Saturday, March 15, 2008

Yong: I did it in Good Faith


Yong Soo Heong, the Bernama Editor-in-Chief who faxed an apology Lim Guan Eng on Friday because the new Penang Chief Minister was not happy with the national news agency's reporting, said he wrote the apology "in good faith".

"I did not expect the letter to be made public," he told me. "But it's OK."

Yong said LGE called him on Thursday afternoon to say that the 3rd paragraph of a Bernama report widely carried by the mainstream media had made it seem as if he said something that he didn't.

[see the 3rd paras in The Star (Pak Lah warns Guan Eng) report and the one in BM carried by Utusan Malaysia (Amaran Kepada Guan Eng) on the same day. Yong said LGE insisted that the line ".. which was introduced in 1971 after the May 13, 1969, racial riots to eradicate poverty and restructure society.." should not have been inserted there because he never said it].

"I told him it's a factual backgrounder that we journalists always include to make something clearer to the reader. He insisted that it should not have been put there and that I owed him an apology. So I said OK, I'll apologize."

Which he did. Yong said it was the first time he had spoken to LGE. "He sounded, er, friendly, quite pleasant."

Yong's apology fax was reproduced in Screenshots, here.

24 comments:

  1. Another BN stooge? They are all the same. No backbone at all. If you google search for Malaysia Newspaper, you will find both The Star and NST described as follows: -

    The Star – Major national daily owned by the Chinese government party;

    NST – Pro government major national newspaper;

    http://www.world-newspapers.com/malaysia.html

    Only Malaysiakini listed as ‘independence reporting’!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous5:48 am

    sebelum merdeka rakyat tanah melayu secara umumnya adalah kaum melayu. kaum lain secara umumnya datang ke tanah melayu kerana faktor ekonomi dibawa atau dijemput oleh british. saya tidak fikir mereka berniat untuk tinggal di tanah melayu. ini berlaku berpuluh tahun sejak kedatangan british ke rantau ini.

    sektor ekonomi dan pekerjaan di bentuk mengikut kedudukan kaum. bila british keluar dari tanah melayu kaum lain tidak dibawa keluar bersama british. orang melayu dikehendaki menerima kaum lain sebagai rakyat tanah melayu jika orang melayu hendak merdeka. dalam sekelip mata beratus ribu malahan mungkin berjuta kaum lain menjadi rakyat tanah melayu. dengan itu keturunan kaum lain ini akan menjadi rakyat tanah melayu. apa yang orang melayu dapat hanya sedikit peruntukan dalam perlembagaan yang kononnya memberi hak istimewa orang melayu di tanah melayu. sekarang kaum lain mempersoalkan hak istimewa kaum melayu. boleh tak kaum melayu mempersoalkan kerakyatan kaum lain di tanah melayu ini?

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  3. Anonymous7:33 am

    If it was a factual backgrounder, then the phrase “which was introduced in 1971 after the May 13, 1969, racial riots to eradicate poverty and restructure society” should have been put in bracket to make it also clear to the reader that LGE did not actually say it.

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  4. Accountability is seriously lacking with all the MSM bodies. Here is one senior editor who has stood up for accountability.

    Bravo! Let's hope he doesn't get into trouble with his bosses, who are obviously BN people.

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  5. Anonymous10:47 am

    WHY IS ALL ASKING BABAWI TO QUIT EVERYONE SAYING HE IS WEAK LET HIM STAY FOR 4 YEARS AND BA WILL WIN MORE IN THE 13GE. DONT CHANGE HIM LAAAA AND IF A BETTER PM ARRIVE THEN BA WILL HAVE A BIG HEADACHE

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  6. Anonymous10:50 am

    after all this years, i am sad to still see and hear some malays still believe that "ini tanah melayu, untuk orang melayu, british bawa kaum lain, blah blah blah"

    they seriously need to go and do a background check on their ancestors and their roots

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  7. Anonymous10:58 am

    Could Yong's days be numbered? I am all for him. Fair. Got guts. A real professional amidst ball carriers like Anwar Zaini. Dollah's Bernama TV interview was scripted by Annuar Zaini, a former Musa Hitam's king maker. That's why Musa caputed! Good luck Dollah for being advised by Annuar Zaini. Yong should know that LGE wanted milage and assurance so he put in the blog. Yong must be mindful of blogs. He cannot hide behind confidentiality anymore.Good luck Bro Yong. What's Datuk Azman Ujang's role in all this? Anlother round of Bernama politics?

