Taib Hit By UK’s Bell Pottinger Scandal!
SARAWAK REPORT
Once again Taib’s dirty tricks against Sarawak Report and Radio Free Sarawak have spectacularly backfired!
In the past few hours it has emerged that the Chief Minister, along with his son-in-law, Sean Murray, was one of the clients who hired Bell Pottinger to alter Wikipedia entries about themselves, their companies, Sarawak… and, of course, Sarawak Report/Radio Free Sarawak!
Bell Pottinger is the PR giant that has been at the centre of a scandal that has been gripping the UK since Tuesday. The company, which first achieved fame as Margaret Thatcher’s favourite agency, has developed a reputation for professional ruthlessness and a willingness to do business with unpleasant clients.
Video sting
They demonstrated these questionable ethics when they were exposed earlier this week in a sting by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, posing as representatives of Uzbekistan, which has been condemned for promoting the slave labour of children in the cotton industry.
Bell Pottinger staff were caught on camera saying they would be willing to work on improving the country’s image, even though reform might be minimal. They would charge a million pounds a year (RM5million) or a hundred thousand a month.
At the same time the company was exposed for bragging that it had special access to UK Prime Minister David Cameron for clients wishing to lobby the British Government, which has been hugely embarrassing for the Conservative Party.
Taib was a client!
- Sarawak Report has been dragged into the affair
Now the scandal has rolled into its 3rd day with further exposes about Bell Pottinger’s willingness to engage in ‘Dark Arts’, such as the secretive alteration of people’s Wikipedia entries. The story is splashing around UK newspapers, but is being led by The Independent and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.
After the details of ten pseudonyms used by Bell Pottinger to alter information about their clients were released by Wikipedia a few hours ago, it emerged that one of the key users of this service was none other than Taib Mahmud and his son-in-law Sean Murray!
The list of Wikipedia entries altered by the Bell Pottinger pseudonym ‘Biggleswick’ includes Abdul Taib Mahmud, Sean Murray, Ridgeford Properties (the Taib family company in the UK), Christopher Murray (Sean’s cousin and the Director of Ridgeford Properties), Sakto (the Taib family company in Canada), Sarawak (which Taib largely owns in Malaysia) and… Clare Rewcastle Brown, the Editor of this blog and the Radio Station Radio Free Sarawak!
