Screenshots

Taib controlls S'wak Tribune and he runs the State like his own country. Why do you think the daily could still hit the newsstand today?

This action gives Western critics ammo to prove that freedom of speech is anathema to Islam.

this is indeed bad news. will malaysia fall down the freedom of press index?
it wont make the country look especially good if the tribune is sunk for this.

how does go along with the "visit malaysia" campaign for the coming year? will be people be inclined to visit a country that shuts down a newspaper for publishing caricatures easily and freely accessible via the net? (and no i dont want to start a debate about the caricatures)
what i also want to ask is how much protection from such events do we need? cant we make up our own mind by having access to the whole picture?

An indonesian paper published the cartoons too. I didnt see that the paper is suspended.

JEFF OOI says: Identify your source (URL) and the name of the newspaper you said, or this commentary goes to Junk Comment status in 24 hours.

Its fair what the editor did to resign & on the 11th hour, one could not blame then entire sarawak tribune. The editor in my point of view the only one that was responsible enough to admit his mistake & resign.

Its a good paper & it deserves the right to defend itself from being suspended.

I feel so sorry for the editor and Sarawak Tribune for the harsh action taken against them. The oversight by the editor did cost him his career and likewise the future of the organisation.

As mentioned in previous posting in similar blog topic, publishing those caricatures do not make you a criminal. I guess the editor was trying to comment on those caricatures.

Thanks to Jeff, I was able to view those caricatures from the link he provided. Does that mean Jeff is guilty too?

I find the crowd and protestors are just so emotionally led by this whole issue. Thankfully, the danish embassy in KL remains intact still.

It is even more ridiculous to find protestors in Surabaya, Indonesia protesting in front of the US embassy. What has the US got to do with this?

Those protestors are really fools to have done so. I guess there are just so against anything of western interest.

Ultimately, the very actions of the protestors would only further cast a negative light on the religion Islam.

I will cross my finger and watch. This is no West Malaysian paper.

If NST think the closing of the paper can help boosting circulation of paper origin from west Malaysia, they are wrong.

Good governance shouldn't be just about maintaining harmony. It should also be about raising the savvyness of the hoi-polloi.

By their decision, the cabinet has shown that it has taken the lazy way out, and thus misses another chance to coax one segment of the masses towards a more rational and liberal mindset.

They could have let the editor answer for the action first before jumping the gun with such a draconian and disconcerting move. After all, isn't journalism about reporting and enlightening?

One sees the same cavalier action taken on the earsquat editors. It would be naive to believe that as keepers of information, global information to wit, the editors will automatically tend to self-destruct in this country.

The message here is very simple: if a leadership doesn't take the initiative, guts even, to raise the bar of excellence and development of rational mindset of the people on whom they depend for their votes, that would be tantamount to their being no better in emotional IQ than the imams and cartoonists of this fractious world.

In fact, it would open them to blackmail by proxy, for their decisions will each time be swayed by fear. Whatever they do will then be a function of the lowest denomination and weakest link.

In this situation, a small jolt from the outside world which has moved on, and the glasshouse cracks into a million pieces.

If the cabinet itself wants to show how savvy it can be, instead of this decision, it could have said something like:

'perhaps the bills to pay for the funerals of the six aghans who have died as an indirect result of the intiial cascade of thoughtless actions should be sent to be spilt equally between the danish paper and the danish imams.'

But then again, one ascribes too much IQ and EQ to people who already have low FQ.

That's why I dared not use either of the "two" versions -- I believe the PM has the "final" say and the NST's version as stating a "afit accompli" is forcing his hand. I believe some UMNO second echelon leadership uis attemptting a coup d'tat -- and I'm praying that they don't succeed.

Pak Lah may appear "weak" after 22 yaers of iron-fisted Mahathirist rule, but Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi needs to "nip in the bud" several incidents of his underlings "pressuring" him -- yes, tending towards coup d'etat realisation is the P Should his deputy in Internal affairs be sent out of the Cabinet for his many "ommissions" -- somehow I sense a shadow of his hand tending towards "mischief"... and a coup de'tat is more than mischief, isn't it?

