When The Malaysian Insider got caught in its own web of deception

By MT Webmaster Last updated Mar 21, 2016

Say it! Najib curi RM2.6 billion duit 1MDB! Or else shut up and don’t talk too much. You talk so much but stopped just one step short of calling Najib a thief. Just remember when you set up your new portal, The Malaysian Outsider, that you can go just so far with lies and spins. Eventually you will hit the dust like The Malaysian Insider did.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

I would like to respond to Jahabar Sadiq’s article in The Guardian today (SEE BELOW). I would have expected that with The Malaysian Insider (TMI) already dead and buried he would stop all his spinning and discontinue his lies. Apparently, as the saying goes, a leopard can never change its spots. Or is it once a thief always a thief?

In paragraph 1 of his article, Jahabar said that with the demise of TMI “Malaysia lost another source of independent news.” That is as accurate as saying DAP is a party that was set up to uphold Islam and to implement the Islamic Sharia law, in particular Hudud. TMI is as independent as I am a virgin. And in case you have any doubts about that let me assure you I have five children and six grandchildren and that can only be because I am not a virgin.

TMI was initially set up to fight against Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in his bid to topple the then Prime Minister, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. Then it was taken over by a group of Chinamen 20-21 months ago to support the ANC (Anti-Najib Campaign) with only one objective in mind — to topple Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak.

Now tell me, in what way does that make TMI independent? Or do you really believe I am still a virgin?

Jahabar admits that TMI has lost RM10 million since it was taken over as a vehicle to oust the Prime Minister 20-21 months ago. But RM10 million is small potatoes had Najib been ousted eight months ago in July 2015 as planned. The Chinamen owners of TMI would have recouped hundreds of millions in government ‘favours’. So what is a mere RM10 million?

But now that is no longer possible. And if TMI remains in business, even just up to the next general election and/or Umno party election, it would need to blow another RM12-15 million. In business we say, “Why send good money after bad?” And in business we also say you need to know when to cut your losses.

And the Chinamen behind TMI are not that stupid (maybe just a little bit stupid for thinking they can oust Najib). They are businessmen. They are in this just to make money, which is normal for these Chinese. So you mean they do not know when to cut their losses and call it a day instead of sending good money after bad?

The second paragraph in Jahabar’s piece says it all. They were trying to sell of TMI for RM20 million. And they were talking to Umno. And in paragraph 3 Jahabar says TMI had to close “three weeks after the internet regulator – the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) – issued a block order against us.”

Actually, TMI had been talking to Umno since August last year. That was seven months ago. When the Chinamen owners of TMI realised that the Umno buyout is no longer on the table they used the MCMC action as the excuse to close TMI. Then they can blame it on the government rather than admit that they are not really clever Chinese businessmen after all and that they lost RM10 million in just 20-21 months.

Why are the Chinamen in TMI not as clever as Malaysiakini and SUARAM. Malaysiakini and SUARAM are obtaining grants from Soros in the hundreds of millions. All TMI has to do is to declare that it is fighting for justice and they can get hundreds of millions in free money.

In 2012 it was revealed that SUARAM alone got RM100 million through Bangkok. It is now four years since that revelation and SUARAM never denied it or came out with their accounts to prove that allegation false. They probably can’t do that because it is true.

TMI costs RM500,000 a month to run. So does Malaysiakini. And do you think Malaysiakini survives on adverts and subscription? They, too, get millions from the same source that SUARAM does. Why is TMI not clever enough to do this? And Malaysiakini, too, gets millions because it pretends to be an independent news portal, just like TMI does.

The rest of Jahabar’s piece is just to make a short story long. Why not add in the part about the personal sacrifices he had to make and his mother’s death and all the rest of that nonsense? The bottom line is, TMI deals in lies. And even in Jahabar’s piece below it is infested with lies.

What has the rest of what Jahabar wrote got to do with the issue — which is TMI has closed down because it lost RM10 million and the Chinamen do not want to continue losing money?

Is Jahabar saying that TMI closed down because some rich Arabs gave Najib a large donation? Is Jahabar saying that Najib is a thief? If that is what he is saying then come right out and say it. Don’t beat around the bush and talk so much but say nothing.

