company with little assets and business and conned 1MDB into doing business with them but now it appears the truth is coming out that PetroSaudi is indeed a sizable company with Saudi royal connections and ownership.

Here is the story of how Tony Blair, the ex-Prime Minister of Britain signed a contract with PetroSaudi who are "founded by senior member of Saudi royal family".

Deal: Tony Blair in 2010 with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, right. Mr Blair signed a contract with PetroSaudi, a firm founded by his son

Now it appears PetroSaudi is no small or shelf company with no assets and no liability. Heck, according to Sarawak Report, it has 3 million emails! No small company is able to amass 3 million emails. It would take you 10 years if you create 1,000 emails each and every day.

In the name of transparency and fairness, I think Sarawak Report should release all the 3 million emails that they have to allow the public to fairly judge PetroSaudi and their dealings with 1MDB.

After all, the PAC, BNM and Auditor-General will soon tell us the full story anyway - complete with full documentation and proof.

And plus, the two international auditors KPMG and Deloitte had given the troubled company a clean bill of health and already told the PAC that they fully stand behind their audits.

Although Tun Mahathir did advise the public not to trust auditors - even if both auditors are the biggest names in the world and any failure by either one or both of them would be of world-wide consequences and probably would be double the impact of Enron.

Heck, CBS even made a movie out of Enron,  Here, watch the trailer.




Perhaps if both KPMG and Deloitte also screwed up, a movie about 1MDB will also be made about it since it will create world-wide history?
On a separate note, I'd like to advise Tun Mahathir that he was wrong when he cannot rule out that Thailand govt conspired with "very clever people" in Malaysian Govt to blacken his face and saying that "What makes me puzzled is that he didn't commit a crime in Thailand. He committed the crime in Saudi Arabia.  Usually, other countries don't care unless he is a terrorist,"
Xavier was resident in Thailand for many years and when he blackmailed PetroSaudi or sold the data, he was in Thailand - hence he commited a crime in Thailand.
Going by Tun's logic, it cannot be that if a Swiss man kills a Spanish man in a fight in Thailand, the Thai police cannot arrest or charge him and only the police in Spain can since the victim is a Spain citizen?
If you are in another country, you must abide by the law in that country - and that includes no blackmail, extortion or selling of stolen property or data.
Okay.. let's get back to the main topic.

Come on, Sarawak Report. Do the right thing before you go to jail.

Publish all the 3 million emails.

Continue reading

As highlighted in my earlier press statement 1MDB: Truth at last, I already pointed out that in its postings on 1MDB, Sarawak Reported only provided excerpts from emails allegedly sent by the parties involved without showing the email header which, according to Wiki forensics, “are lines of metadata attached to each email that contain lots of useful information for a forensic investigator.”

Consider the following email header. The parts in bold font are the IP addresses of the sender and receiver of any email.

Delivered-To: xxx@gmail.com
Received: by 10.202.102.222 with SMTP id m91csp274255oik;
        Wed, 24 Jun 2015 21:30:28 -0700 (PDT)
X-Received: by 10.194.84.179 with SMTP id a19mr74823051wjz.29.1435206628359;
        Wed, 24 Jun 2015 21:30:28 -0700 (PDT)
Return-Path: <bounces+11142-69ec- gmail.com@email.yyy.com>
Received: from o6.email.yyy.com (o6.email.yyy.com. [50.31.63.158])
        by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id i2si50571837wjr.23.2015.06.24.21.30.27
        for <xxx @gmail.com>
        (version=TLSv1.2 cipher=ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256 bits=128/128);
        Wed, 24 Jun 2015 21:30:28 -0700 (PDT)
Received-SPF: pass (google.com: domain of bounces+11142-69ec-xxx =gmail.com@email.yyy.com designates 50.31.63.158 as permitted sender) client-ip=50.31.63.158;
Authentication-Results: mx.google.com;
       spf=pass (google.com: domain of bounces+11142-69ec-xxx=gmail.com@email.yyy.com designates 50.31.63.158 as permitted sender)

The IP addresses of the sender and receiver of the emails, signature fields, letterheads are missing – all of which can verify the authenticity of the evidence. Sarawak Report never ever showed any header in all the email excerpts in their 1MDB posts . 

