Kudos Choon Mei For Doing The Right Thing!! So, How About You, Zaini?
Posted by ErnieJean on October 21, 2008
The Malaysiakini journalist, who wrote a news report that Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had issued a manifesto to back his bid for the Umno presideny, has resigned.
A post on on the Internet news portal quoted journalist Wong Choon Mei as saying: “It is my fault and I stand ready to take full responsibility and resign.”
In the post, Malaysiakini editor-in-chief Steven Gan said they were upset over the incident, adding the report should not have been published.
“It was a serious misjudgment on her part and we accept her resignation,” said Gan.
The post said that Wong conceded she had not verified the contents of the ‘manifesto’ with the Deputy Prime Minister’s. She had received it by e-mail on Sunday.
“We deeply regret the error,” said Gan.
And the article in question being……………..
Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak wasted no time unveiling his manifesto for the Umno presidency, denouncing recent allegations made against him and vowing to defend till the last drop of his blood the supremacy of the Malay race.
“I will defend the supremacy of the Malays until the last drop of my blood if I win the mandate of the delegates to become the next Umno president at election to be held in March 2009,” Najib said. (Seriously, not that we’ve not heard that one before…….)
“This is the solemn promise I made to my late father before he died,” he added.
– Malaysiakini, Wong Choon Mei, Oct 19.
I’m not too sure about whether Choon Mei can kiss her career as a journalist goodbye after this incident, but her courage in facing judgement certainly speaks volume of her character. Kudos to the brave lass.
Everyone makes mistakes in their lives, no doubt about it, but not everybody would have the guts to own up and face it head-on like a “man” (of course, in this case, it does seem that being a “Man” doesn’t necessary mean that one has the balls to do what’s right…….).
An excellent example would, of course, be this certain journalist from a certain “garbage” news-daily, who continues to hide behind the skirts of a certain political powerhouse, and refusing to own up or even apologise, even after it’s been proven that there were no ounce of truth in his allegations………..now, who could that be?
How about a little clue……..this fler apparently has won numerous journalistic awards and he’s “abang-adik” with many top UMNO leaders……….
Hanging out with the DPM, the missus and Z.Maidin. Zaini Hassan, the epitome of professional journalism?
Azan, jawi, JAIS, Uitm dan ba-alif-ba-ya…
Oleh Zaini Hassan (Utusan Malaysia, 10 Sept 2008)
email: zaini.hassan@utusan.com.myJanganlah anggap apa yang saya tulis ini sebagai rasis atau berunsur perkauman. Dalam suasana negara yang dipenuhi dengan isu sensitif perkauman sekarang, tulisan ini hanyalah sebagai satu ingatan kepada kita semua, terutamanya umat Islam.
Saya amat tertarik untuk merujuk kepada kenyataan bekas Menteri Besar Selangor, Datuk Seri Dr. Khir Toyo yang membangkitkan mengenai “ada usaha oleh pihak tertentu (di Selangor) yang cuba menasihatkan pihak masjid dan surau supaya tidak menggunakan pembesar suara semasa melaungkan azan”.
Bagi saya petikan itu pelik bunyinya. Bagi saya ia juga amat serius. Tidak pernah dalam sejarah 51 tahun merdeka, rakyat Malaysia sedang menghadapi situasi seperti itu. Selama ini kita-Melayu, Cina, India, Sikh dan lain lain bangsa dan agama tidak pernah bercakap mengenai perkara itu. Kita hormat antara satu sama lain. Soal agama Islam terpelihara secara suci di dalam Perlembagaan negara. Justeru, petikan semacam itu tidak pernah terlintas langsung atau termimpi akan diucapkan.
So, what are the chances of this Zaini fella being utterly inspired by Ms. Wong and actually finding his balls, to step out of his hiding hole and bear full responsibility for what he wrote?
ZILTCH……………(?)
The Dandelions 
sinewy said
Utusan people and their political masters can do no wrong. PEOPLE who are in power are ALWAYS RIGHT. In the event that they are wrong, please refer to the previous statement. They can be outright racist and get away with it. They can day in day out propogate racial disunity and hatred and they can get away with it. Moral value, human conscience, dignity, honesty, integrity and responsibility towards others are not necessary for them. Since they are walking with the corridor of power, they will be alwyas right, even when they are wrong!
