Tuesday, October 09, 2012

Ah, Chamil Wariya (versi 2012)

Updated: First, a small correction. Chamil's cerpen (short story) was published by Mingguan Malaysia, which is the weekly edition of Utusan Malaysia. The Mingguan has its own set of editorial staff and is headed by its own Editor.
YB Teresa Kok was a character in the original Politic Baru YB J. I spoke to Chamil on the phone to get the real story about the "apology". An intriguing episode, indeed! 
First and foremost, Chamil said he did not attack Utusan Malaysia or its editors in his "apology" to YB Teresa Kok. "I was making references to the professional conduct of a certain editor".  
Secondly, he did not apologize to Teresa Kok for defaming her. "I cannot apologize for something I did not do. But I'm sorry if the cerpen that was published by Mingguan Malaysia had hurt her or any of my readers' feelings".
And what was published by Mingguan on 12 Oct 2008, according to Chamil, was not what he had written. 
In the original cerpen he had sent to Mingguan for publication, Chamil actually had the real YB Teresa Kok as one of his characters. Chamil describes YB Teresa in the cerpen as quite the opposite to what the fictional YB J, the main character in the cerpen, stands for!  
In the cerpen that was published in Mingguan, however, the real YB Teresa Kok, the MP for Seputeh, was replaced (without Chamil's consent) with another fictional character YB Su Lan, MP for Sepohon Beringin. 
What was the wisdom of introducing YB Teresa Kok as a character in a fiction? 
Chamil explained to me that he had done so in his original cerpen so that nobody could accuse him or Mingguan Malaysia of trying to malign Teresa indirectly by way of the fictional YB J. 
"If you have the real YB Teresa and the fictional YB J in the same story, you can tell that they are two different personalities altogether." 
In her suit, Teresa claimed Chamil’s article contained defamatory contents that either directly or by implication or by imputation referred to her. She contended, among others, the article implied she was a racist, an untrustworthy person and a bad politician. Teresa, also a Selangor state executive councillor, said it lowered her esteem in the eyes of the public and exposed her to public scandal, ridicule, odium and contempt. Among others, she sought compensatory damages of RM30mil from the defendants.
Original posting

Four years earlier: My Oct 2008 posting on Chamil
Malaysian bloggers once hailed Chamil Wariya as the RM100 million cerpen writer but now some of them are demanding that the journalist quit his position as the Malaysian Press Institute for the apology he issued to YB Teresa Kok, which effectively got him off the hook of the RM100 lawsuit the politician slapped on him over his fiction, Politik Baru YB J, which was published by the pro-government daily Utusan Malaysia, but which has left that newspaper having to defend itself not just against Teresa but also against Chamil's new and unexpected claim.

I've gotten sued before and I have been threatened with suits too for postings on this blog. I've had to express "regret" outside of court and issued an "apology" inside court along the way. And as in my case, I am sure Chamil would have also given up his right to speak openly about the "settlement". Unlike Chamil, though, I have never had to blame anyone for the offending articles I had posted, so Chamil's decision to turn against his former colleagues in Utusan Malaysia is intriguing, to say the very least.

And it's not even over a news report or analysis. It's a cerpen. A work of fiction!

Read CW should resign from MPI.
Ah, Chamil Wariya .. (versi 2007)

19 comments:

  1. According to Mkini:

    "Not only has my work been twisted by Utusan Malaysia, I was not even consulted on the changes," Chamil said in the apology.

    "However, they used my name in the article and I was not paid a honorarium for the work." Utusan published his cerpen after making alterations without seeking his prior approval".

    If one's employer acts in bad faith, should one still be loyal?

    Dpp
    we are all of 1 Race, the Human Race

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  2. Nak cari makan... Prinsip tak boleh kenyang...

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  3. MAHAthir yang PERKASA11:35 am

    Seks, Lies and more Sexy Lies...
    Utusan Karut Malaysia.

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  4. MamaksUnited11:37 am

    UMNO is truly Doomed!

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  5. #ALTANTUYAJIB11:42 am

    Cerpen or C4... equally destructive!

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  6. Anonymous12:44 pm

    biasa la, pencacai pakatan ni.
    dah bodoh, perasan bagus pulak tu.
    rakyat dah muak dgn pakatan ni.

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  7. Anonymous12:49 pm

    Eh, Latuk Locky, your editorial board makes changes to your article or story, and you have to take the blame for it ? What type of blind faith or loyalty is that ?

    Godfather

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  8. Wak Jaws1:01 pm

    tak ada telor jangan menulisnlah Chamil.

    janganlah ada tv nangnag jemout dia jadi hos. mahu aku tutup tv tu.

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  9. Anonymous2:45 pm

    I'd say that CW is worried about the liability which is likely to be attached against him and the damages that come with it.

    I am still pondering why UM did not instruct their lawyer to defend CW as well because if the defence is conducted separately, half the battle is already won by Teresa because the parties' respective defence will blame each other to save their skin.

    A single defence, in my view, works better in this sort of case because both were sued jointly and Teresa will find it more difficult to prove her case because of the concerted defence.

    But it was not to be and as such UM was made to suffer when CW decided to play safe by getting off with just an apology.