Clearly, they had something to hide. 

Here’s another reason why the credibility of Sarawak Report is at stake.

This document of the drawdown at http://documents.sarawakreport.org/Petrosaudi_1MDB-notice-of-drawdown-23-07-10.pdf  appears as a draft typed in word format with no official chop/letterhead/signatories/signatures  to prove it is indeed a legal and official document. Why?

Did Sarawak Report interview contacts directly or merely depended on unverified secondary info?

Sarawak Report has the email addresses and contact details. Did they and/or all the other sites which carried the damning articles on 1MDB contact the persons mentioned in their posts (such as Jho Low, Li Leen Seet, Tiffany Heah, Patrick Mahony, Prince Turki bin Abdullah,  Tarek Obaid, Shahrol Halmi, Casey Tang,  chr.zuc.a1@bsibank.com, PM Najib, 1MDB officials, PetroSaudi officials and all implicated in the evidence provided) to verify the information featured in Sarawak Report?

Or did they assume that just because it is posted in SR, all is the truth, nothing but the truth and did not bother to verify the information?

Or is it because they were just NOT bothered at all to verify and test the information. Responsible or irresponsible?

Comments from online website readers foolishly defended other portals that carried news from Sarawak Report saying those sites were merely reporting news. 

I beg to differ. 

Any news agency/site must always verify news before publishing it to ensure the information is accurate, credible, timely and indisputable. 

The damage inflicted by irresponsible editing is almost irreversible as can be seen by how many STILL believe SR is giving accurate information and that the status quo is wrong despite damning evidence and statements.

Did  SR report Tiffany Heah to the Sarawak Advocates Association and other implicated lawyers (including the company and personnel listed in the Joint Venture Agreement posted at http://documents.sarawakreport.org/KULDMS-425890-v4A-JVA_PSI_IMDB.pdf) to their respective disciplinary boards to lodge official complaints? 

Failure on their part to take such proactive steps clearly confirms Sarawak Report was not sure of the veracity of the information in the documents and were not at all bothered as long as those information could discredit the PM and 1MDB.

Drafts

Bear in mind some samples provided by SR are listed as DRAFTs.  How can readers react to mere drafts? Any ORIGINAL legit document must have legit stamps, chops, letterhead, ID No and names. The ones posted in Sarawak Report lack such official details.

The question is who released those drafts. And why to Sarawak Report? Who is the intermediary between Justo and Sarawak Report? RPK has made very interesting postulations HERE.

From a legal viewpoint, a draft is a draft and holds no water legally speaking, and fails in its purpose to discredit 1MDB. Yet, Malaysians and editors devoured and reposted the Sarawak Report news items hungrily, ever ready to think the worst of 1MDB. 

Does this make sense?

Strong Accusations

Sarawak Report made such strong accusations on notable figures including:

• PetroSaudi legal team from White & Case in London, headed by the lawyer Tim Buckland

• SHAHROL AZRAL BIN IBRAHIM HALMI whose signature was allegedly in this document at http://documents.sarawakreport.org/petro-saudi-1mdb.pdf (That document is not legal at all                because the IC numbers of the signatories are missing and there are no witnesses to the signing            of the agreement as should be the case in all legal agreements)

• Tarek Obaid etc

Have the aforementioned responded to Sarawak Report or other portals? Their silence shows how petty and worthless are those samples posted due to the inadequacies therein.

Bank Account

In the letter of demand published by Sarawak Report at http://www.sarawakreport.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Screen-Shot-2015-02-27-at-10.08.551-650x698.png, the references and account numbers are provided. Did Sarawak Report and other news portals contact JP Morgan Chase Bank in New York to verify the information? 

What was the outcome? Or did they gobble all the information without verifying it as long as they could discredit 1MDB and parties implicated?

