Saturday, July 01, 2006

AH, MACK ZUL!

Mack Zulkifli has called it quits. The Brand New Malaysian blogger says he has lost faith in blogging. He left his last posting today (When does enough get too far? - Brand New Malaysian signs out).

And, believe it or not, all because of Kalimullah Hassan, the former Singapore Straits Times journalist, who, incidentally, also called it quits last Sunday from writing The Sunday Column in the New Sunday Times (only to return two days later in the NST to write a scathing two-pager against A. Kadir Jasin).

It saddens me to hear that Mackzul is quitting. It saddens me more to learn why he's quitting:

Jeff Ooi, the Screenshots blogger, had left a posting depicting an invitation card to a wedding of Kalimullah's daughter, and a one-liner: Shall I add "Inai Di Jari (S.Jibeng) on my i-Pod playlist).

The million-ringgit wedding is no secret, as Mackzul himself admits.

But Mackzul seems to think that Jeff Ooi, in doing the wedding card posting, has crossed the line of blogging decency. Mackzul seems to believe that Jeff Ooi has given blogging a bad name by dragging Kalimullah Hassan's innocent daughter into their feud.

Has Jeff Ooi crossed the line of blogging decency?

Has Jeff Ooi given blogging a bad name?

Or has Mackzul been talking/listening too much to Kalimullah Hassan?

33 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:16 pm

    Dear Sir....from what I have learnt from you, journalism equals to neutralism. Now my question is what happens when journalism takes a different turn; in the sense of targeting an innocent third party, when issues are added with ‘spices’ or even writing half truth stories. Also, what about ‘phoney’ reporters? Can such actions be justified via qualified privilege, fair comment or innocent dissemination? With what has taken place, I dare not take a stand for one man’s meat is another man’s poison. What may be true to you may be myth to another and thus when is the line drawn to what can be written and what cannot be written? I am not interested in the legal aspect, but more towards the ethical responsibility towards the readers. Enlighten me!

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  2. Anonymous8:33 pm

    I wish mack zul all the best. bloggers are like journalists and newspaper editors. Some came and stayed, and died as journalists and editors.

    Some came but did not stay. Some died as politicians, businessmen and so on. I met a former magazine editor of the Utusan Melayu Group. He is now a successful rubber smallholder in Kedah. Another became part timee chicken farmer.

    We can't force people to stay. Bloggers too will come and go. And if they stay long enough, they will die a blogger.

    But unlike journalists and editors who are paid salaries or earn a living by selling their services, I haven't yet heard of people blogging for a living.

    Some blog to syay alive -- like Rocky, AKJ and a few other veteran journalists. These people have lost their jobs and their newspapers. I suspect that not many editors dare to publish their articles. So to keep their brains from dying and to continue to make their views known, they blog.

    Mack zul's reason for throwing in his pen (towel), according to Bru, is because he has lost faith in blogging. He lost faith in blogging becaume he thougth Jeff Ooi crossed the boundary of propriety by mocking the forthcoming grand wedding of kali's daughter.

    I am not proud of what jeff did. But some people invite this kind of reaction. When you use your newspapers to tell stories of your wives, sons and daughters, somebody is bound to be piss off with it and mock them. Kali is famous for telling stories about his family and his close friends, including the PM.

    If Mack zul is so upset and so disgusted, he should continue to blog. He should use his blog to discipline jeff and to bring respect to blogging. You don't win by running away.

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  3. Anonymous8:35 pm

    To be fair..Kalimullah has brought himself into sharper focus lately. Jeff merely put the card to let the world now about the wedding without any added comments other than one line lyrics from the late S. Jibeng Inai song. Why and how was displaying the card construed by Mackzul as being malicious in any way on Jeff`s part? Rather some free publicity generated about the wedding. This is akin to a piece of news item in the paper about the wedding. How would this be deterimental to the parties tying the knot ? Mackzul`s over reaction is puzzling. Even more interesting is his giving up writing for good and using this as an excuse. Mind boggling indeed. Whats the problem dude?

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  4. Salam bro!

    Sambil saya tabik spring kat prinsip Mack Zul yg ucap sayonara kpd blogging kerana kununnya Jeff Oii dah langgar batas, saya juga ucap trima ksih kat Jeff krana bubuh imej kad jmputan tu dlm Screenshots.