    Osman Burung 2

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  8. Anonymous11:12 am

    To anonymous @ 5:48am

    Whoosh! Thats the sound of the point going over your head.

    Nobody is questioning the special privileges of the malays, we understand that you are the princes of the land, or bumiputeras. What the rakyat are questioning is the NEP which has sidelined many many poor malays and enriched the umno elites with fat contracts.

    So you think that questioning the NEP is questioning the special rights of the malays? Pls wake up and smell the coffee, a big part of the win for BR WAS because of what the NEP has done or rather has not done for the rakyat.

    Yes the other races (i am chinese) came from China and India a long time ago, but the later generations have toiled and worked for this country and together we have reached 50 years of independance, but still we are to be considered outsiders?

    Malaysia has so much potential if it can get its act together, i long for the day when Malaysians can look at each other as Malaysians first and not as Chinese, or Malays or Indians etc etc. Then we can truly move forward and prosper.

    The last week has been encouraging to see that the rakyat has woken up, but its comments and a mentality like yours that shows Malaysians that there is some way to go yet before we can truly become a bangsa malaysia.

    So ask yourself this, what is done is done, the reality is the chinese are here, the indians are here, what is it YOU want to do, sulk and say that we are outsiders and continue to hide under the 'bumiputera' name. Or work together as Malaysians to make this country great?

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  9. Anonymous11:19 am

    ThaT's petty of Guan Eng.

    And Sneaky, too.

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  10. Anonymous11:33 am

    Yong Soo Seong, Editor-in-Chief of Bernama said:
    "I did not expect the letter to be made public," he told me. "But it's OK."

    Pray tell me Mr Yong, what did you expect? You twisted someone else's words in public and you expect them NOT to be corrected in public as well?

    More so when the twisted words are very serious and could cause racial tension. We are not sure if there were any intention of malice or mischief in those twisted words or else you would been sued.

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  11. I know this guy he is a racist and to be specific he is antiMelayu and I am not a bit surprise if he supports DAP secretly. When he was appointed as GEIC of Bernama the people who put him there know he is a racist!

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  12. I don't think Bernama editor should have apologised for paraphrasing Lim Guan Eng in the sentence. Bernama added a factual backgrounder in the paraphrased sentence. Bernama would have been wrong if the backgrounder had been put in a direct quote, but it did not.

    Original sentence: Lim had also said that the NEP, which was introduced in 1971 after the May 13, 1969 racial riots to eradicate poverty and restructure society, was the source of "cronyism, corruption and inefficiency."

    Bernama could have written it this way but the effect won't be dramatically different: Lim had also said the NEP was the source of "cronyism, corruption and inefficiency." The NEP was introduced in 1971 after the May 13, 1969 racial riots to eradicate poverty and restructure society.

    What's more important is the preceding paragraph. Was Lim Guan Eng correctly cited as saying that the DAP won't be practising the NEP or components of NEP, which was introduced in 1971 after the May 13, 1969 racial riots in a bid to eradicate poverty and restructure society.

    In other words, does DAP want to abandon the entire NEP or ineffective components of the NEP?

    I'm still a bit unclear on what actually transpired.

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  13. Another BN asshole who do not know what his organization is doing and also do not know what the hell he is talking about. I' sure we will be seeing more of this type of sandiwara in coming days, not only from Bernama also from all the main stream news papers, especially from Utusan Malaysia and Berita Harian, the most racist newspapers in the world.