Discrepancies

Please explain the glaring contradictions/discrepancies from http://www.sarawakreport.org/2015/02/heist-of-the-century-how-jho-low-used-petrosaudi-as-a-front-to-siphon-billions-out-of-1mdb-world-exclusive/ :

However, Sarawak Report has established from the documentation* that the signatory and Chief Investment Officer for Good Star was none other than Jho Low’s deputy Li Lin Seet.
Seet had acted as the tycoon’s key right hand man throughout the management of the deal *between 9th-29th September 2009 and was copied in on all the correspondence* we have received relating to the deal.

* What legit documentation was used to establish the fact stated?

* What is meant by management of the deal?

* How can being copied in correspondence be used as solid evidence for such a conclusion?

Non-response

The Prime Minister and various departments have issued various statements and taken concrete steps to restore public confidence in 1MDB. Sarawak Report and other detractors have never given their constructive comments about these actions – only the reverse.

Verification of file

SR claims it verified details via a jpeg file here http://www.sarawakreport.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Screen-Shot-2015-02-26-at-14.01.47-650x316.png There is no formal signature to verify it is indeed an original and legit document.  

The document appears to have been spliced at the top. Why have such documents been used? 

Can SR please show the original evidence?

Please refer to the appended files at the end of this post.

Mismatch in dates

There is a glaring mismatch in dates in the information from Sarawak Report. Evidence 1 from http://documents.sarawakreport.org/Petrosaudi_Loan_Agreement.pdf  My comments in boxes are in red and black font.  

All this shows the veracity of information provided by Sarawak Report is highly questionable.

Sarawak Report, tell us once and for all. Are you sharing truth, lies or bull shit?

Continue reading

The Internet is abuzz with news of the doctored documents used by Sarawak Report.

Where is the integrity that is always preached by Sarawak Report?

Sarawak Report and 1MDB detractors who believed in SR and used their documents have misled Malaysians, including Tun Dr Mahathir.

The grave damage Sarawak Report inflicted to the Malaysian economy is just too great.  Appropriate action need to be taken against those who sabotage the country.

Here's a report from The Malaysian Insider:

The leaked documents on 1Malaysia Development Berhad's (1MDB) 2009 business deal with PetroSaudi International Ltd were edited before they appeared on the Sarawak Report website, an international cyber security firm has said.

According to a report in pro-government English daily, the New Straits Times (NST), the firm Protection Group International (PGI) said the data was stolen from PetroSaudi and subsequently edited before it was published on the Internet.

"Our investigation is still ongoing, but it is clear that we are looking at a case of large-scale data theft, and our analysis substantiates that (Xavier Andre) Justo is the source of the data published on Sarawak Report," an expert from PGI was quoted as saying.

“For example, when we looked into a PowerPoint file that was on one of the Sarawak Report’s blog, we found evidence in the metadata of that file that it had been handled by a certain “xavierj” in 2013; two years after Justo left PetroSaudi, and four years after the file had originally been created by a law firm that advised PetroSaudi.

“It is also clear that the stolen data sets are incomplete, and underwent an editing process after they were removed from PetroSaudi’s systems, and before they were published on the Internet.

"There are many inconsistencies between the published data and the data which still exists on files within PetroSaudi relating to that period of time. Simply put, it is incomplete data, creatively selected and edited to fit a desired narrative," the NST quoted the PGI source as saying.

PGI was hired to investigate the source of the data published on the Internet and verify its authenticity, NST reported.

Justo, a Swiss national and former employee of PetroSaudi, was arrested at a house on Koh Samui, Thailand, on Monday with computers, hard drives and other data storage devices.

Police Colonel Akaradech Pimonsri, acting commander of Thailand's Crime Suppression Division, said Justo was paid an equivalent of 140 million baht (RM15 million) to leave PetroSaudi after he was found to have "behaved against the company's rules and regulations".

The Bangkok Post said Thai police believed Justo leaked information about PetroSaudi to a "UK-based news website" which the paper identified as Sarawak Report.