Neil,

i would like to second your comment :)

oh great. so no over-reaction from malaysia? malaysia is tolerant? the editor had already resigned and apologised, why need to suspend sarawak tribune? by doing so 300 or so people (its staff, right) will be out of job!

are they taking this action just to show to the islam world that they are very islamic?

remember the squat-gate incident? 2 big shots editors were forced to resign and now this....

sad... sad...

Jeff:

Indonesia PETA Tabloid,
all 10 cartoons
Feb 6, 2006

2 more from Jordan's papers:

Jordan Al-Shihan 3 cartoons February 2, 2006
Jordan Al-Mehwar 3 cartoons February 2, 2006

total of close to 60 papers published & thousands in the web.

url:
http://cedarsawakening.blogspot.com/2006/02/boycott-all-these-countries.html

Newspapers are not satisfied with reporting the news. They also want to make the news - a desirable competitive edge but not ethical at all !

It really looks like the Danish imams was out to create mischief. An Egyptian paper, Al Fager, published the said cartoons back in October, during Ramadhan. That event passed without fanfare. It appears the editors are still in their jobs.

This blog article reproduced pages of the newspaper where the cartoons were printed.

http://freedomforegyptians.blogspot.com/2006/02/egyptian-newspaper-pictures-that.html

You can publish the cartoon but depends how you write the article. Publish and with some censorship then it's ok. But not publish and then declare freedom of speech! Then you are hijacking freedom again.

BTW tjwork, the source you provided is from a Blog! A Blog! The Danish Imam made a mistake and I hope we don’t repeat his mistake. (what if that blogger apologize later and say: sorry! typo… typo error.)

End of the day, we must learned to respect other's religion. The wise thing to do is stop the intimidation and unnecessary provocation that risk so many innocent lives.

Action taken to Sarawak Tribune is not necessary a direct retaliation by Muslim. This will serve reminder to everyone to be more sensitive about all these issue which can threaten the multi-racial harmony we enjoy here, where we and our ancestor worked and been through so many obstacle to achieve it. I bet the government will do the same if the same thing happens to other religion. Because we strive so long and hard to maintain the peace we have today and will not allow it to be destroy over a few ‘free-thinker’ or ‘freedom’ hijacker.

Mistake caused by an individual must be bare by the individual. It’s of course unfair when the culprit involved everyone who is innocent and unaware about the culprit’s action. But to blame everything into an individual in a company like that doesn’t make sense also. This is simple, your boss asks you to do something and when things screwed up, you can’t be the only one who responsible. If that guy wants to publish something, write it in his/her own blog, put down his address and so on and responsible himself! He/she knows he/she is representing an organization, and he/she must truly aware about the consequences.

What action to be taken against Sarawak Tribune is not our say as well. We can only observe and see as this is kind of serious issue. We do hope ST gets a fair punishment… without involving a lot of casualties as we need to limit the damage now…

Sorry, I might digress... anyway, just my 2 cents...

Cheers.

My theory.
1. Maybe Paklah is putting up a sandiwara just to appease certain group of people.
2. Paklah just has to show he got some teeth. Sad. He is biting at the wrong thing.
3. Again he is confused and don't know which way to act. Just tembak.
4. Something is brewing in Sarawak. Lately we get some ministers lambasting the govt over here.

Its not going to be easy to flex their muscles in Sarawak.

Its a different playing field.

I think its enough that the editor had quit. He made a mistake and was brave enough to admit it and be held responsible for his actions. Now, thats something that all Menteris should learn to do.

Dear Geovanni,

"BTW tjwork, the source you provided is from a Blog!..."

I agree its from a blog but judging from the post itself, I would say he did some research before posting. He did mention its from Wikipedia.

I agree he could be wrong & so could any source from the internet. Im just relating the information I researched to all.

