Minister: Malaysiakini strays from truth

KUALA LUMPUR: Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar Thursday criticised Malaysiakini.com as having from the outset strayed from the truth to serve specific interests.
"We (the Government) know what Malaysiakini.com is worth and have to expose it so that the people know. Otherwise it is as if it is a voice championing freedom of expression,'' he said, joining the list of Malaysians denouncing the Internet website news reportedly funded by currency speculator George Soros.

Malaysiakini a fortnight ago denied having received funding from Soros' Open Society Fund.

Syed Hamid also charged that Malaysiakini, while claiming to uphold freedom of expression, was not practising what it preached when it refused to be interviewed by Radio and Television Malaysia (RTM) and TV3, the private station.

"It does not practise what it preaches. This is hypocrisy ... the truth is it is a political agenda,'' Syed Hamid said when asked about the current controversy surrounding Malaysiakini.com Earlier, he launched a book Mandat Unesco dan Cabaran Globalisasi (the Unesco mandate and the globalisation challenge) written by Dr Hussein Ahmad and published by Utusan Publication and Distributors Sdn Bhd.

Also present at the launch at the Kuala Lumpur Tower were Information Ministry Parliamentary Secretary Senator Datuk Zainuddin Maidin and Utusan Melayu Group executive chairman Tan Sri Kamarul Ariffin.

Citing Malaysiakini.com's mostly anti-government items to reinforce his conviction that it was serving specific interests, Syed Hamid said Malaysiakini had no qualms about running down and denying the country's achievements just to win awards.

"I think this is unethical and lacks principle as it does not matter whether it lies or not as long as it serves the agenda of the people behind it,'' said Syed Hamid.

According to Syed Hamid, some of the articles Malaysiakini carried totally ignored racial and religious sensitivities of Malaysians.

"Creating chaos in the name of freedom ... this is not the way of the Government,'' he said.

On the United States embassy here advertising the mission on Malaysiakini.com, Syed Hamid said the Government could not stop diplomatic missions from doing so.

"But we hope they will always exercise wisdom in this matter,'' he added.--Bernama
hamid albar
a leading member of the national idiots team
Malaysia says foreign groups want to topple government

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 16 (AFP) - Malaysia's foreign minister has accused unspecified foreign groups of trying to topple the government through biased Western media reporting.
Syed Hamid Albar, in comments carried Friday, also criticised former US ambassador John Malott for what he called "baseless accusations" against Malaysia.

The foreign minister, quoted by the New Straits Times and Bernama news agency, said that after monitoring world newspaper reports in the past week, he was convinced that "certain groups" were trying to unseat the government.

The reports were largely cynical and negative about Malaysia, he said.

The government, stung by what it sees an inaccurate or unfair overseas media reports, has set up a panel to handle the issue.

The decision followed a complaint by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad that Asiaweek news magazine deliberately used a cover photograph of him recently which makes him look like an "idiot."

Malott, since his retirement from the State Department, has spoken out about the case of jailed ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim.

"He seemed to be more interested in provoking antagonism in Malaysian politics and as such as an ambassador he has failed to play the role of a diplomat and instead hurled baseless accusations against our country," Syed Hamid said.

The foreign minister said Malott appeared to display loyalty to Anwar to the extent of ignoring facts. He described this as unwise and improper.

Syed Hamid also mounted the latest in a series of official attacks on the award-winning Internet newspaper Malaysiakini, saying it strayed from the truth to serve specific interests.

"We (the government) know what Malaysiakini.com is worth and have to expose it so that the people know ... otherwise it is as if it is a voice championing freedom of expression," he said.

Malaysiakini reporters have been banned from covering official press conferences. But unlike conventional newspapers it is not subject to licensing by the government.

Mahathir's government has come in for strong overseas criticism over the jailing of Anwar for a total of 15 years. He was convicted of abuse of power and sodomy but said the charges were politically motivated.
Dato' Seri Syed Hamid Blares His Trumpet Of Ignorance Yet Again


The foreign minister, Dato' Seri Syed Hamid Albar, confidently marches in where even fools fear to tread.  Fresh from his bumbling disaster over the Sipadan kidnap, he now wants to teach an Indonesian politician the "Spirit" of Asean.  The chairman of the Indonesian People's Consultative Assembly, Mr Amien Rais, met the Parti Keadilan Negara president, Datin Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, where he characterised her
husband, He Who Must Be Destroyed At All Cost, as a political prisoner and "not as a common criminal".  The news item, if at all carried in Malaysian newspapers, was hidden, as such items often are.  This. in Dato' Seri Syed Hamid's view, interferes in Malaysia's internal affairs.