Meanwhile, the expert from PGI said the leaks found on Sarawak Report were an "all too familiar case" of published data going through selective editing or forgery to "create the most damaging story possible".

He said it was often a case of a greedy or malicious employee removing confidential data and publishing or threatening to publish it for personal gain.

"In this case, what started out as a simple story of personal gain by a former employee, became a story of politically-motivated allegations through the use of irresponsible online blogs.

"All of the investigations we have conducted thus far would lead me to say that, from both a forensic and expert perspective, the information [relating to this issue] published on the Internet should be considered unsafe and unreliable by those wishing to draw conclusions from it,” he was quoted as saying.

Citing the leaked documents, Sarawak Report had in February alleged that businessman Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low, engineered PetroSaudi's US$2.5 billion joint venture with 1MDB in 2009 in order to siphon off US$700 million from the deal.

It also said the US$1.5 billion in assets PetroSaudi had injected into the joint venture did not actually belong to the firm.

The joint venture deal ended six months later, with 1MDB's investment of US$1 billion converted into Mubaraha notes, which 1MDB president and group executive director Arul Kanda Kandasamy has said was paid back in full.

1MDB also refuted claims of wrongdoing, stressing that the joint venture resulted in a profit of US$488 million. – June 24, 2015.

Source: The Malaysian Insider

Continue reading

Here's what Tun said about western media, their tactics, their tali barut and assassination by defamation.

Today, he is doing all that he once condemned.

His speeches are public record and the full text are linked here.

The question that remains is whether he will eat his own words.

TUN M ON MALAYSIAN JOURNALISTS WORKING FOR FOREIGN MEDIA

Speech at  majlis penyampaian hadiah kewartawanan malaysia on 12/12/1983

Source: HERE

12. Inilah jenis laporan yang dibuat oleh pemberita dan akhbar terkemuka di Amerika. Sudah tentu apabila mereka melaporkan tentang negara kita, fitnah mereka tidak ada had sama sekali. Tidak ada yang terlalu buruk untuk dilapor tentang kita. Sebaliknya sebarang kebaikan tidak ada tempat dalam halaman akhbar mereka.

14. Sikap dan tanggungjawab akhbar tempatan tidak menyenangkan beberapa wartawan Malaysia who are in the pay of the foreign press. Orang-orang ini, terutama yang berasa kecewa kerana tidak mendapat sesuatu bagi diri sendiri di masa berkhidmat dalam negara, tidak jemu dengan memutar-belitkan berita negara sendiri, supaya they are given a pat on the back by their foreign masters. We watch the antics of these pet poodles with utter contempt and derision.


TUN M ON LOCAL JOURNALISTS BEING “TALI BARUT” MEDIA ASING

Speech at Majlis penyampaian hadiah kewartawanan anjuran institut akhbar Malaysia on 9/11/1984

Source: Here

6. Aliran ini sudah sampai ke Malaysia. Berita yang benar kerap kali tidak dihiraukan. Jika ada mesyuarat atau lawatan atau pameran atau apa-apa jua peristiwa, yang diberi perhatian bukan peristiwa itu tetapi soal-soal lain yang menjadi minat akhbar. Soalan dibuat dalam berbagai bentuk dan bertalu-talu untuk menjadikan sesuatu perkara itu sebagai isu yang hangat. Selepas menyoal seseorang, maka disoal pula orang-orang lain yang diketahui mempunyai pandangan yang bertentangan -- untuk memberi pandangan terhadap pendapat sasaran pertama. Maka dengan itu akan terjadilah satu kontroversi -- yang dipuja dan dihembus oleh akhbar sehingga panas berapi.

7. Bahawa akibatnya ialah ketegangan dan kegelisahan dalam masyarakat sehingga terjejas ekonomi, kestabilan politik dan perpaduan, tidak sama sekali dipedulikan. Yang penting ialah akhbar yang kononnya ingin melapor yang benar.

