Rulers’ office didn’t reply to email, says Insider

News site questions why Insider singled out and Umno-controlled Harian Metro not subject to investigation.

PETALING JAYA: The office of the Rulers’ Conference was asked for confirmation but did not reply to an email from the Malaysian Insider in regard to a purported decision on the hudud issue, the Malaysian Insider said today.

In an editorial published this evening, the management of the Insider said an email was sent to the office of the Rulers’ Conference two days before the web site published its report, based on information from its sources, that the Rulers had rejected a proposal to provide for hudud criminal penalties.

The report was subsequently denied and three editors, the chief executive, and the publisher were arrested under the Sedition Act last week and detained overnight in a police lockup, causing furious protests from journalists and civil society.

The Insider said today that its editors had tried to check the information over the span of three days, and had emailed the office of the Rulers’ Conference on March 23, two days before publication, asking for confirmation. There was no reply, the Insider said.

In an editorial published late this evening, entitled Clarification and Apology, the Insider pointedly asked why it was singled out by Umno Youth leader Khairy Jamaluddin who lodged a police report against it, and not Harian Metro which had carried a similar story the next day.

Harian Metro is owned by New Straits Times Press, part of Umno-controlled Media Prima group.

The Harian Metro report was published a day after the Insider’s story, under the sub-headline Penolakan Majlis Raja Melayu Hanya Isu Teknikal (Can Still Be Tabled – Rejection by Conference of Rulers was only a Technical Issue), and was based on an interview with the deputy menteri besar of Kelantan.

Why did Umno Youth not call for action to be taken against Harian Metro and the Kelantan Deputy MB? And why did they not lodge a report against the Umno controlled newspaper?,” the Insider said.

“Why is TMI being singled out for criminal investigation when Harian Metro had reported the same thing? And why have the attacks been extended to The Edge? Is there a wider agenda at play?”

The Insider and The Edge have both carried a series of investigative reports about the management and finances of the controversial and troubled government-owned 1Malaysia Development Bhd, which is RM42mil in debt.

The owner of Edge Media Group, Tong Kooi Ong, also came under attack from an anonymous blogger who accused him of foreign exchange manipulations causing the sharp fall in the value of the ringgit.

The Insider, while deploring the use of criminal charges against the media, said the law must be applied fairly. “The authorities cannot single out TMI and not take action against another publication which published a similar article. Unless, of course, the authorities want to tell the whole world there are some who are above the law,” the Insider said.

The Insider thanked the public, fellow journalists and the media, and civil society groups for their support and demands for the release of the arrested editors. It also apologised to the Rulers’ Conference and expressed its loyalty to the country and their Highnesses.