The Prime Minister's barbed attack on his Australian colleague a few
days ago is not an interference in Australia's internal affairs.  That
is all right.  The Prime Minister has a right to do that to other countries.  If he objects so much about critical comment on Malaysia's affairs, the proper cause for him is to haul in the Indonesian
ambassador in Kuala Lumpur to express his government's unhappiness.  But he behaves as an organ grinder's monkey, one which caused him his vice
presidency in the UMNO last week.

     Dato' Seri Syed Hamid insists Dato' Seri Anwar's conviction for
corruption, and his current trial for sodomy, is not politically tainted.  That presumably is why after the prosecution failed to produce
any evidence of sodomy but damaged the former deputy prime minister's reputation in the process, he High Court ordered the damaging allegations of sodomy expunged and then allows the charges amended so that he could not defend the allegations against him.  He is then convicted of corruption, which the Court of Appeal then affirms with expunged evidence.  Dato' Seri Syed Hamid says this "is in accordance with our judicial system in Malaysia". 

Malaysians, let alone Mr Amien
Rais, are apalled at how the former deputy prime minister is treated.
Even UMNO members are convinced a political conspiracy, not a criminal act, felled him.  Until this is proven wrong, the foreign minister must resign himself to criticism as from Mr Rais and others further afield.

If, as he says, it is offensive and inaccurate, it is upon him, as a
member of the Cabinet to persuade it to make the changes to obviate
carping attacks like this.  The way the High Court tried the former
deputy prime minister, and allowing the Prime Minister not to turn up as
witness when he had been properly subpoenaed, is proof enough.

     As for the ASEAN spirit Dato' Seri Syed Hamid himself knows it does
not exist.  ASEAN is deliberately downgraded by Malaysia, as the new power equation within it reduced and marginalised the status quo of leaders.  Today, it is Indonesia and Vietnam that willy nilly dominates the regional grouping, one representing Islam and the other Buddhism.

The Islamic and Buddhist rules of compassion required Mr Rais to make the statement he made.  Indeed, President Abdurrahman Wahid, is openly critical at how his friend is treated in Malaysia.  Dato' Seri Syed Hamid would better spend his time building bridges than breaking them.

His inability to dictate events over the Sipadan kidnap confirms he does not practice what he preaches.  He did not reply to an Indonesian offer to speak to President Joseph Estrade in Manila over the kidnapped tourists if Malaysia requested it.  Obviously, Malaysia did not.

Sipadan, as you know, is contested territory whose ownership rests upon a future decision of the International Court of Justice.  But Malaysia turned it into a tourist resort, an act which aggravated tension between the Kuala Lumpur and Manila. 

     Malaysian ministers get upset when Dato' Seri Anwar is described
overseas other than as a convicted criminal.  The original article is
almost always never published, though the official reaction is.  This, in the official view is what press freedom is all about:  the persecute and harass the regime's enemies to the fullest extent possible.  So, Malaysian papers fall over themselves to publish the Prime Minister's criticism of Mr John Howard, but not Mr Amien Rais's criticism of the Malaysian government over the man who would have been prime minister.
But that the foreign minister looks over his shoulders whenever the name
of Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim is mentioned, locally and overseas, does suggest, without words, that while he is convicted of criminal offences, he is in Sungei Buloh for political reasons.  The Prime Minister's sudden problems, after last week's party elections, underscores the political nature of the conviction, one that the foreign minister says Mr Rais does not understand. 

M.G.G. Pillai
pillai@mgg.pc.my
Singapore Straits Times - 28 March 2001

Inaccurate Anwar reports 'giving wrong impressions'

Continual inaccurate reporting by the foreign media on jailed former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim's medical condition has caused mistaken impressions in other countries, Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said yesterday. As a result of these reports, he said, Malaysia had come under 'extreme tremendous pressure'.

'For instance, in my recent trip to Geneva, I was asked by the chief of its human rights commission why Anwar has been denied treatment,' he said. 'I had to explain to the person that although Anwar is not allowed overseas, he has been given medical treatment, over and above that usually accorded to other prisoners.'

'The foreign media has turned this into a political issue when it's actually one of a medical nature.'

Pressed on whether the foreign media was responsible for creating misconceptions in the first place, Syed Hamid told a press conference: 'They have to get their input from somewhere. Every time we access their news websites, they have these reports politically slanted to the fact that Anwar is not receiving any treatment at all, whereas the government has actually done so.'

When a local reporter for a foreign news agency spoke out to deny any political agenda among the media, Syed Hamid told him: 'Don't get emotional. As the minister, I get criticised all the time. You should get used to it.'

Asked by the same reporter if Anwar had been denied treatment overseas because this would provide immunity from Malaysian laws, the minister said: 'Don't lead me with that question. It is unreasonable for any country to transfer prisoners overseas for surgery.'

