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| umno's newspaper of filth |
| Friday, 30 March 2001 Please deliver this message to your Editor and also to your reporter, Miss Mahraini Kamaruddin. I refer to the false article that you published about me in the March 30 edition of Utusan Malaysia, entitled, "Bekas Duta Amerika hadiri pertemuan sulit Keadilan." That article is a complete fabrication. I am in California and have not been in Malaysia since January 2000, as the Malaysian Government's own immigration records clearly will show. According to a message that I have received, Miss Kamaruddin says that she was ordered to write that false report by her boss and to include my name. I understand that to knowingly write and publish a false report is an offense under Malaysian law, and that I would be well within my rights to take legal action against you. I ask that you do the following, so that further action on my part is not necessary: (1) That you publish in a prominent position within your newspaper and on your website a retraction in which you clearly acknowledge that the report was not accurate. Reporting denials by third parties, such as the US Embassy or myself, will not suffice. What is required is your acknowledgement that the article was false. (2) That your retraction also include an apology to me; and (3) That you remove the false article from the archives on your website. As long as it is archived and available for anyone to read, you continue to perpetuate a false report. I ask for your response at the earliest opportunity. Sincerely, Ambassador (Ret.) John R. Malott |
| Penarikan balik dan kemaafan SATU rencana telah disiarkan di muka surat pertama keluaran akhbar ini pada 30 Mac 2001 di bawah tajuk ``Bekas Duta Amerika hadiri pertemuan sulit Keadilan'' yang membawa maksud bahawa John R. Malott, bekas Duta Amerika Amerika ke Malaysia, telah menghadiri satu taklimat sulit yang diadakan oleh Parti Keadilan Nasional di sebuah hotel tempatan, mengenai keadaan kesihatan bekas Timbalan Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. Rencana tersebut telah disiarkan oleh kami berlandaskan maklumat yang boleh dipercayai. Walau bagaimanapun, kami telah kemudian daripada itu mendapati dan kini sedar bahawa pengataan-pengataan terhadap John R. Malott adalah tidak berasas dan oleh yang demikian menyatakan rasa kesal kami atas siaran pengataan-pengataan tersebut. Kesilapan tersebut telah berlaku akibat wartawan kami terkhilaf kecerapan bahawa salah seorang wakil Kedutaan Amerika yang telah menghadiri taklimat itu iaitu James F. Entwistle dan Alexis Ludwig mirip John R. Malott. Kami mengambil kesempatan awal ini untuk memperbetul kesilapan tersebut dan dengan ini meminta maaf kepada John R. Malott atas apa jua kedukaan atau keaiban yang mungkin telah diakibatkan kepadanya oleh penyiaran rencana asal tersebut. |
| Retraction and apology AN article appeared on page 1 of the issue of this newspaper for March 30, 2001 under the heading ``Bekas Duta Amerika hadiri pertemuan sulit Keadilan' to the effect that John R Malott, the former United States ambassador to Malaysia, had attended a closed door briefing organised by Parti Keadilan Nasional at a local hotel concerning the condition of former Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. The report published by us was based on information that we believed to be reliable. We have however, subsequently ascertained that there was no foundation to these allegations and we regret that they were ever made. The error was occasioned by our reporter Marhaini Kamaruddin's mistaken perception that one of the two officials from the American Embassy viz James F Entwistle and Alexis Ludwig who had in fact attended the briefing, resembled John R Malott. We take the earliest opportunity of correcting our error and expressing to John R Malott our apologies and regret any distress or embarassment caused to him by the publication of the original article. |