With regard to an indonesian paper: Indonesia PETA Tabloid published the cartoons too. Here are some of the sources:

Asia Media News Daily:
http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=38667

Mainichi Daily News:
http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/international/news/20060208p2g00m0in006000c.html

The Hindu News
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200602081014.htm

Remember, Google is your best friend. :)

A crying shame that a very, very good and (relatively, for this country) unbiased paper, not to mention one of the oldest English daillies in East Malaysia is set to close down because some people are oversensitive about their religion.

The Editor responsible has already resigned why punish the whole company, nay, the whole community for the actions of one man?

TheStar Newsdesk http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/2/9/nation/20060209210947&sec=nation reported "Sarawak Tribune suspended with immediate effect".

Its not a popular government move to suspend Sarawak Tribune or any other media, but hey, the paper really did wrong and in order for fast damage control, I think its a right thing to do.

Lets hope the government is fair in its action if someday, the other major newspapers also publish insensitive issues.

Dear Geovanni,

"This will serve reminder to everyone to be more sensitive about all these issue which can threaten the multi-racial harmony we enjoy here, where we and our ancestor worked and been through so many obstacle to achieve it."

I do not understand.What with caricatures that originated from a danish newspaper have anything to do with racial harmony in our country? I do agree the caricatures are absolutely tasteless and not necessary. it is in appropriate to re-print it again after such widespread of irrational protest.the editor should bear full responsibility.but revoking ST its publishing license,in my opinion,is way overboard.the person handling the printer machine,the admin staffs responsible with all the paper work and payrolls,the office boy,the auntie who clean the pantry and the list goes on;all these people have absolutely nothing to do with making the decision to print the caricatures.just because 1 (or maybe more than 1) person made a mistake,the rest of the employees must be "hanged".don't you feel this is absurd? but of course, this is bolehland.our "minister" must make a tough stand or else the rakyat will say they are not doing their job.i wonder what will happen to the selanyang municipal council..hmm....

Hi,

As i said ealier, the individual has made his/her choice by doing something after so much of protest/violence... If it's an individual's thought or ideas, they can put up in their own blog/website etc.

Punishment tough or not is not us to decide. I do hope that only those people involved will be punished and spare those innocent. But, we are talking something really sensitive here.

If it won't threaten the harmony we enjoyed, why we comment here at the first place? defending and keep on be defiant...? why ST is now suspended? why the editor have to resign? I digress again. The reason I comment here is against the intimidation and provocation shown by the irrespnsible editors/newspaper that risked unnecessary lives, innocent lives.

Sekian... :)

Geovanni,
//Because we strive so long and hard to maintain the peace we have today and will not allow it to be destroy over a few ‘free-thinker’ or ‘freedom’ hijacker.//

Excuse me? So stability should always win over any erosion of our civil liberties? I can see your eyes rolling already, but if we were to submit to the promise of stability so long as we keep our mouths shut, that's NOT what our forefathers fought for. They fought for freedom from the "evil British". Imagine if they had kept their mouths shut and said "takpe la" for fear of causing a bit of a stir.

I don't know what you mean by "free-thinker" and "freedom hijacker" so I'm not going to get all hotted up over it. If you are talking about free-thinking in religious terms then I do hope you're open minded enough to accept that not all people accept the idea of a higher power (eg me).

Regarding the topic, I don't think the editor should have had to resign. He didn't draw the cartoons after all. He merely did what a newspaper IS SUPPOSED TO DO, that is to report the news. It's sad, in this day and age when we criticise the Star, NST and Berita Harian for being one-sided, we can in the same breath criticise an editor who was doing his job in trying to present the news as fairly as he can. As for the entire newspaper being suspended, that's just bloody ridiculous, forgive my language.

Hi tjwork,

Appreciate the findings but sometimes things can be very deceiving. the blog cannot be independently verified. And if they made mistake, they don't have to resign like the China press editors... So when there is no responsibility, the credibility is always a doubt. I'm not saying they are wrong, it's just that we better make some reservation in this case.