Tuan-tuan dan Puan-puan,

8. Satu lagi perkara yang ingin saya sebutkan ialah tentang pemberita kita yang tidak segan-segan menjadi TALI BARUT kepada akhbar-akhbar di luar negeri. Mereka ini apabila menulis dalam akhbar tempatan lain bunyinya. Tetapi untuk akhbar luar negeri, mereka mencerca dan menghina negara sendiri, mencaci pemimpin dan Raja-Raja dan sanggup menjatuhkan maruah negara mereka sendiri. Nama mereka sendiri tidak disiarkan tetapi mereka tentulah dipuji oleh wartawan asing. Sebenarnya mereka sudah menjadi alat kepada bangsa-bangsa yang tidak senang melihat kejayaan Malaysia. Saya amat kesal adanya manusia jenis ini di kalangan pemberita kita.

9. Saya memberanikan diri untuk membuat teguran ini walaupun imej saya boleh dirosakkan oleh akhbar. Malaysia belum menjadi negara yang maju dan kuat, yang kebal dan yang tidak boleh dihancurkan. Kita masih lemah. Biarlah amalan masyarakat yang kukuh dan kuat di negara barat tinggal di barat. Kita perlu berhati-hati. Jika tidak, mungkin kita akan kekal dengan kelemahan kita tanpa sedikitpun mengecap kejayaan. Dan kita akan terus diperhamba dan dihinakan.

TUN M ON ASSASSINATION BY DEFAMATION

Speech at majlis makan malam anjuran kelab kebangsaan wartawan-wartawan Malaysia on 1/3/1986

Source: Here

9. Perhaps in a democracy fear from bodily harm has been more or less removed. But there are other fears. Assassination need not be by knife or bullets only. A person can be assassinated by defamation. And in a democratic society it is so easy to defame and destroy and get away with it. The target here is limited. It must be someone for whom a bad image can do harm - a public figure for example. And if the public figure depends on popularity, he may just lose it if defamed. For all practical purposes he will have been assassinated.

13. I have lived in Malaysia all my life, except for the visits abroad which are so interesting to some people. Malaysians are quite unique. We are masochists who enjoy excoriating ourselves. We can see nothing right about our country but the most minute wrong is plainly visible to our naked eye as the Malay saying goes, 'from across the river'. And so we read daily that this or that economic or political crisis is about to destroy us. We moan loudly and frighten off foreigners from visiting or investing in our country.

14. The fact that we are still around and that we have not disintegrated disappoints us - because our predictions are wrong. We go on to report another crisis. We do not seem to realise that what we think is a unique occurrence in Malaysia is really a common event in other countries. They do not get unduly excited. Life goes on. Everybody's still around and the event is soon forgotten. Growth and progress takes place as usual.

16. Perhaps our country does not deserve our help. I beg to differ. I think it does. None of us will gain by running down our own country and making our dire predictions come true. The truth is that other countries are worse, including the developed countries. I am glad that some newspapers now do publish about poverty in Europe and America. But what has been written is the tip of the iceberg. Actually some of these countries are rotten to the core when it comes to the very things they are so fond of criticising developing countries about. Extensive poverty in the midst of plenty is just one of them. Racial and colour discrimination is blatant. Crime is rampant. The streets and parks are wild jungles. Old ladies get coshed and drunks rolled. The prisons are not only overcrowded but all kinds of crimes are committed there, frequently with the connivance of prison authorities.

17. Filth abound in the cities. The streets are badly paved. The cleaners don't clean. Staff everywhere is rude and unhelpful unless bribed with tips. These and many more are common to the developed countries. But they don't write as often about these shameful things as we do about our failures.

18. Distaste for a person or a group should not make us take it out of our own country. However, we are a free people. If anyone wishes to denigrate his own country, it is his right. I am glad that Malaysian journalists, by and large, are free from these traits.