    And I can safely assume that there will be no more CW articles for UM in future.

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  10. Anonymous6:13 pm

    Oh well..if you keep on printing untruths and lies you are bound to be sued and found out in court.And the way Utusan has been losing one lawsuit after another doesnt bode well for the paper.And they are still writing lies now.If they dont win a few of these lawsuits their broadsheets will turn to toilet paper.

    LMAOROTF

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  11. Anonymous7:07 pm

    Keep spinning and soon it will be game over for BN, the days are numbering for BN.

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  12. Anonymous12:00 am

    I am going to write a cerpen myself, a real salacious scandalous bawdylicious one!

    It has a post-menopausal ophthalmologist bitch with slit eyes gorging and 'ungorging' an unpeeled yellow-skinned banana while she slips into a sort semi-comatose reverie with one finger up her filthy shriveled cunt in a pink-hued boudoir the wall of which is plastered by the pigfaced brylcreemed miens of nerds and donkeys. And in the twilight zone of her unorgasmised reverie, there is this phantasmagorical scene of her husband buttfucking the household tea-boy while a pornographic mag of Chingkie dolls lie fluttering on the floor amidst a clutter of fuck vcds.

    And watching and commenting on the whole scene is the offspring, a he-faced female douchebag rubbing a flaccid dildo against her throbbing clit even as her mon pubis............

    heck, i even got a script of in the works..so cerpen, theatre and movie or telefilm hits the market in one fell swoop and I will throw in a lil bit of contemporary Shakespearease just to get the literati licking their chops while the gliterati lift their eyebrows and the socialite stroke their chignons in excitement while id-ing who's who......

    Question is it publishable and more importantly will who's who cry boo-hoo and sue?

    Please advise, Bru

    Warrrior 231

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  13. Anonymous5:26 am

    It's disgusting how they can be so furious over fiction while at the same time persist to make serious and baseless allegations against others.

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  14. Anonymous9:50 am

    Your last sentence really sent chills to my spine. While they are preaching freedom of speech, a writer was sued for RM100 million over a work of fiction, a cerpen! We will live in a scary Malaysia if PR ever takes over this country. This reminds me of how LKY used to sue the many writers and publications that didn't please his eyes.

    -Roy-

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  15. Anonymous10:31 am

    Ko orang takde kerja lain ke? Pasai apa lah Melayu ni bodoh begini? Malukan kita depan satu dunia. Lebih baik ko pi baca kisah boyfren main seks dgn bakal mak mertua dlm Jelita ke, Wanita ke. Atau kes anak dara dibaham ayah. Atau kes bomoh beri rawatan batin kpd pesakit wanita dgn guna kepala koneknya.

    Theresa sudah menang, dia dah balik makan dan tidor dah. Utusan pula kena denda 25 ribu, tapi melayu skrg gaduh pasal siapa hina siapa dan siapa backstab siapa. Bodoh mangkuk punya melayu.

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  16. Jasper Bloodstone2:42 pm

    Bru

    The warrior is a cheap imitation of "Marcus von Heller", him of the notorious "Traveller's Companion" series.

    Seems to me that he is parroting the Hillary Clinton argument that "freedom of speech" trumps everything else.

    Which means there's some hope for him!

    BTW, I am reading about 14-year-old Malala Yousafzai who was shot in the head by the Pakistan Taleban in the Swat Valley.

    Her "crime"? Starting a campaign for the right of Pakistani girls to education during a 2-year Taleban insurgency in the region. Her struggle "resonated with tens of thousands of girls denied an education by Islamic militants across north-west Pakistan" (AFP, AP).

    Seems to me that Chamil's and Utusan's tribulations are small beer compared to what's happening in Pakistan to girls like Malala.

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  17. Anonymous6:21 pm

    How could Utusan defend Chamil when he was not an employee nor even a columnist.Chamil was an independent contributor who sent in his short story to be published in the Literary section of the paper.otherwise we would have a situation whenever anyone sent a letter or a poem or article to be published in the paper,Utusan wd have to defend them and pay the legal costs.It doesnt work that way at all.Its just like a politician speaking to the press.When he gets sued for his statement does the newspaper have to defend him at its shareholders cost? anyway theres nothing to stop Chamil to take a u turn during the trial even if he was defended by Utusan.Did he even approach Utusan to defend him?

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  18. Anonymous3:31 pm

    Jasper Fuckstone

    care not to go out of topic?

    ReplyDelete
  19. Jasper Bloodstone4:40 pm

    Anon 3:31 PM

    Oh, my - and what topic is that, prithee?

    I was merely responding to the warrior's posting.

    The antics of Mr Chamil and the worthies at Utusan may be deluded and contemptible, and those who are targeted have a right to seek legal redress.

    Now, why is that so difficult to understand?

    Or is it in your world view that only a select few have the right to criticise, condemn and denigrate while the targets thereof are supposed to meekly accept it, because, hey, it's protecting the status quo?

    Well, as long as there are laws, lawyers, courts and the rule of law, the instigator and purveyors of such antics should and will be called to account.

    Is that sufficiently 'on topic' for you?

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