Staying put for Umno. Last month, Kalimullah Hassan told NST's bureau chiefs before their session with an editorial trainer specially flown in from Singapore that by year-end, by the grace of God, they will get a new Group Editor.
Brendan Pereira quitting? Again?!
Well, actually none of the bureau chiefs believed what Kalimullah said. As it is, for the 4th time in less than 3 years, Brendan the former bureau chief of the Singapore Straits Times has been told that his services are still required by the Prime Minister.
(That is what Kalimullah said each time! The first time Brendan could not quit because, according to Kalimullah, Pak Lah had called Brendan personally to ask him to stay).
Brendan faithfully responds to the PM's desire to have him remain at NST by prematurely launching a round of pre-emptive attacks against Dr M in the context of November's Umno general assembly in his weekly column "Get ready for some pap (PAP?) between now and the Umno general assembly in November" today (CLICK here to read).
You can expect the return of the Alphabet-soup series from this former affidavit writer in the run-up to the assembly.
well, bro
ReplyDeletewhat can i say except to tell kalimullah this : you can fool some of the people some of the time but you sure as hell can't full all the people all the time.
hallelujah!
shebuyah, shebuyah, shebuyah,
ReplyDeletemy name is diva,
and i aint gonna believe ya,
for lying, kalimullah,
cos, its so stinking.
all this lying,
its like selling,
your soul, your country n everythin'
so, start prayin
before you start losing
your respect,
cos, if you ask me,
you've LOST IT!
man, have you lost it.
yeah, shebuyah, shebuyah.
P.S: Mr Rocky, sir. How do you like this? This is like a cheer-leading song, you know. But in this case, it is a "jeer"-leading song.
as my girlfriend
ReplyDeleteas my girlfriend always says:
ReplyDelete"tell it to the marines", kalimulah.
which means "yeah, right".
which also means "sudah-lah. Nak goreng siapa lagi ni".
which also also means DON'T LAH HAVE TO LIE TO US AGAIN AND AGAIN.
the point is he is lying about the reason Brendan is staying. It is not Pak Lah who wants Brendan to stay. It is Kali. That is the lie.
bukan minah rempit
you are right, pujangga.
ReplyDeletei think at the NST, the people there have all resigned to the fact that Brendan is there to stay. (for as long as Pak Lah is PM)
But, of course, in the middle of the year, Kalimullah will spread a story (and he is good at this) that brendan is leaving.
(the first two times this happened, brendan's departure was hot topic. but people soon wised up).
And then, at about this time of the year, Kalimullah would say that no, er er, brendan would not be leaving because, er er, the PM wants him to stay.
Ah. Bollocks! The PM isnt even making decisions on this.
Kalimullah needs Brendan (as much as Brendan needs him) to run the NST. He trusts no one else. Rather, he has not found anyone else in whom he can trust to do the job for him.
Brendan paria should be put in jail first for sedition
ReplyDeleteRocky!
ReplyDeleteThis is a message to Nori!
Dear Nori,
I am sure you are reading all the blogsites to find out what people are saying about your dad who is THE Prime Minister, and especially on your husband whom people have nothing good to say about. Many believed that both you and your dad are virtually "prisoners" of Khairy's blind ambition. But, Nori, please do something to protect your father's good name. I am sure you are not insensitive and oblivous to the happenings to our beloved country!
Sincerely! With no malice intended!
At least Brendan did not write about Mat Rempit like his boss Dato' Hishamuddin Aun did. Dato' Hishamuddin did nothing and write nothing to safeguard the present leadership. Dato' Kalimullah must honestly answer this question, is Dato' Hishamuddin a good journalist?
ReplyDeleteMat Rempap
pasquale,
ReplyDeletenori is either
1. imprisoned in her own home and does not know what's going on. OR
2. imprisoned in her own home and knows what's going on but cannot do anything about it. OR
3. free as a bird. not imprisoned but does not (which is unlikely) know what's going on, OR
4. free as a bird, not imprisoned, knows what's going one but does not believe a thing written or said about her dad, or husband. OR
5. she is free. she knows and she does not care.
Take your pick, Pasquale. Because she hears you.
(But, let's leave her out of this for now, ok?)
from NURUL
Mat Rempap,
ReplyDeletesaya sendiri sukar hendak faham tulisan hishamudin aun. berbelit-belit. adoi. saya surrender.tak bisa habis. walhal, tak sampai para ke-empat. Pening kepala. Tak tahu di mana dia belajar menulis teruk macam tu. Dari BERNAMA, kod?