bn haramjadah said
You should be aware the difference between the UMNO malays and the everyday Malays you meet on the street. These UMNO MALAYS and dia kaki bodek, come from this scum-bag culture, they are the dregs of society, uncouth as demonstrated by the penang incidents, uneducated as shown by our famous bodoh home minister, who got the sin chew reporter arrested than released, later coming out with the dangdest dumbest excuse that it was done to protect her. You see these people are the slimeballs and crooks of the Malaysian Malay society, without umno they would normally be sitting in jail, because they are such crooks nobody would want to hire them, you have one guy educated in oxford, and look at the way they go about apple polishing him, and kissing his butt, because he is oxford educated, you see in the land of the blind the one eyed man is king, same applies in the umno soceity of dropouts or BA DEGREES IN RELIGEOUS STUDIES OR PLAY BOY DROPOUTS, of our local unis, overseas govt scholarships, or internet degrees of dubious nature which a lot of umno politicians carry to their name, well an oxford graduate would look like a god. We go on to talk about professionals ethics, well sadly to say umno morons don’t have a bone of ethics in them, it was never invented in the vocabilary, so to apply professional journalistic ethics by comparing UTUSAN AND MALAYSIAKINI, is like comparing a durian to a chiku, chiku being utusan, since when has any projeck or company held under the control shown professionalism, all of them loose money by the bushels, only propped up by the tax-payers money or they will go bust. An anology WHICH WOULD BE APT, Give any company to the umno Malays to run, it will collapse, why? they wil strip the company of its assets and sell them, these so called champions of MALAY RIGHTS WOULD SELL THEIR MOTHERS, WIVES, SISTERS AUNTIES AND ANY FEMALE IN THEIR FAMILY, if they could make a buck out of it. thus the highest incest rate in the world, even dogs don’t have sex with their family members, but to these people incest and lust for money power, corruption is second nature, no law applies to them. to them nothing is sacred. Look at the way they are abandoning badawi now, ike the way they abandoned Mahathir before, look at the way they are now kissing mahathir’s butt, before they spat on him, this is melayu ketuanan pariah umno. nothing more or less.
walski69 said
It is perhaps high time that we went on a full-swing Hartal Utusan, not just calling for a boycott of the newspaper itself (plus Kosmo), but of their advertisers, as well.
Enough is enough…
Eagle said
You bet!!! Use diversionary tactics-divert the enemy with something odd and unexpected thrown in his way.
Watch out the political stunts. hahahaha support group?
Crankshaft said
And I didn’t even pay too much attention to that supposed manifesto, because it’s typical of what Najib WOULD say, anyway. Personally, beyond the Altantuya fiasco, I don’t think his reputation could take a worse beating.
Angry Taxpayer said
You know what Crankshaft…I couldn’t agree more with you…..
Isn’t it sad that we no longer bat an eyelid when the UMNO goons declare “war” over silly “pendatangs-who-don’t-know-how-to-shut-up” every year, without fail, during their UMNO gatherings?
But regardless of how stinky his reputation is at the mo, esp amongst the ordinary non-UMNO delegate, this man will win the UMNO presidency….why? Bcos it’s “in the bags” 😛
wickwax said
I’m not sure she’ll be let off the hook after what happened to Utusan, Zaini, and Chamil.
To quote from the Star: “Dim Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar said “somebody” should lodge a report against the article in Malaysiakini so that police could initiate investigations.
On whether Malaysiakini’s apology was enough, Syed Hamid replied: “They put in a false report and then apologise for it, that’s not good” (emphasis mine)
We all know that they have a knack of “racializing” and politicise every issue. Sad to see that in their minds, no one can correct them. Can’t take criticism. Ruling government is always right. To digress, varsity students are taught (and warned) not to question the policies of the university and always to side with the so-called Pro-University candidates during campus election.
It’s boleh for everything and tak boleh when criticized. Even donkeys know when to obey.
Cider said
Choon Mei, good on you.
You must be going through a tough time, but your apology, and decision to quit, was the right one. Don’t say goodbye to your career – they are still newspapers (independent, non-gov-linked, on the way up but small enough/disregarded enough to be ignored by the political masses where you can make a comeback!
If Soi Lek can, then you can too!
mauryaII said
Please do not expect the Zaini fellow to have the same journalistic ethics as Wong Choon Mei.
It takes a person of conscience, intergrity and high moral values to do what Choon Mei did. Can you expect that of that Zaini? Did he investigate the veracity of what that nogood botox face said about Teresa Kok?
When he was eventually proven to have written a stupid and unverified racist article, did he have the balls to be a man and make an unconditional public apology? It takes a man of high calibre to do so.
These type of scumbags are more interested to be seen in the company of the socalled high and mighty of the UMNO.They would prostitute themselves to be in the good books of the PM-to-be and the UMNO warlords.
They know they can write racist articles inciting their UMNO fanatics into a frenzy to go on a jihad without any basis and it would be most welcome especially during the UMNO elections season.
Just writing about these vermins leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
Nudibranch said
2008 Karaoke 9 Finalists Results
1. Mahathir’s favourite song: My Way
2. Pak Lah: Dream, Dream, Dream
3.Najib: Your Cheating Heart
4.Tengku Razaleigh: I Believe I Can Fly
5. Khairy: Money, Money, Money
6.IGP: I’ll Be Watching You
7. Anwar: Winds Of Change
8. Saiful: I Swear
And the winner is:-
9. Syed Hamid: Oh Carol, I’m Nothing But A Fool
Abracadabra said
Crankshaft,
Sex tape maybe of najib in kinky kamasutra positions. now, that beats altantuya,
barbie said
Azalina Othman – I kiss a girl and I like it..