    Kalu dia tak bubuh imej bertuah tu dalam blog, mana la sy nak tau dlm Malaysia ni ada knduri kawin yang debik duit sampai brjuta (kalau sungguh la gitu), yg diadakan oleh seorang yg dulunya hanya mintak krja sbagai press sec Allahyarham Tun Ghafar Baba tapi kena reject dan lepas tu dengar-dengar jadi jutawan segera.

    Anak dia tak salah bro, jangan dimangsakan Lara yang innocent. Katok la sgala jari yg nak mnudingkan tuduhan kpd anak tak brdosa itu.

    Kad kawin tu ada jasanya. Sbb dgn tengok kad kawin itu la kita teringin sungguh nak btanya, dari pokok mana gugurnya durian runtuh papa dia?

    Kalau sy kaya macam Bill Gates, sy buat knduri anak sy curah duit satu lori pun sy tak silu-silu kat sapa pun. Tapi kalau hari2 org tanya mana hang dapat duit banyak sangat ni sampai org buat pc nak tanya mana hang sedut duit dan jadi meliana segera ni, kudung kepala sy nak buat perangai tak ketahwan di depan public!

    Sambil salute kat Mack Zul, sy juga salute kat papa yang murah hati sungguh buat knduri anak dia! Salam~

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  5. It is my opinion that no matter what hatreds or vendetta you have for a person, leave the person's family out of it.

    As for this particular issue, there was no reason for Jeff to feature the wedding for any reason. What he wrote was obscure as to his thoughts and we are left to guess as to his motivation.

    Given his vendetta with Kalimullah, a reader may read between the lines and find much meaning, true or otherwise.

    Lets put it this way, would you want your own family members to become involved or hurt by your own personal vendetta with someone else?

    You would bear the ultimate responsibility for your loved one's hurt.

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  6. Anonymous2:33 am

    we wish mack zul all the best. frankly i dont know whats the big deal about datuk kalimulah's daughter's wedding. its just another businessman's daughter's wedding. i didnt even know it was the talk of town. why, i wonder? and then i was told that people were talking about it because it was interesting to see the guest list. Why ever should that be interesting? Oh well...
    But for mack zul to want to call it a day because of jeff ooi's indiscretion is a bit hard -- on himself. he should have called it a day a long time ago... there have been worse cases of blog-abuse.
    And oh, isnt Mack Zul a neigbour of Kalimulah?
    Correct me if i am wrong, but isnt mack zul contracted to do some IT business withe NST involvng jaring?

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  7. Anonymous2:47 am

    jeff, why are you doing it? you have crossed the line. its unforgivable.

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  8. Anonymous2:50 am

    I think both mack zulkifli and jeff ooi have a point. mack is so distressed by what jeff did as a blogger that he (mack) decided to end his blog. I don't know mack. I have not visited his blog.
    but if a-jeff story on kali's daughter wedding upsets him so much that he loses faith in blogs and bloggers, i think his decision to end his blog is a good idea. he shouldn't risk constant heartache and high blood pressure.
    To some people, giving up is a solution. Our PM famous phrase is "failure is not an option." I don't know since when failure is ever an option. But never mind the PM.
    If mack wants to stop blogging, let him be, but I urge jeff to continue blogging. I hope jeff will not give up blogging because he's distraught that his blog on kali's grand wedding for his daughter has caused mack to end his blog.
    Look, kali said worse things about people than jeff said about his daughter's wedding. jeff published the invitation card in his one-man blog. kali published many bad and untrue allegations against a lot of innocent people in his mighty newspapers. now we are seeing kali vs bloggers. bloggers cannot win, at least not so soon.
    So I think more people should blog, firstly to replace mack, if the lost of his blog needs replacing, and secondly, with kali refusing to publish other people's points of view, except his, PM's and Khairy, I think more people will resort to blogs and websites for justice.
    Also I think kali brought this on himself. as "a blogger too" said, he is famous for writing about his family and his good friends like the PM. If you talk about your family and friends in your newspapers, somebody is bound to repeat it somewhere, like in blogs and websites.

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  9. Anonymous5:27 am

    to jeff ooi, whatever said and done, i still believe there is honour among men. you have your reasons for disliking kali, but to print his daughter's wedding card on the blog is beyond comprehension.