Brendan, through his column, is Umno's voice in the NST. The Supreme Council may not be unanimous in this, but then they all want to suck up to Brendan and Dato Kali; so they bite their tongue and accept these two. Speak to NST journalists and they have little good to say about BP. But Dato Kali said the PM wants BP to stay as he needs this S'pore trained fellow. Well, what can U say! Dato Kali said: 'What the PM wants, the PM gets!"
ReplyDeleteThe Umno leaders are indebted to Dato Kali and Brendan, so they'll stay. PM also indebted to them, you may ask. I don't know but that's the impression Dato Kali is giving to his NST boys, some of whom are more gullible than others.
By the way, that's an interesting headline in the Monday pg1 Star. PM says he's in control! Why the need for him to say that? Anyone doubting it? PM said that to assure himself? What gives Bru?
Bru, One of the posters here said Brendan Pereira, the Group Editor of NST, is a Singapore PR.
ReplyDelete1. Is that true?
2. Can't you be a Group Editor of a newspaper in Malaysia if you are a PR of another country?
3. What does our law say about a citizen being a Permanent Resident of another country?
Very Curious.
Rocky!
ReplyDeleteThis is to anonymous who signed off as Nurul!
Yes! One hell of a multiple-choice questions which I cannot begin to guess let alone answer, all I want to say is for Nori to clarify why is she not reacting to adverse comments made on her husband and father, the Prime Minister of this country!
I am also curious as to why we should "leave Nori out of it, for now", why for now?! care to elaborate?!
Yours Truly
Pasquale.
let's put things in perspective. nst needs brendan pereira more than brendan needs nst. nst needs brendan for one simple reason - there's nobody to replace him. whether he is a stooge or not is a matter of conjecture. there is no suitable candidate at the moment or the foreseeable future. you take away brendan, you take the breath away from a once great paper. that's the truth. rocky would have made a decent GE. rocky's cosmopolitan and non racist approach makes him a candidate who is accetapable to certain people. anyway, that is a hypothetical answer to the woes facing the new shit times.
ReplyDeleteBrendan is a Malaysian who studied in Singapore. Some say his wife is Singaporean and he has many uni mates there - hence the frequent visits across the Causeway.
ReplyDeleteBrendan is actually a decent guy and probably the best thing Kali did when he took over NST from DKL. Brendan reintroduced a standard of professionalism which many of us only vaguely remember from the days of Noordin. Halinah Bamadaj and Adibah Amin.
Brendan is strict and rules the newsroom with discipline - something which his successors will not be able to do because there are none in the newspaper today who have the determination, intellect and hands-on energy to push as hard as he does.
But there is a side to Brendan which is puzzling and this is the till-death-do-us-part loyalty to kali. He will do anything for the man even though it may be ethically unwise and sometimes questionable. For instance, when Kali appointed Salehuddin Group Editor, Brendan was clearly not in favour but seemed unable to dissuade him from doing so. The promotion proved disastrous for NST and it left many of us wondering why Brendan did not voice his objection to the appointment.
Strangely, he is unable to see the grand machinations of his dear friend and mentor. It's almost like the wife who remains blindly and idiotically devoted to a husband who has a string of mistresses.
For Brendan's sake, let's hope he only discovers this side of kali years from now when he is no longer in NST (for surely Pak Lah won't need him there forever). And when he does, let's hope it won't crush him as much as it crushed so many of us who recognised from day one why Kali - like all the others before him - was sent in to "save" the NST.
nstman (if indeed there's still the NST and somebody man enough to stand up to the bumbling trio of KBH), being an old NSTP hack, I must, despite my deep suspicion of you, agree that it not that the Singapore transplant Brendan Pereira needs the nst, but it's the opposite.
ReplyDeleteBy sheer coincidence nst needs him because there's nobody else to take over, though I think Syed Nazrti can hold the fort if given a chance.
I am sure Brendan has no problem securing alternative employment. Singapore's Internal Security Department, which effectively runs his former workplace, the ST, will see to it that he's rewarded.
But I would not blame Kali alone for the destruction of the NST hierarcy. Kali is neither clever nor man enough to deconstruct this old dame of the Malaysian English media. He merely accelerated the process started by Dollah Kok Lanas, his co-pretender, way back in 2002/2003 when he (Dollah) was made GEIC two years after AJK left following a disagreement with Mahathir, Daim and Rahman Maidin.
Dollah started it all. He politicised the already highly politicised NST. True to his calling as politician-cum-backroom plotter, Dollah turned the NST into a big political/business plot that included intermidating Umno politicians and tycoons for power and money.