Cheers.

Hi Hann,

Don't have to excuse yourself. You are entitled to what you think.

I am open minded doesn't mean that i expect others to follow me. And i don't wanna force people to accept the ideas of depicting their god is good for freedom.

You accept what you want to accept and you must accept what people can't accept. If you still insist that re-printing something like this will do any good for every race here, go on and start your own blog/broadcasting. If you made some insensitive error in speech or publication and offended some people, do you keep on provoke and intimidating? The editors made a right choice by apologizing and resigning, but I don't know why it's not enough deemed by the government. Again, it's beyond our control as he/or ST made the decision. We don't know what is the state of mind when they are doing this. But if 'freedom' is being hijacked, then the situation will be different.

Fighting the British is totally different than this. There are situation we need to stand up and there are situation we need to refrain. Please remember the greatest war we fought is not with the Brits, but with own ourselves.

As I said, "Punishment tough or not is not us to decide. I do hope that only those people involved will be punished and spare those innocent." The good news it the suspension is until further notice. Let's hope the best for ST.

Why not we just do what Bush said: government must step up effort to control the violence. The last thing we want is to create unnecessary inflamation.

Cheers.

This whole thing is getting nowhere good. Why can't people just let the religion's god do whatever is necessary rather than people trying to play god. Why don't people get on with life and concentrate to live peacefully and work hard and be honest!!!
People can split all the hairs and yet cannot find a solution. Who is right or who is wrong? The whole thing is like a hypocrisy and conniving to cause trouble.

JEFF OOI says: Back to my earlier question: When is there a closure? How will the world bring it to a closure?

I feel sorry for The Sarawak Tribune staff and their family. They really have nothing to do with this whole incident. Now, they lost their jobs and the means to feed their family. This is very wrong.

I think the Government have their own purpose to temperary shutting off the place. It's some kind of emergency now, I suppose. I mean with what the protesters in London had show to the world of their angst, feeling and most frightening maybe... "their plan of actions will be taken", I don't wanna work there.

Which one you prefer? Lose you job or potentially losing your life?

"When is there a closure?" When the next "enemy" (natural or man-made disaster or international scandal) strikes....
When the passion, energy or momentum dies out...
When the opportunists stop stoking the fire...
When....

Hann:
"Regarding the topic, I don't think the editor should have had to resign. He didn't draw the cartoons after all. He merely did what a newspaper IS SUPPOSED TO DO, that is to report the news. It's sad, in this day and age when we criticise the Star, NST and Berita Harian for being one-sided, we can in the same breath criticise an editor who was doing his job in trying to present the news as fairly as he can. As for the entire newspaper being suspended, that's just bloody ridiculous, forgive my language." -- yours is about the most cogent and informed view of what a journalist's riole is about -- I salute again thy thought here (My privilege at doing so first time at another post at Screenshots...)
I am now a feelance journalist -- having served some 25 years plus in both mainstream, other-stream media and PR, and I think hann--if there are some thinkers in Pak Lah's Cabinet with just a fundamental grasp of what journalism practice entails -- "they would NOT kill a fly with a hammer"! like what has happened (Feb 10 news) suspending Sarawak Truibune after the night=editor has been "scapegoated" and asked to leave ...this latter point is re-stated for the benefit of other commenters who got it wrong that Lester Melanyi admitted his mistake and resigned of his own free will" ...NO! "(Read the NST yesterday...very informative Q*A...)

Hann -- people like you and me will be put to the stakes if we were to run a newspaper in Malaysia ...maybe in my spiriteDestination (in lighter vein-lah, we steal have time to digress and app some humour, yes?)

