Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Anwar withdrew posting about journalist Baradan - but an apology would have been good...

It was good to note that Anwar Ibrahim has acted with regard that the 'not at all good' posting about journalist Baradan Kuppusamy that appeared in the Anwar Ibrahim Blog...

Entri Baradan Kuppusamy

Satelah membaca teliti surat pembaca mengenai wartawan Baradan Kuppusamy, saya dapati bahasa yang digunakan terlalu keras. Maka surat tersebut telah dikeluarkan dari blog.

ANWAR IBRAHIM - http://anwaribrahimblog.com/2008/10/05/entri-baradan-kuppusamy/

But, really is that enough - I believe that Anwar should also apologize, what do you think?

My rough translation of what Anwar said: 'After carefully reading that letter from a reader about journalist Baradan Kuppusamy, I found that the language used was too hard. Therefore that letter has been taken out of this blog.'

I would also like to share Rocky Bru's posting on this :-

Sunday, October 05, 2008

Who is Baradan, Din?


If a journalist writes negatively about Anwar Ibrahim, he's a paid whore? Poor K. Baradan. I understand why he sounded sad when we spoke on the phone the other day.

I've known him for more than 20 years as a journalist and as far as I'm concerned, he's not made a name as either anti-Anwar or pro-Anwar (which is how it should be). But a reader of Din Marican is so incensed by what Baradan has written. A paid whore. To me, it's fine for Din to publish the "letter" or "comment", but he should not have left that note at the end of the letter. [click on the letter to enlarge]

If DSAI becomes Prime Minister one day and decides to make Din a Senator to sit on his Cabinet, please don't make him Information Minister. Seeing how he's reacted to Baradan's small voice of dissent, I'm afraid Din would outdo Zam in no time.

p.s. "Bahasa terlalu keras". Here, Anwar takes down posting on K. Baradan. No, no apologies, though.
I also just discovered that several articles of the said Baradan Kuppusamy have also been posted on the Anwar Ibrahim blog...(Maybe only those that are pro-Anwar and/or pro- Anwar plans that are posted...I do not know for I did not read it all...)

20
Sep

Anwar throws down the gauntlet

From Asia Times Online
By Baradan Kuppusamy
KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysian politics is heading for a showdown with opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim demanding that the government of Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi subject itself to a confidence vote in parliament by September 23.

08
Sep

Anwar Is Back

From My Sinchew
Opposition icon Anwar Ibrahim’s return to parliament spells leadership change in Malaysia.
Despite a nasty campaign against him, opposition icon Anwar Ibrahim has won spectacularly in a landmark by-election in the family stronghold of Permatang Pauh, confirming his stature as possible prime minister with truly national appeal, cutting across race and religion.

27
Nov

Facing Malaysia’s Racial Issues

Oleh Baradan Kuppusamy, Time Magazine
It may have been one of Malaysia’s most surreal demonstrations ever. On Sunday, an estimated 20,000 ethnic Indians brought Kuala Lumpur to a standstill for nearly six hours in the name of Queen Elizabeth II. They gathered in the thousands near the Malaysian capital’s iconic Petronas Towers, waving giant posters with [...]

15
Nov

Protesters, Police Clash in Kuala Lumpur

dari TIME Magazine, oleh BARADAN KUPPUSAMY
Her eyes reddened by tear gas and her clothes soaking wet from a heavy downpour, Hamidah Ibrahim, a 23-year-old undergraduate from


Her eyes reddened by tear gas and her clothes soaking wet from a heavy downpour, Hamidah Ibrahim, a 23-year-old undergraduate from the northern city of Ipoh, huddled against a shop wall in Tun Perak Road, a main thoroughfare in Kuala Lumpur that is usually clogged with vehicles but on Saturday was crowded with thousands of protestors. Across the street, red-helmeted officers of Malaysia’s Federal Reserve Unit fired several rounds of tear gas at the crowds before a baton charge that sent protesters running helter-skelter. Hamidah wiped her eyes and adjusted her tudung, the Malay headscarf that is obligatory for Muslim women. “This is like being in hell,” she says amid the thud of smoke grenade launchers.