While AKJ openly despised politicians and confined his dealings to the PM and Umno President, his successor AAT loved politicians and he tolerated even the most insignificant of them. Like Dollah and now Kali and Hisham, AAT sat on Umno committees.
It was during DKL's era that Hishamuddin Aun got his big break as Dollah's translator and typist who travelled around the world on all expenses paid trips bacause DKL neither knows how to type nor to transmit stories via the Internet. Hisham was his errant boy. DKL was Mahathir's worse choice as NSTP's editorial chief.
Kali made it worse by his inexperience and his deep desire to tell the whole wide world of his intimacy with his benefactor, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (I am the Prime Minister/I am in charge). But it was his lack of self-confidence that truly led to the constructive dismissals of AAT and other AKJ's oldtimers, including Rocky Bru, and old pussies who used to give AAT hell.
In their places he brought in his foreign correspondent-buddies, who generally hates Umno. These people became foreign correspondents because they were willing to write bad things about Umno and Malaysia.
I also agree with "kawan". Umno is clueless here. NSTP has always been the President's domain. Supreme Council has little say boyond complaining. But during Mahathir's tenure as NSTP's lord and master, he listened to the Supreme Council. Zam in the Utusan and AKJ in the NST got into trouble bacause the Supreme Coucil, on occasions, spoke against them and Mahathir listened.
I guess under AAB, the Supreme Council is either "kami sokong" bunch of apple polishers or is helpless because the President does not listen to anybody when it comes to his children, his son- and daugther-in-law, his good buddies like Kali, Annuar Zaini and, lately, Brendan.
NSTP, as it winds its way up the ownership chain to Media Prima and finally the Realmild is owned and controlled solely by Umno President. During Mahathir's era, Anwar called the shots when he was the anointed successor. That's why NSTP suffered badly when Anwar was sacked, tried and imprisoned.
AAB, with his fanaticism over Kali and now Brendan, is continuing the process of the destruction of the NST (the Umno's voice in English) and the debasing of other NSTP newspapers since neither Kali nor Hisham cares about the intellectual development of the Malays and, by the same token, Umno. The more stupid Umno and the Malays become, the better it is for them.
Sadly, the media is too complicated for AAB and the existing members of the Umno Supreme Council to understand, leading to the likes of Kali and Brendan being given carte blanche to deconstruct the Malay and Malaysian politics to the benefit of their circles, in and outside the country.
Hisham Aun is, of course, clueless as is amply reflected by his mundane Sunday Bahasa Malaysia column. Kali needs Hisham because they're both essentially monolingual. Kali can write only in English and Hisham only in Malay.
So in the AAB's era, NSTP's GEIC does not have to be bilingual. Dasar Bahasa Kebangsaan does not even apply.
Sad.
nstman said...
ReplyDeletethere is no suitable candidate at the moment or the foreseeable future.
===================================
Because Kali-ullar made sure all the good ones leave the NST - by sidestepping them & by making their lives miserable.
Who u kidding nstman?
nstman,
ReplyDeleteyou must be joking. the NST needs Brendan more than Brendan needs the NST? tell this to my roti man.
Kalimullah needs brendan in the NST, brother.
Brendan is very replaceable. but indispensable to Kali not the NST. ok, perhaps to the NST under Kalimullah.
Please do not insult this once great paper,ok.
brendan, at best at the NST or any other paper, can be your regular features editor. By now, we can perhaps,say that he would have considerable experience running a newsdesk.
Brendan is Kalimulah's servant.Kalimulah is ruining the NST. Brendan is not? You think?
anonymous who is Very Curious,
ReplyDeleteBrendan is a Malaysian. Studied in La Salle PJ. Went to Singapore University. Disillusioned with the Malaysian system. He had good results but could not egt a scholarship. He is Brickfields boy. Marah sangat with Malaysia, Malaysians and,possibly Malays for the unfair treatment of non Malays in awarding of scholarships at tertiary level,especially.
He started work with Singapoe Straits Times in SINGAPORE before he was made the agent in Kuala Lumpur.
He may be a Singaore PR because he makes regular trips BACK HOME to Singapore.
The running joke in NST is that he goes back to SIngapore to brief his masters and to get a de-briefing.
And we thought it was a joke.
no longer curious
NSTMAN,
ReplyDeleteTHAT is putting things in perspective?
Pull the other leg, man.
Pujangga,
ReplyDeleteHow do you know Brendan Pereira is a Singapore Permanent Resident?
Do you have proof?
Pasquale,
ReplyDeleteMy point is that she is quiet because of that 1,2,3, 4 or 5 OR all of them.
She hasn't said anything all this while, right? And, brother she aint saying nothing now or later.
