The online media found being Jahat again. This time, the Malaysian Insider (again).

Yesterday, July 2nd 2015 at 12:16pm, The Malaysian Insider (TMI) published this story that tried to maliciously slander PM Najib by putting words into Najib's mouth where he allegedly said that the increasing collection of Zakat were among the reasons why Fitch Ratings upgraded Malaysia's sovereign outlook.

The original TMI article link is http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/bahasa/article/peningkatan-kutipan-zakat-antara-faktor-malaysia-diiktiraf-fitch-kata-najib

Now you see it!

Hours later, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) came out with angry statement on their official FaceBook account denying that there was ever such a statement made by PM Najib.

KENYATAAN MEDIA PEJABAT PERDANA MENTERI 

1. Pejabat Perdana Menteri menafikan laporan portal The Malaysian Insider yang bertajuk "Peningkatan kutipan zakat antara faktor Malaysia diiktiraf Fitch, kata Najib". Laporan tersebut adalah tidak tepat. 
2. Di Majlis Penyampaian Sumbangan Aidilfitri anjuran MAIWP pada hari ini, YAB Perdana Menteri telah berkata bahawa antara faktor peningkatan kutipan zakat termasuklah pengenalan dasar kerajaan yang betul dan pengurusan ekonomi yang baik dengan dibantu oleh sistem pembayaran zakat tersusun. 
3. YAB Perdana Menteri juga berkata bahawa badan penarafan antarabangsa Fitch semalam telah menaiktaraf unjuran Malaysia daripada 'Negatif' kepada 'Stabil' kerana pengurusan dan kedudukan ekonomi serta kewangan negara. 
4. YAB Perdana Menteri tidak pernah berkata bahawa peningkatan kutipan zakat adalah antara faktor Malaysia diiktiraf oleh agensi penarafan Fitch.  
5. Pejabat Perdana Menteri kesal dengan The Malaysian Insider yang cenderung memutarbelit kenyataan YAB Perdana Menteri dan kerajaan sehingga menimbulkan salah faham dan keresahan dalam masyarakat.

The PMO said it was "kesal" or disappointed that The Malaysian Insider tried to spin PM Najib's statement to create an environment of hate and misunderstanding among the public.

A few hours later, the same article on The Malaysian Insider has disappeared and now shows this. But you can see from the comment in that page that such article did indeed exist before.

Now you don't !

The Malaysian Insider has been spinning and lying press reports umpteenth times before and this is the first time that the PMO came out and rebutted the article so strongly - hence causing TMI to do a U-turn.

Instead of "The Malaysian Insider", I call them "The Malaysian Inciter"  instead as this name more accurately describes what they do - which is to incite Malaysians with lies.

This quick U-Turn to delete the article by TMI is probably due to the show-cause letter issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs to TMI's parent company, The Edge just two days ago. Read "Home Ministry issues show-cause letter to The Edge over 1MDB coverage".  giving them 7 days to reply why their publication and printing permit should not be revoked.

In fact, The Edge cowardly but smartly stood down and finally announced they won't be using the disputed and allegedly tampered PetroSaudi emails anymore which was originally published and still published by Sarawak Report.

How can you be publishing articles based on proof that is of dubious origin?

The Malaysian Inciter is fully owned by The Edge group and I guess the TMI people are now more scared of publishing inaccurate reports and lies since their own parent is in hot water with the authorities.

It is sad that it took the government so long to take action against TMI and The Edge as the damage that they have wrought by inciting Malaysians over the past years have been huge and spinning in favour of the opposition (the now dead or pengsan or alive in spirit) Pakatan Rakyat

Heck, it was only a few days ago and only after PAS was kicked out from Pakatan by DAP did they only finally realize that the online media comprises of 80%-90% "spin" and has a "hidden agenda.

Party information chief Nasrudin Hassan Tantawi said people were consuming the wrong information, especially via the new media by those whom he branded “enemies of Islam” and “with certain agendas” 

"For example, there are hidden agendas in news reports that are sometimes 80% to 90% 'spin'," Nasrudin singled out The Malaysian Insider and Malaysiakini in their reports on his speech.

Now only you know, PAS? Not bad. Only took you 7 years to notice this.

Fortunately, The Edge and The Malaysian Insider are Malaysian companies that our government still have some form of control over if they cross the line (and they have).

Govt should have been much much harsher on these online media much earlier but alas, that was not the case then.

However, online media such as Sarawak Report, which contrary to its name and not based in Malaysia nor run by Malaysians is a lot harder for the Malaysian government to regulate or take action on..

Recently, Sarawak Report has been accused of tampering documents with regards to 1MDB over the Xavier Justo affair.

They were also caught tampering before in the past regards the 2013-2014 court documents on the divorce case of the son of ex-Sarawak MB Taib Mahmud: 

And of course Sarawak Report's "highly credible" post just before GE13 detailing a flood of Bangladeshi phantom voters out to steal GE13.

May 2013 (just before GE13) - Sarawak Report claims our Airports are awash with Bangla ghost voters

Of course we later found out such phantom foreign voters allegations was untrue and there were no such 40,000 Bangla phantom voters - that even BERSIH and the rest of Pakatan Rakyat soon disowned any knowledge of ever making such allegations before.

Last week, Home Minister Ahmad Zahid has also promised to take action on Sarawak Report too but what can you do?

Strong words, Zahid. But what can you do?

Sarawak Report is a online portal that, despite its name:

• is not even based in Malaysia, 
• is not run by Malaysian but an English woman with British citizenship 
• and published on a google blogspot account, which anyone can do anywhere in the world.

Unlike The Edge and TMI which are run and owned by Malaysians, Sarawak Report can post whatever they like from wherever they like without worrying about any local printing and publications law.

It remains to be seen how effective Ahmad Zahid can take down Sarawak Report.