Thousands of young people like Hamidah, many bused in from across the country and wearing yellow t-shirts emblazoned with the word Bersih, or “clean,” in Malay, joined Saturday’s protests in favor of free and fair elections. Bersih, a group of the same name made up of opposition parties and dozens of non-governmental organizations, is protesting what they claim have been rampant irregularities in recent elections, alleging voter fraud, gerrymandering and the use of government spending to sway voters. (The government, in response, denies the fraud allegations and accuses its critics of trying to paint development aid as an election offense.) - Time Magazine by Baradan Kuppusamy - Protestors, Police Clash in Kuala Lumpur (a posting from the Anwar Ibrahim Blog)

I remembered images I have seen in some moview when some person is being led to have his head chopped off, or hanged for some crime - and how the crowds along the way throw rotten vegetables and stuff, hurling all kind of insults, etc... They (the crowd) may not even know whether this was a person truly guilty - or just a person being falsely persecuted because he was an enemy of the ruler/s of the day...

It was the same kind of reaction by many about that journalist - when a posting appeared in ANWAR IBRAHIM's Blog making all kind of allegations including names like “shameful paid whore.”

Anwar should be able to appreciate this too - because he too was accused of being a sodomist, a corrupt person, etc...

Baradan Kuppusamy is but a small person - and will not get media coverage even if he wants to defend himself... He, like many of us, having no money to sue for defamation, etc....may just have to let it go...and the stain will stick. Anwar's apology would help the man...

Interesting also how there was silence from many quarters - possibly because it was Anwar Ibrahim that posted it. Not wise to go against Anwar Ibrahim now - for fear possibly of being seen as being anti-change, anti-reformasi, pro-BN...or maybe just being called “shameful paid whore.”

If someone does wrong - he must be reprimanded...be criticized so that he can change for the better...

Blind loyalty to any person or political party is not at all a good thing...

3 comments:

  1. Why would Anwar apologise to Baradan? Anwar didn't insult Baradan, didn't complain of the arsonist tendencies of Baradan, after all, all BN media tries to lynch Anwar. It was a mere supporter who left a private comment in Din Merican's blog which Din who alongside others manages DSAI's blog put it there for readers. Anwar was not involved in the 1st place, so where does apology come from? Did Anwar offend anyone? And if Baradan has rights of expression (though he claims to be an objective journalist), then don't you think Anwar's blog readers too have the same and they can leave whatever comment they like? I thought we are talking of equality and freedom? Again, the writetr who wrote that letter didn't involve Anwar, seek his support or whatever, he simply requested Baradan's contacts for him to register his disapproval. Now, why would Anar carry the burden of apologising on behalf of a reader? Sheesh! Finally, Rockybru is a man driven by hatred to Abdullah Badawi and his gang who feels that he has been victimised by Kali and therefore he will get back his NST position if Najib takes over. Did you ever see him commenting on Najib's numerous scandals? No. But he runs down Abdullah daily? Why? He even lambastes any blogger who runs down Najib and the latest "victim" is Kickdefella. What kind of morality does he have for you to pick his comment as a supportive one here? Huh! Spare me the agony my dear.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Let us not be gullible to think that Baradan has been an objective reporter.

    Din was right in publishing the views of his commenter. Furthermore Din merely added his views that Baradan should be banned from our PCs "IF" there is truth in the comments.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hector, did you notice that the other 4 articles by Baradan you referred to were written for Asia Times online, My Sinchew and the Time Magazine?
    Funny, how the tone and content differ significantly from his articles published in the NST/Star.
    Swings both ways , doesn’t Baradan?
    A quest for impartiality or just a matter of simple economics?

    ReplyDelete