Why should she? Why subject herself to attacks? I know commentators in this blog are not vicious. Still, she doesn't need all this-lah.
What do you expect her to say, Pasquale?
Elle ne dira rien qui blessera son père. L'avoir pitié de. Comprend?
Nurul
Pasquale,
ReplyDeleteUsted pregunta demasiado de ella,
from
Bella
pasquale,
ReplyDeletewhy i said "leave her out of this for now". because she is irrelevant now.
Le temps viendra quand elle parlera.
Nurul
Rocky!
ReplyDeleteThis is for anonymous who signed off as Bella!
He said "Usted pregunta demasiado de ella", and my reply is "de hecho, aun quiero saber mas". I am just curous thats all. And my Spanish is not all that great, English por favor!
Pasquale
from
Bella
7
pasquale,
ReplyDeleteRocky!
To anonymous who sighed off as Nurul!
"Okay the time will come for her to speak", thats what I understand you were saying in French. SVP! English please next time!
Pasquale
Dear Nurul!
ReplyDeleteIf I understand my a little bit of French you were saying:"Elle ne dira rien qui blessera son père. L'avoir pitié de. Comprend?"
It means:"She doesnt weant to say anyting in defence of her father, although she feels sorry for him for being under siege."
Okay I understand and thank you for the clarification!
Cheers!
Rocky!
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to read about Singapore Straits Times chief reporter in Beijing being jailed for five years for spying, eh!
Cheers!
The only problem with Brendan is that he is none Malay and he is not acceptable eventhough he is good. Why don't we get Badrul of Advertisement to be GE, he has got editorial experience and good with Umno politicians eventhough he only knows how to play golf. I think then Rocky can stop blogging about NST.
ReplyDeleteThe only problem with Brendan is that he is none Malay and he is not acceptable eventhough he is good. Why don't we get Badrul of Advertisement to be GE, he has got editorial experience and good with Umno politicians eventhough he only knows how to play golf. I think then Rocky can stop bad mouthing NST.
ReplyDeleteWhoever the GE of NST is not important. Anything happen, we and our share holders will put the blame on no one else, other than GEIC and CEO who are paid to do this job. We want to see two of them improve our MM sale, increase NST sale and bring back BH to no 1. Harian Metro does not carry good image to our company. Two of them must also turn the company financial from red to black. For how many years CEO mentioned about this already, VSS after VSS, but our financial position has never improved. Please lah, we don't want BH to play the role of Persatuan Nelayan. Even Persatuan Nelayan never organise fishing competition. What good image is that we are talking about. GEIC and CEO should resign if they fail to improve the paper. How many years already. Angkat kaki, cabutlah.
ReplyDeleteKakiulut
Kakiulut, I completely agree with you, the company NST is more important than any personalities. This company takes care of the livelihood of close to 2,000 families. It cannot go to rot.
ReplyDeleteMy plea and prayer. Can one of our reporter friends ask Datuk Zam what has happened to his decleration that Kali's and Brendan's days are numbered?
ReplyDeleteIt looks to me that Zam does not know to skin a cat, not tiger and lion, but strays like Kali and Brensdan.
No disrespect intended. They are strays because professionally they are not up to the mark to run the NSTP but they strayed into the company because "I am the PM in control" loves them.
Zam? Well he has always been a child and a dreamer.
I'm curious. Why should Nori answer to anyone? If we're being fair here, she's not been elected to public office and it is therefore right for her to reserve comment. Anyone expecting otherwise just wants more juice in the fight when what we need is less ringside fervour and more sensible and well-evidenced arguments from BOTH sides. A lot of us have a lot of growing up to do.
ReplyDeleteSoon after our "I am in control" PM called Mr Pereira, every foreign corresponden in KL got the news.
ReplyDeleteKali and Pereira couldn't wait to show just how close they are to the PM and how frivolous our PM could get.
They quoted the PM as pleading with Mr Pereira that if he left, people would conclude that he (PM) gave in to pressure.
So Bru and the rest don't pressure for Kali's and Brendan's removal. Allow PM to act according to his own style.
anonymous,
ReplyDeletenothing to be curious about. you have read the comments, the criticisms, the arguments. generally, they are sensible and fair. but that of course is a matter of opinion. it is just how fair and how sensible they are. nori is not expected to make any statement at all. i think pasquale is simple so exasperated over what is going on.
i am sure there is hard evidence of many of the allegations made.
kali, brendan and the machais are making a fool of my Prime Minister.