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  10. jaan:

    I agree with this "...This is akin to a piece of news item in the paper about the wedding. How would this be deterimental to the parties tying the knot ? Mackzul`s over reaction is puzzling. Even more interesting is his giving up writing for good...", and add:

    Public figures -- politicians and high rpofile corporates and ex-GEICs and current GEICS, esp from UM and NSTP, to a lesser extent from The Star, are themselves NEWSMAKERS, So what's so ridiculous for Jeff to blog about it when the Players did not say they mind...? and why should third parties react so strongly to the extent of giving up an activity of "passion" maybe?

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  11. Anonymous2:05 pm

    Yes Jeff was offside. I told Mack and I told Jeff just that.That was a red card. Whats the expression? Too big for his shoes? Rocky, some of your readers should be red-carded too. After a week's break Ivisited your blog and there were postings like: Malay (read Moron). Dont allow people to use your blog to unload their shitty baggage. I have come to regard your blog in the same league as Mack's and Aisehman. Dont go Jeff's way witch=hunting Kali. You all want to deserve your well earned sleep.....sleep tight buddy, see u one of these nights at PC.Much cheers.

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  12. Anonymous8:47 pm

    kalau betullah cakap Cherie, rupa-rupanya ada udang galah yang sanget besar dan juicy di sebelik batu mack zul. Ada sebab dia marahkan jeff ooi tulis tentang kenduri kahwin anak kali. Kata Cherie dia dapat kontrak IT dari NST! mack zul, betul ke? kalau tak betul sila teruskan blog. ramai ke orang gasak kali dalam blog you? jadi kali lah yang suruh you tamatkan blog you, kalau tidak hilang kontrak.

    nstman, you ni banyak merapu lah. macam bos-bos you di nst. apa you nak cakap pasal jeff crossed the line? kan nst tak tahupun apa linenya. belasah orang ok. tapi bila orang hantar surat, you masuk ke dalam bangkul sampah. berapa increment you dapat jadi budak suruhan kali, hisham dan brendan?

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  13. Anonymous10:49 pm

    Mack works for an ISP. He has also gone around dropping broad hints that Kali is his best friend. Nothing wrong in that and I don't agree with Jeff posting the card either.

    Arguably, Mack's rise in blogsphere is due to intial promotion from Jeff on the latter's blog. The former cleverly milked his friendship with his 'influential' USJ neighbour when he was a blogging nobody.

    Now that he has gained wider readership and attention from Kali, his head grew even bigger. Mack also knows now that by working as a senior exec in a GLC, he cannot blog as freely as before. I am not surprised his boss told him to quit blogging or to tone down.

    The wedding card post was a god-sent opportunity. In a brilliant move, he scrapgoats Jeff, got out of blogging "graciously' and earned some brownie points from the Mullah he worships. Brilliant Mack!

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  14. Anonymous12:58 am

    quoting from mack zul's "swan song" -- ".... But somehow, things can go really out of hand if one allows hatred to consume oneself. When an individual wallows in pure unadulterated hate, the most satisfying thing no longer becomes achieving something for the common good of all, but rather, it tranforms itself into who can inflict most damage. Even the greatest will fall from the pedestal when that happens...." Jeez..... was he talking about Jeff Ooi. I swear he was describing Kalimulah.
    .

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  15. Anonymous1:08 am

    Whatever Jeff Ooi's intention in reproducing the wedding card (he did not write about the bride or the wedding), i dont think there was any damage done. Mack Zul, I have to tell you this, you are spinning this whole thing to win sympathy for Kali. Man, has he promised you a column in the NST? Let's not flatter Kali. It's not worth anybody's while to disrupt his daughter's wedding. or to harm him or his family.
    Just "listen" to him in his Sunday Column, will ya? Only an unaccomplished columnnist would write the way he had been doing. including drawing so much attention to his family. Man, if he was still writing, he would probably be talking about his daughter's wedding and reproducing the wedding card.
    Give me a break!

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  16. Anonymous1:17 am

    someone told me this: "if in the darkness of ignorance, you do not know a person's true nature, just look at who he looks up to as his leader. Then you will know. And look at who he has as his minions..."

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  17. Anonymous8:52 am

    While I agree that it is not so proper for Jeff to publish the wedding invitation card (since it is personal - he should NOT do it), but having done so, I don't think there is any harm done, and I feel that Mack is over-reacting.

    This is not the first time MAck come up with "___ had gone too far". There were a few instances, one of which was when kenny sia made fun of some Allah words in Arabic, he said Kenny had gone too far. It's like he self appointed himself as the cyber guardian/police for bloggers. WHo is he to say what a blogger had done as "going to far"?