Syed Hamid said his ministry would continue to give the government's side on the issue of Anwar's medical treatment.
FAC News - 28 March 2001

Anwar replies to Syed Hamid's pack of lies

On 26 March 2001, Malaysia's Foreign Affairs Minister, Syed Hamid Albar, ranted and raved that Anwar Ibrahim had promised he would not seek overseas treatment when the government gave its approval for Dr Thomas Hoogland to come to Malaysia to examine him.

Either Syed Hamid was misinformed or he is trying to misinform - most likely the latter.

On 5 March 2001, Anwar was given a letter to sign that had six clauses.

Clause five only said "That the EXAMINATION will be done entirely in Kuala Lumpur Hospital". It did not say that the OPERATION proper would be done in Malaysia. In fact, the entire letter only addressed the issue of the examination. It did not touch on the matter of the operation at all - which is something that would have to be decided only AFTER Dr Hoogland had examined Anwar and only AFTER Dr Hoogland has determined that Anwar even needs to be operated on in the first place.

Syed Hamid has admitted that the Malaysian government is under tremendous pressure from foreign governments to give Anwar the medical treatment he needs. This has upset the Malaysian government who has come out looking like the fiend it is and the government has retaliated by accusing Anwar's lawyers and supporters of misinforming the International community.

If any misinformation campaign is being conducted it is the Malaysian government and not Anwar's lawyers and supporters who are guilty of this. And we have the documents to prove this - and which will be done at 4.00pm on Thursday, 29 March 2001, at the media briefing for members of the Diplomatic Corps and leaders of NGOs.
When the king Pariah speaks, other idiots echo

Malaysia says Anwar supporters tried to recruit help in Indonesia

KUALA LUMPUR, April 15 (AFP) - A Malaysian minister repeated charges Sunday that supporters of jailed opposition politician Anwar Ibrahim tried to enlist Indonesian activists to stage violent protests here aimed at toppling the government.
"There is no group in Indonesia, which is preoccupied with their own internal problems, who want to meddle in our affairs but it our people who had invited them and failed," Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar was quoted as saying by the Bernama news agency.

Malaysia last week detained without trial seven pro-Anwar activists in a bid to derail a rally on Saturday marking "Black (April) 14" -- the second anniversary of Anwar's conviction for abuse of power.

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who claims that activists planned to use explosives, said the detentions nipped plans for a violent, Indonesian-style protest in the bud.

Opposition leader Lim Kit Siang said the peaceful end to Saturday's gathering showed that there was no basis to detain the seven.

In a statement Lim, chairman of the Democratic Action Party, again challenged Mahathir to prove his assertions of a "secret cell" which was planning to use weapons and explosives and to recruit Indonesians.

Otherwise, Lim said, the premier should "stop his politics of desperation and bankruptcy" and withdraw the claims.

A crowd estimated at between 2,000-3,000 gathered Saturday outside the offices of the national human rights commission (Suhakam), as opposition legislators led by Anwar's wife handed in a memorandum on rights abuses.

Police had banned the rally but did not try to disperse the crowd.

Anwar, the former deputy prime minister who was once Mahathir's heir apparent, is serving a total of 15 years in jail after being convicted in separate trials of abuse of power and sodomy.

Anwar says Mahathir orchestrated a conspiracy to frame him because he was seen as a political threat. The premier denies interfering in the judicial process.

Mahathir, quoted by Sunday newspapers, said Saturday's gathering failed to achieve what he called its target of 50,000 participants because instigators had been locked up.

"I think it is because they have no leaders to incite them ... their leaders have been detained by police," he said.

The government's use of the Internal Security Act (ISA), which allows indefinite detention without trial, was apparently effective, he said.

The premier, who was speaking Saturday, said he had information that "certain parties" had gone to Indonesia to try to recruit support.

"They proposed a gathering of 50,000 people and we learnt that they told certain people that they wanted to have it a la Indonesia, that is through violence. But (it) did not happen."

Mahathir's ruling coalition evoked the spectre of Indonesian-style unrest in a slick advertising campaign before the 1999 elections.

Opposition leaders said at the time the "fear and scare" campaign had proved effective in dissuading ethnic Chinese from supporting them.

Amnesty International and local rights groups, including Suhakam, have strongly criticised the use of the ISA.

On Sunday the Malaysian Trades Union Congress, which represents 555,000 workers, called for the seven to be either charged or released.

Its president Zainal Rampak also urged authorities to let families visit the detainees. But he said the congress was not in favour of violent demonstrations.

Rais Yatim, minister for legal affairs, hit back at the government-appointed Suhakam, saying its "inappropriate comments" gave a boost to reformasi (reform) activities.

"The general impression now is that Suhakam is supporting the reformasi activists," the New Sunday Times quoted him as saying.