Trust me, though, there are still some people who will believe your lies. And these people go by the name of Pakatuns. But this time make sure the Chinamen who finance you are not in this for the money and that they will not dump you once they discover they cannot rip off Umno by selling the portal to Umno for a huge profit.

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The press has become too free for the government of Malaysia

Jahabar Sadiq, The Guardian

The news portal The Malaysian Insider went offline on the first minute of 15 March 2016 – the Ides of March. With that, 59 staffers, including me, lost our jobs. And Malaysia lost another source of independent news.

The closure was ostensibly due to an inability to secure a deal with potential suitors and to stem losses that rose to RM10m (US$2.4m) in the 20 months it was held by the Edge Media Group

But it came nearly three weeks after the internet regulator – the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) – issued a block order against us over a report that claimed the local anti-graft agency had sufficient evidence of a criminal charge against the prime minister Najib Razak, although the country’s attorney-general had cleared him of wrongdoing.

The anti-graft investigations began last July after the Wall Street Journal revealed that nearly US$700m had been found in the prime minister’s bank accounts.

First there was a denouncement of that report, but the source of the money was never clear: was it a personal donation or from any government? Suffice to say it remains a mystery today, despite investigations.

The online media covered all aspects of the scandal while the regulated print and broadcast media dutifully reported the government’s side. The straw that broke the camel’s back was our report quoting an unidentified member of an independent panel within the anti-graft agency alleging there was enough proof for a charge.

We were blocked the day our report came out: 25 February, which also happened to be the Malaysian Insider’s eighth birthday. The reasons for our block have never been officially communicated to us, beyond a minister saying we were confusing the people.

The block pushed us off the edge. As it is, we were not making enough money. But the block ensured we could not make any money, as all advertisers pulled out except one.

Traffic slid but not as much as revenue and it was inevitable that we would have to be sold or shut down. As the company had rejected all offers, it decided to close us down immediately and take the servers offline the day the decision was made.

Our closure immediately puts a spotlight to press freedom in Malaysia. It has become freer over the years, thanks to the internet, as print and broadcast remain regulated. The fact is, more Malaysians are abandoning print and broadcast media and instead resorting to news portals such as the Malaysian Insider for their fix of daily news.

Our content became our readers’ discontent. And their discontent became our content – to the dismay of the government that prided itself as moderate and transformational. Several pro-government news portals popped up and the marketplace of ideas became lively.

But the results of the last two elections and the growing criticism over the 1MDB scandal and mysterious origin of the donation in the prime minister’s bank accounts pushed more people to online news portals and the foreign media.

We were becoming too free, as the government side of the news became the object of derision and ridicule. Ministers and the police warned against distributing news or cartoons that mocked the issue, saying it was seditious and unverified news.

Press freedom remains, but the threat of being accused of sedition and possible jail time has imprisoned us within our minds as Malaysians. People are shutting up and we have shut down.

But some independent media remains despite the Malaysian Insider’s closure, soldiering on in an environment that is both economically and politically hostile to anything except the official narrative.

The MCMC has said that 52 websites have been blocked thus far this year, and more could suffer our fate as long as they do not conform to the official narrative. As it is, there is only one pay-site in Malaysia as Malaysians are loth or do not have the disposable income to pay for their news, as seen by sliding newspaper sales.

When that happens, we will go back to the days before the internet – a one-way flow of information dictated by party insiders and government mandarins; and press freedom, freedom of expression, will remain only in name.

Perhaps, some say, there is social media, but even that is under threat of regulation. And it is true, most of the chatter in social media is gossip and speculation – subject to influence from any political party from the government or opposition bench.

Professional and good journalism is the only way to go for people to know what is going on in Malaysia. They have to invest in it to get informed so they can make informed decisions.

But that type of journalism is dying in Malaysia and we have just added to the body count. The saddest day is when none of us are left in Malaysia and we have to read the independent media’s obituary on a foreign news site.

Jahabar Sadiq was the editor of the Malaysian Insider

Raja Petra Kamarudin RPK