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  18. I'd like to add one more bit of enlightenment to farid787's comment.

    Did JO realise that the contact numbers were clearly visible on the card?

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  19. Freedom of Speech is nice to have, but most Malaysians do not fully appreciate, understand nor know what to do with it.

    The typical Malaysian will define it in terms of rights and entitlements, but never with respect to responsibilities and privileges.

    Did someone say journalism means objective reporting? ROFL Idealists can be really amusing.

    The only objective reporting one can expect from any kind of news medium is the ticker bar that shows price movements for shares / commodities. Anything else cannot be classified as objective if it has even the slightest hint of opinion or hearsay. As is very well known, all journalists have opinions, and their opinions always find a way into the reporting.

    An objective journalist is like an honest politician. Really.

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  20. Anonymous12:40 pm

    jeffooi often takes things very personal, and this time around, he is just so so wrong. as usual.

    but, as ever, he thinks he is ALWAYS RIGHT.

    he is just someone who will never learn. just another rotten Malaysian. just like those rotten politicians in BN.

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  21. Anonymous1:51 pm

    If I were mack zul, I would go to kali and start a new blog. better still together with kali. kali is a big man in IT. He is on the board of MDC. mack zul, you owe all bloggers an explnation!

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  22. Anonymous4:21 pm

    IN BRANDMALAYSIA.COM, Mackzul seems to warrant a prompt answer:
    ===== QUOTE =====
    It's okay, there is nothing clandestine about that. In fact the same is being discussed with ALL media owners, and in principle is nothing different than selling newspapers online. EVERYTHING can be a can of worms right? I am merely getting soem alpha bloggers to write for mainstream media for wider coverage.

    Besides, I do not own any shares in JARING ... LOL. So ultimately there's no personal interest.

    Thanks for the kind comments people, and you know, I take what comes, both positive and negative, without being defensive or picking a fight. I still however have made up my mind.

    Posted by: Mack Zulkifli at July 3, 2006 02:43 PM
    ===== QUOTE =====

    Jaring share is junk. ECM-Libra and the enlarged Avenue Capital is probably more satisfying.

    Wasn't it yesterday Mackzul told everyone in the Press Club that Kali is his buddy?

    What else is new?

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  23. Anonymous4:32 pm

    Bloggers come and blogger go.

    But good bloggers don't do a "Kali" by scapegosting other blogger if he wants to quit for whatever reasons best known to himslef. And in this case, Mackzul owes us an explanation.

    I have been listening to his Kali-speeches in the Press Club. He shook my hand too though I prefer to have my beers undisturbed. I have been in PC far too long to need people tell me who Kali is, or who he dines with.

    But if Mackzul comes into PC, I will still let him shake my hand and talks about Kali. That makes my darts sharper.

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  24. Anonymous6:41 pm

    Frankly Mack Zul, even if you have joined the Dark Side, like what's said by a blogger somewhere, and have become Kalimullah's latest (but not necessarily the most useful proxy), what's wrong with it?

    Come to the PC with a Kalimullah headband. We will know whose beer to spike ;-)

    Anyway, is it REALLY true that just bcos Jeff Ooi did a "Kali" on the real Kali, and you are so pissed to leave blogging? Is that the moral high horse you want to take? There's a better way to glorify, and to fix that Jeff Ooi bugger you know?

    What you just did by springing a "Kali" on us just boomeranged on you and your Kali ultimately, it just goes to show how good Kali has been in choosing his cronies. That's why he screws himself up all the time lately. I don't think he likes it now.

    YOUR OLD COLLEAGUE

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  25. Anonymous6:59 pm

    Aiyo, why so moralistic about the reproduction of the wedding card. After all this is the man who threatened so many people, including Jeff. So I can't blame that Jeff guy. He also has a score to settle.

    BTW is this the daughter who dropped out of the foreign university because she was so in love with this local guy that she had to come home to study and be near him. Looks like all is less than perfect in the most loving family of the year.

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  26. Anonymous9:12 pm

    To quote a many oft quoted line:

    Blog/Forum/Internet debates are like the Special Olympics, no matter who wins, you're still a retard.

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  27. Anonymous12:28 am

    Those who know mack well will know mack can spin a good tale. Having heard many of mack's stories I can safely tell you Mack can lie thru his teeth without any guilt.