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  14. Anonymous1:05 pm

    MSM in Malaysia have taken additional roles. Not only they act as BN propaganda agents but also as agents to cause racial disharmony in the country. Looks like they are a doing good job by becoming Creative Destructors of Racial harmony

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  15. Anonymous1:28 pm

    Media Arus Perdana di Malaysia !!

    http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/1606/msmae0.jpg

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  16. Anonymous1:54 pm

    As usual please dont shoot the messenger!!! Get the player behind the curtain who is puppeteering Bernama...

    SRIRAMA

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  17. Anonymous2:00 pm

    my roots trailed back to Hulu Perak..orang Melayu asli...Perak Sultans need my people blessing before they could ascend the royal throne or else curse would befall upon them...

    SERI MAHAWANGSA

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  18. Anonymous2:19 pm

    Yong has always been a nice guy and a pleasent person to work with.

    LGE should never call him as this is what the common practise of BN goons before. Controlling the media nampak bang. 'You dont like the news, call the editor.' Wow, LGE is a fast learner. Pretty soon, boleh join BN.

    Next time issue a statement or counter la jgn control mcm tu.

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  19. Anonymous6:58 pm

    If Yong claimed that he did it in good faith, then he should published his letter in Bernama.

    Just sending a letter of apology is not good enough as his news or report has been published.

    If it is not disclosed in this blog, people wll think the statement is true.

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  20. Anonymous10:17 pm

    YONG???!! Did it in good faith???? Hmm... smells like rotten fish. Sounds so rotten and anyone knows him would be able to picture maggots coming out of his foul mouth! YSH is just another ass-licker. What does he up to this time?

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  21. Anonymous12:12 am

    "He sounded, er, friendly, quite pleasant"

    Is it me or what... it looks like there are invisible "un" in front of that two adjective... =/

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous12:31 am

    Quote----------------------------
    Anonymous said...
    my roots trailed back to Hulu Perak..orang Melayu asli...Perak Sultans need my people blessing before they could ascend the royal throne or else curse would befall upon them...

    SERI MAHAWANGSA

    2:00 PM
    ----------------------------------

    WoW...!!!

    my roots traced all the way back to ADAM, way before Hulu Perak come into existence..!!!

    Without my ancestor there will be no royal family in Malaysia or anywhere else, comprende ??

    But unlike you I do not hold the royal family in hostage. for my blessing is given freely......Daulat Tuanku !!

    NEP is existent for almost 40 years, BUT where is the help extend to the Dayak, Iban or Khadazan who r not muslim, tepuk dada tanya sendiri....!! Now when ppl want to make NEP more transparent & accountable to help the really poor esp the bumiputra, ade sahaja ppl like you or UMNO monkeys yg keluar keluar & buat fitnah to increase racial tension.

    If you wanna wash this country in blood...I am all for it...!!! just make sure you have the stomach for it...!!

    MahaJiwa

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  23. An apology or a sorry is worth less than a 1 sen coin today. Just say and throw away... sad

    ReplyDelete
  24. Anonymous11:52 am

    Anonymous @5.48AM,

    I believe you need to go buy an island and stay there!! How arrogant can you get!

    True, all the other races (chinese, Indians and lain-lain) are brought in by the British to DEVELOP the country. If anything, these other "pariah races" according to your eyes, made Malaysia what it is today.

    Yah, yah, yah, when the British left, they didnt take these "pariah races" along with them but instead made it compulsory for the Merdeka party to accept these "pariah races" all in the name of fairness! Of course! I am going to as arrogant as you here... If there weren't any "pariah racess" you think this land call Malaysia would have developed to what it is today ah? Think about it! The Malays still need the NEP or whatever Ps to survive and still can be so proud of being dependent! GOD!!!!

    Wake up! gone are the days of tanah melayu untuk kaum melayu only! This land belongs to all who call themselves MALAYSIAN!

    ReplyDelete