Assalamualaikum and Good Day,

Sorry Jeff, Rocky, I couldn't help but take a Tangent. Hope it doesn't screw up 
your defence...

Thanks ans wassalam ...

Ikhlas,
A M Ubaidah S

http://thoughtsintangents.blogspot.com/2007/01/can-pak-lah-afford-to-be-partisan.html

Can Pak Lah Afford To Be Partisan Against Us Wee Bloggers?

I'm taking a Tangent here of course on the matter of the bloggers (Jeff and 
Rocky) vs NSTP case which is running rabid on the Malaysian blogosphere and 
apparently infecting much of the world's on-line and traditional media.

The Tangent I'm taking is actually on this:

http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/1/24/nation/16663444&sec=nation

Am I reading this right? Is Pak Lah really taking sides here, against Jeff and 
Rocky, in what is really a civil suit? I mean I know-lah that NST is an UMNO 
paper and that Kalimullah is Pak Lah's chum (due to Pak Lah mistakenly thinking 
that Kalimullah helped him secure the DPM-ship - uncle Kali you sly old 
manipulator you...) as well as his son-in-law Khairy's boss and once(?) 
business partner, but isn't this going a little too far?

It would be far fairer of Pak Lah if he also added a comment in the lines 
of,"Traditional media also should take responsibility of their reporting, and 
responsible blogs then do have a role to play to check the excesses of such 
media, especially those with links to the establishment like the NST. Indeed 
traditional media like NSTP's publications that are linked to the ruling party 
must set the standard in responsible reporting ahead of blogs as any poor 
reporting risks embarassing the government."

The above line is not just more creditable for a leader gagging for world 
recognition (since local recognition is tough in the days of floods, boats, 
inflation and toll hikes), it is also good politics as:

Bloggers are voters too

Uncle Kali and gang are not really the most popular people in Malaysia at the 
moment

In Acheh recently, the winner of the race for Govenor was a surprise dark-horse 
ex-rebel/freedom fighter ex-con. The reason he and his block of the Acheh 
Liberation Movement (GAM) won? They printed out and distrubuted the 'best off' 
news about their block that was published in the net and blogs!
By the way, there may also be legal reasons why Pak Lah should refrain from 
commenting on this matter as the recent thorn in Dato' Rafidah's side, Michael 
Backman (http://www.michaelbackman.com/) once commented in his book...

...that (in his view) Malaysian courts are actually quite independent (contrary 
to popular opinion), but have this annoying habit of typically passing 
judgement in favour of or in line with what they percieve are the government's 
desires; the flip-flop on Anwar Ibrahim's conviction and subsequent release on 
appeal being the case in point.
Could Pak Lah be setting up grounds for an appeal for this case should the 
NST-fellows win? Pak Lah... I thought uncle Kali was your friend?


        
        
                
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