    He leaving blogging is all about timing. he has been busy with his work as posted in his blog and he has not been blogging much of late.And yeah the RM20k. He told us he used to work at KUB for RM40k.

    This is all about timing. jeff and wedding card is just an excuse to make things dramatic.There are reasons behind him to stop blogging. One is work. Kali? Mack knows Kali, yes. Does Kali know mack and if he does is it as good as Mack claims to be? Also is jaring happy with Mack blogging? Any conflict of interest?

    so mack should stop and not use jeff as an excuse.

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  28. holy cow !!!

    jeff is in "elegant silence" mode though mack had cried an outburst and gonna quit blogging.

    guess, these guys is mirroring our PM and ex-PM. what a smart "spin-doctors" they are both to gauge visitors to their blogsite.

    may be, rock's bru could be the
    "mediator" to resolve the dispute?

    lol........both are just "cari makan" in this blogsphere.

    as far as i could see it, you can't make money by blogging but you could probably make some by "spinning".

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  29. Anonymous2:04 am

    our weighing scales don't seem to be working at all. jeff talks about his daughter on his blog, too. understandable for any proud parent with a medium of expression to do that, who thinks he can still respect certain private boundaries while sharing other public virtues so that others should rejoice in. i'd like to blog about my cats if i had the time and share my cat tales with cat fanciers. does that mean my cats are a target for someone who hates me? isn't that just like a mafia? or maybe not. i think even this crosses their code of ethics. i keep seeing similar phrases like this: "somebody is bound to repeat it somewhere, like in blogs and websites." that's right. but to print something that is essentially none of your business? about someone that has nothing to do with you directly? it really brings jeff's motives to question. anyone else posting it would be innocent. but jeff's ongoing and escalating vendetta with kali has gone on too long. as for questining mack's motives, look at his reasoning, his rationale. if they don't hold true for you, then say so. speculating anonymously about his alleged ties with kali just adds more junk in cyberspace.

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  30. It's actually a 3-step process in journalism (4th Estate with no credibility, my humble opinion, ok!); also in blogging (which is aspiring to become the 5th Estate, but being in infancy stage, I won't come to any conclusion).

    (1) The Establishment starts with seeking your *Cooperation -- throwing some kacang putih your way
    (2) Next they offer you some juice that is to seek your **Cooption -- a scholarship maybe, a place at a residential college;
    (3) Finally they know there is a price on everyone's head -- they COPULATE you giving you that multi-thousand job, or if you decline, a multi-million contract. Once you sell your soul, there's no turning back.

    (NB:My rpice is about RM20million but there has been NO APproach so far.)

    MackZul just preceded this scribe by maybe 1/2 year in blogging, and I consider my near-1-1/2 years like at kindergarten-lah.

    I acknowledge JeffOoi as "Sifu" in the same way mainstream journos have described three-year-old TV3 glamour gals as "veteran" journalists -- but at least Jee set a trend for Malaysian blogosphere and inspired many of us greenhorns to Blog. But I have differed often with Jeff's views on several issues -- so let's keep to the issues. It's not about Mack & Jeff here -- it's about your own conscience and principles at the end of the day. Objective test_- Can you sleep like a log at night after all your writes?
    I pray the so-called (self-claimed?) 5th Estate does not go the way of the 4TH Estate, because that had been COPULATED LONG AGO!

    If MackZul wants to stop blogging, hey, what's the big deal?
    Read Howsy-lah! Better still, if nothing to do, read the extreme of DaftOi something -- I wonder whop's this guy, another sponsored Blog who has an axe to grind against JO. If you read the Datf one, jeffooi's weddingcar post raeds like a Penny from Heaven!

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  31. Anonymous4:49 pm

    hahahahah.. oh my god this is so funny..

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  32. Anonymous9:15 pm

    Is it right for Jeff to post the wedding picture? Did he crossed the line?

    There is no right or wrong. It depends on how you choose to perceive it. Maybe Jeff could have done it in a better way for critize somebody? Maybe he should not critize the individual's family?

    Then again I remembered I saw a video clip on Youtube which is about a Burmese general's daugther lavish wedding ceremony. Because of the video, a lot of Burmese can see how their General used the people money to benefit themselves only.

    What's too personal?

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  33. Anonymous6:40 am

    There r real live issues out there, who cares if this mack what u might call him quits. 2morrow, God's Willing, the sun will still rise in the east and I will still go to the loo.

    Grow up man mack whatever, I personally don't give a shit

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