Dear Geovanni,
I'm sorry I still don't get your point about freedom hijackers. But you're right, I AM entitled to think what I want, and I HAVE the right to put my thoughts up in a blog of my own or a public forum such as this. But I DO NOT have the right to force you to read it, to acquiesce with it or to agree with it. But are you going to ask me to kill myself so that you won't have to hear the filth and sedition pouring from my mouth ever again? I'm very glad you made this point. Maybe we can draw parallels with the editor issue here? Again, I stand by what I have said. Which is that the editor did nothing wrong, neither did the newspaper. They REPORT. Maybe we've all forgotten that that's the role for newspapers.

Desiderata,
That's the most praise I've ever gotten at one go :) Cheers mate, I'm glad there are some people who acknowledge that we need independent media in the country, and not a bunch of yes-men reporting what the ruling party says they may.

A middle eastern blogger from Bahrain summed it up quite well. He wrote:

"It took a good four months for the controversy to hit our shores (thanks to some encouragement from across the causeway), and now everyone on the island is going crazy. And I expected that our ever-efficient Parliament would react the way it did."
"The most interesting aspect of this whole controversy is the way in which Denmark, as a state entity, has been targetted much more heavily than has the actual cartoonist or the newspaper editors. There are calls to boycott all goods produced in the Danish state. They demand an apology from no less than the government of the Danish state."
"One possible theory of mine is that it is because people in much of the Muslim world aren’t fully aware of the relationship between the press and the state in Denmark. Here in Bahrain, as in many developing countries, the state keeps a watchful on eye everything that is printed in the newspapers. In some cases the line that separates the state and the press is very very blurry indeed. On the other hand, in Denmark and much of Europe, the state and the media are strictly independent. Maybe people here in the Muslim world are mistakenly assuming that what applies at home applies everywhere, and therefore they hold the Danish state responsible for everything printed in the Danish press."

(Exerpts from the blogsite http://chanad.weblogs.us/?p=452)

To stretch it, it is like calling on the Sarawak Govt to resign because of what is printed in the Sarawak Tribune.

Perhaps a closure will come when people get to realise that there is separation between press and govt in Denmark.

Hi Hann,

I didn't know how the editor publish the cartoon and what is his state of mind. You see, there are plenty scenarios... Is he just report what happen in Denmark and condemn it or just republish the cartoon and declare freedom of speech?

Freedom include tolerance and refrain. But when someone say they do this because of freedom, then they might be the hijacker, just like the terrorist who hijack the religion and declare war. Or, imagine you insult your friend's religion even after he protest that he is not happy about what you did, and you give him a 'freedom of speech' excuse, make sense or not?

We refrain because some hijacker might use it to inflame the issue, that's why all these must put at a stop at once, and we might discuss it later when it's not so hot. Maybe that's why the government suspend ST until 'further notice', and not forever.

Anyway, I thought the editor resigned and apologized and it will be the end. But unfortunately it's not. And someone has to remember that the action he/she carried out had already affect some innocent one. Just like the protest and violence happen in other countries, lives is lost, no matter it's freedom of speech or else.

Cheers.

BTW, I'm not a good commentor :p because i digress always. I just want to maintain my point that the West/newspaper should stop intimidating and provocking and start respecting other's religion. How you want to respect or whether you want to respect is another thing, but just leave ecah other alone. The last thing is to depict the prophet. Cause I don't like it to happen to things i believe/respect...

Cheers.

Can the police use ISA in this Sarawak Tribune case?

Isn't that one of ISA's initial objectives is to arrest any propaganda that can affect national interest / unity / social / or whatever that may be called?

Dear geovanni,
I get your point :) Yes it's true we don't know what was passing through his mind, but I guess that's where you and me differ. To you, it matters a lot whether he did it as a reporter or as someone uncaring of the effect he would have on readers, all in the name of free speech. Whereas to me, it doesn't matter what his motives were, but that he DID, and that the reaction towards him has been over-the-top and unjustified, and to me it's wrong to castigate him. We'll just agree to disagree there ok?

Good point regarding ISA though. However I think the ISA has come up for a lot of stick, and taking any action under ISA would sort of be politically bad for the government. Anyway, it's so much easier to twist the editor's arm in private and force him to resign or else...