THE CICAK.com

NST Reporter: We are NOT suing Jeff and Rocky on behalf of the government. Get it?

By SHANNON TEOH

PART 2

Soon after news of NST’s defamation suit broke and a long time before the first part of my commentary, all eyes turned to the supposed orchestrator and mastermind of all this. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, are you for or against this “sula” (gotta love that word)? Do you sanction it?

Umm, well, if people wanna sue, they can sue, I guess, said our ever-timid leader. This, of course, was taken as a sanction to oppress the new media by the likes of Zedeck Siew. Well, it is a sanction - but it sounded more like a sanction for our legal system. Unlike at least one previous premier, Pak Lah seems to think the courts can take care of themselves.

However, Zedeck and like-minded commentators have a brand of logic that extends this to being a government censure against dissenting voices. It seems incredible to me that this is so, in the very strictest sense of the word.

The suit has been brought by a newspaper and leading (ex-)members of its management with regards to statements made about the newspaper and said plaintiffs. Not a thing of this has to do with content that involves the government or its top officials.

Comparisons made to Singapore’s once and former king, Lee Kuan Yew’s own use of the court to silence dissent are tenuous at best, since this suit does not seek to suspend or extinguish the operations of the two blogs, but only to remove 61 postings and ensure nothing similar occurs in the future. Damages, the last time I checked, were not specified by the plaintiffs, so if they go bankrupt, it is at the court’s prerogative.

Let us assume, somewhat ridiculously, that the NST acts as the government’s proxy and they are using Jeff and Rocky’s “exuberance” as a chance to send out some sort of volley against dissenting voices.

So NST = Government. Right.

Then how is it, that the same counsel representing Jeff, one Malek Imtiaz Sarwar, also represented Barisan National MP Dato’ Shahrir Abdul Samad in the latter’s own civil suit against the NST?

Now, BN MP = Government, right? So, are we saying that the Government sued the Government?

Or course, this is a simplistic argument, and Shahrir has been known to be something of a maverick, anyway. But isn’t it simplistic also, to believe that anything the government (i.e., UMNO) wants the NST to do, it does?

I know the U in UMNO stands for United, but that is hardly the case - which is a good thing. Since it is the most powerful political party in the nation, it’d be good for democracy if there were some “heated discussions” going on from time to time.

The information minister, Datuk Seri Zainuddin Maidin, has hardly been a fan of the current regime at NST - and in fact, was one of the loudest voices calling for the suspension of the paper during the Muhammad cartoons incident - and he only came into that position during Pak Lah’s reign. Pak Lah of course, is said to be the pillar from which NSTP deputy chairman and de facto leader, Dato’ Kalimullah Hassan exerts his influence. The point: the convenient lumping of all things government, UMNO and NST into one convenient box labeled “Establishment” is a dangerous and misguided practice.

But take a look at further evidence - the long-standing bad blood between Kalimullah and Jeff. This row has consumed both parties and their closest allies, even going so far as to cause Jeff to post an invite to Kalimullah’s daughter’s wedding on his blog.

In a nutshell, this is if anything, personal rather than political. And whether or not Kalimullah has NSTP’s best interests in mind is another matter but this has hardly the makings of an insidious government plot. I’d personally be more worried about what goes into our water.

A lot of the anti-NST sentiment with regards to this suit stem from a starting point which assumes that NST taking the bloggers to court is some sort of moral wrong. Bloggers have even rallied together to call for a boycott of all NSTP publications. But has anyone tried to figure out why this is wrong? Or why this is a censure? Why is this an act against free speech and human rights?

I guess it is an attack against free speech. If free speech allows me to say things like “Jeff Ooi has an irritable bowel disorder” without substantial evidence - which it doesn’t and I hereby declare categorically that I do not claim the previous statement in quotations to be in any way true - then yes, this is a withering attack. But consider the ramifications on freedom and liberal rights, if NST were somehow prevented from seeking redress for an alleged act of defamation.

Yet, in the public court of morals, this is the case. NST simply should not sue, in the view of Jeff’s overutilised Joe Public.

Ironically, Rocky says he now feels freer as a a member of new media, that he can now say more things. “It was the mainstream media that prevented me from doing so.”

The fact is, even if this is true, Rocky did not leave mainstream media because he suddenly had an attack of conscience. He vacated his post as executive editor of Malay Mail during a Voluntary Separation Scheme exercise and then, after banking in his cheque, turned around and started lobbing Molotovs at his former citadel.

This simply illustrates one of my earliest points - which due to my lack of brevity, seems a long time ago, I know - that The Newspaper Formerly Known As Mahathir’s Mouthpiece is the “once-size-fits-all” bogeyman.

Anything wrong with freedom of speech? NST’s fault. Anything wrong with integrity and transparency? NST-lah. Even members of UMNO point the blame at NST for any climate of negativity in the media. And on and on it goes (you know, stick it to the Man and stuff).

It’s strange, though. One would have thought that since The Star is the true print media Goliath, that the flak would be redirected their way. NST, is literally half what The Star is - half the circulation, half the number of pages, half the adex, no wait…

Suddenly I, and others like me, have been ironically thrust into a rather romantic sort of position. Those who were righteously championing the supposed former minority are now the ones throwing stones. I am the underdog now, although it’d be a damned outright lie to say that I’m lurving it.

In the end, we’re free to choose sides, for whatever reasons. You may feel, think and believe it was not defamation, or in fact, the complete opposite. You may not give a damn in the first place. But if you are viewing this as some sort of battle for freedom, justice and all that jazz, then I suggest letting the courts make their decision.

Have you noticed? NST has been pushing for impartiality in the courts. And the courts did, after all, let Anwar go.

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SHANNON TEOH is a contributing writer for theCICAK.

Shannon is in fact a flighty little lifestyle journalist for NST who’s more concerned about how to own his first BMW than freedom of speech. He’s just upset that everyone’s getting all excited while he’s still waiting to flip Paul Tan the bird in an Evo IX.