TUN M ON MONICA LEWINSKY

speech at the opening of the commonwealth press union biennial conference om 26/10/1998

 Source: HERE

15. Unfortunately the media itself is often tempted to misuse power. I am not a fan of President Bill Clinton but I do sympathise with him. He only hugged Monica Lewinsky once, at least in public. He may have hugged her more times in private, that we don`t have any pictures of. But that one hug has prefaced every report on President Clinton whether the subject matter had anything to do with his single instance of discretion or not. If the CNN is to be believed Bill Clinton has hugged Monica a thousand times, twelve times a day ever since CNN resurrected that particular episode among the file pictures. With the passage of time the hug has improved in terms of clarity and vividness. There is no mistaking the look of adoration in Monica`s eyes and the body language of the President of the United States. The viewers, Americans and others must assume that the President must really know Monica intimately and all those stories about the phone- calls to the Senators even while he dallied with Monica must be the truth, the absolute truth and nothing but the truth.

16. As I said I am not a fan of President Clinton but I do feel that that kind of presentation via television is not quite fair to the President. There is no one in the United States who has not seen it and been influenced by it. How can anyone sit in judgement over him without being biased, without preconception? How can the impeachment of the President be fair and just?


TUN ON RIGHT TO KNOW

Speech at MAJLIS MALAM WARTAWAN MALAYSIA 1988 ANJURAN INSTITUT AKHBAR MALAYSIA on 19/11/1998

Source: HERE

14. Bagi negara kita, perkara yang utama ialah kestabilan politik atau lebih tepat lagi persepsi rakyat serta orang asing terhadap kestabilan ini. Sebenarnya semenjak negara kita merdeka, selain daripada peristiwa 13 Mei 1969, keadaan politik negara adalah stabil. Sudah tentu ia lebih stabil daripada kebanyakan negara-negara membangun. Adanya usaha merebut jawatan dan kempen-kempen adalah perkara biasa dalam sesebuah demokrasi.

15. Tetapi kegiatan-kegiatan ini boleh mencemar gambaran stabiliti kerana tekanan laporan dan bahasa yang digunakan. Seseorang yang membuat kritikan biasa boleh menimbulkan kemarahan yang lebih oleh pihak sasaran jika pengkritik dilaporkan sebagai telah membuat `tamparan hebat` terhadap seseorang. Kadangkala keadaan tenang boleh menjadi ribut hanya dengan bertanya kepada satu pihak dan kemudian menyampaikan jawapannya kepada pihak yang menentang untuk mendapatkan reaksi.

16. Pihak akhbar mencipta berbagai jenis hak di bawah kebebasan media dalam demokrasi. Sekarang ini ada yang bercakap berkenaan dengan hak mengetahui atau `the right to know`. Dalam pengurusan sesuatu organisasi, rahsia diperlukan. Umpamanya semasa rundingan, semua pihak perlu menyembunyikan apakah yang boleh dipersetujui oleh mereka, supaya dapat konsesi yang lebih menguntungkan. Sama ada perundingan ini adalah antara syarikat atau pertubuhan atau negara, masing-masing akan cuba mendapatkan sesuatu keputusan yang lebih menguntungkan.

22. Musuh kita yang besar sekali ialah diri kita sendiri. Terdapat sikap yang negatif di kalangan kita yang menyebabkan kita selalu memandang rendah terhadap kebolehan kita dan membesar-besarkan kebolehan orang lain. Jika ada sahaja sesuatu usaha, kita terus meramalkan ianya tetap tidak akan berjaya. Jika akhirnya berjaya juga usaha itu, kita akan memperkecilkan kejayaan usaha itu atau mencari kesalahan titik-bengek. Dengan ini maka sukar bagi rakyat Malaysia mempunyai keyakinan terhadap apa juga yang diusahakan.

23. Mengikut aliran baru apa yang dipanggil sebagai `investigative reporting`, sesuatu yang dicipta di Barat, segala usaha dijalankan bagi mencari yang salah untuk didedahkan. Memang benar ada kalanya kita perlu mendedahkan sesuatu supaya pembetulan boleh dibuat. Tetapi yang baik dan betul pun perlu didedahkan supaya kita tidak mempunyai inferiority complex.

There are more...all you need to do is Google, read and then compare the 'then' and the 'now' speeches.

Continue reading