ReplyDeleteBetter watch it!
pendekar mamat
Progress can only be made when one party is determined to subscribe to a higher standard than the other. I can understand exasperation of course -- heaven knows many of us feel the same way about politics today. But when you throw exasperation into a public space, it hardens into argument and acquires a veneer of legitimacy. If there's hard evidence, bring it on. We have the right to hear it and raise questions. And in the meantime,let's hold ourselves to a higher standard.
ReplyDeleteabout as high as you can get in blogsphere, ma'am.
ReplyDeleteand they have brought it on.
but,of course, this is blogsphere.
besides, brother rocky is careful not let commentators get carried away. let's not be so righteous here. you and i know that this is not a court of law. really, what kind of evidence are you talking about? to be presented here? in rocky's bru? oh, please.
anonymous who spoke about progress, standards, veneer of legitimacy..etc..
ReplyDeleteyou're trying to say something. i know. but you're not really saying anything. that much i know.
OMG anonymous!
ReplyDeleteyou sound like a politician.
DMM
anonymous (the one who wants us to bring on the evidence)
ReplyDeleteyou sound clever. but not so. you seem quite confused yourself. on one hand, you say that nori should not be expected to say anything. granted. you made your point. and yet, you spoke of one party (as opposed to the other party) having to subscribe to a higher yadyadaya.
here in rocky's bru, there have been so much debate. and by blogging standard, pretty fair, pretty sound. again, as, a commentator said,it is a matter of opinion. and, we all hear you.
so, let's stop here. we will be digressing. we will be missing the point.
hey... what is that defender of nori talking about?
ReplyDeleteso many questions sudah di tanya? we have been asking questions? where is she coming from.(sorry, sounds like a "she")
nak raise questions,kah? please. we have raised many questions. are you for real, anonymous?
you tak baca all the comments? you dont think they are legitimate questions? you dont think the grouses are legitimate? you think the thousands of malaysians are stupid, blind, deaf?
you datang dari mana? higher standards? of what?
i kesian you-lah. If you still cannot see the picture, then, apa mahu cakap? you look but you dont see. you listen but you dont hear. like that-lah. well, its ok. this is a free country.
abusalam
anonymous who has asked us all to hold ourselves to a higher standard.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with you. You have a very valid point. we must not make unfounded allegations against individuals. we have to resist turning sound discussions into baseless arguments. After all, this is for all to see.
we are very responsible people. and we are not stupid.how can we present evidence here. this is blogging. if we say someone is a spy because we have the evidence. how do we present it here. if we say someone indulged in insider trading and we have the facts and proof. how can we go into detail. you want rocky to get into trouble. and rocky is an experience editor.
ReplyDeletemadam, sir or whoever you are. please know what you are talking about.
saudara seperjuangan
say what, anonymous?
ReplyDeletehard evidence - on our Prime Minister's poor job of administering the country?
- on khairy's millions
- on the 4th floor boys at Putrajaya messing up
- on the singapore agenda in malaysia
- etc etc etc etc
To Anonymous:
ReplyDeleteNothing to do with righteousnes. Just a small matter of neutrality. Ot have we chucked that out just as the Big Brothers of NST have?
To the Gender Detectives;
Whatever you say, if it matters to you.
To those who think I am a politician:
You kidding???? You must have had excellent experiences with local politicians. None of our revered YBs would have a clue about higher standards.
To those who think I want to get Rocky into trouble:
Rocky is a very decent commentator and moderator. This is one of the few unfettered spaces left, where we at least get to read comments about Tun M which aren't pure baloney.
You have evidence about wrongdoing? Do what you're supposed to do and lodge a police report.
Latuk CEO and Latuk Hishamulin Aun. gua tatak duli lu bikin apa...tapi lu lua olang mesti kasi itu saham NST kasi naik balik. Lu tau ka semua olang malah sama lu lua olang. Staff ingat lu boleh kasi itu saham kasi naik, tapi bila lu olang lapat full control, saham pun takut lengar nama lu lua olang. Apa guna lu dua olang pegang jawatan busat punya kalau lu olang tatak kasi saham nst naik semula. Kalau lu lua olang lasa tak boleh buat itu keleja, lu lua olang belenti dan kasi lain olang bikin itu keleja. Banyak senang punya celita lah....Lu lua olang jangan kasi semua olang jadi susah.
ReplyDeleteLagi cepat belenti, lagi bagut punya.
pls let's face it.
ReplyDeleterocky can't write.
no flair.
crap headlines on his blog.
no ideas for good stories.
is just a rant.
Yo freelunch_2020!
ReplyDeleteYou got anything against rocky?
Did Kali send you here?
Woi....Freeunch..as from today no more free lunch for you. You pay yourself.
ReplyDelete