The Internal Security Ministry signed the papers yesterday. From this week, there will be no Weekend Mail. The weekly has been suspended indefinitely over last week's "smut" issue.
Syed Faisal Albar's troubles are far from over. The Cabinet meeting today is expected to discuss the rot at NSTP, the smut and the resignation of the disgraced NST group editor last week amid a plagiarism scandal.
But I tell this to the NSTP chief executive officer and to you: don't hold your breath for Editorial Adviser Kalimullah Hassan or GEIC Hishamuddin Aun to ever have the decency to accept responsibility for the mess.
Expect them to sacrifice others, such as:
1/M. Zul, the ex-magistrate Syed Faisal had handpicked earlier this year to be the Malay/Weekend Mail editor and chief operating officer. He has been suspended pending a domestic inquiry into last weekend's mess.
2/Simon Burgess, the expat who was given the cushy deal by Syed Faisal to work only three days a week (Wednesday, Thursday and Friday) to produce the Weekend Mail. He's paid a bomb. He may sue NST if he's given the sack.
An error or a lie? In the meantime, I would like the NST and the MM to clarify their reports that said the Malay/Weekend Mail had been operating independently of the NSTP since January 1 this year. Because that is not possible: 1/I was still the Executive Editor of the Malay/Sunday Mail until February. 2/The ill-fated Weekend Mail wasn't even born until June. Something that did not exist could not have been operating independently.
if you are right, sdr bru, it is a sad thing, indeed. what will become of the other editors and journalists at the Weekend Mail? are their services going to be terminated as well?
ReplyDeletein my opinion, there was no necessity to suspend the licence of the newspaper. the editor has already been suspended. if the expat is also involved, he should resign or opt to be suspended. and if they were negligent, the ceo and his editorial advisor and editor in chief may choose to do the honourable thing.
the paper should be spared.
kalimullah hassan, syed faizal and hishamuddin aun should all be sacked for causing the weekend mail (actually the new Sunday Mail) to be suspended.
ReplyDeletethe suspension, rightly or wrongly, has brought disrepute to a paper of the NSTP. They should all take responsibility. Do the honourable thing.
But then.. as brother Rocky said.... dont expect them to do that.
they are not honourable people.
alahai, sampai sekarang pun nak tipu pasal Malay Mail jadi independent?
ReplyDeletepenyakit kalimulah dah merebak.
bidasari
Sdr Rocky,
ReplyDeleteThe rate you are going with scoop after scoop agaisnt the NST and Star, both will be read by KaliUlar and Wong Chun Wai only. I am sure that KaliUlar must have regretted for letting you go and now he and his handpicked Brendan the plagiarist are facing troubles after troubles.
The Internal Security Ministry missed the wood for the tree. WHy suspend the papers. They should suspend the head of the paper i.e. KaliUlar. The organisation is alway alright. It is always theman behind hte organisation that did all the mistakes. In this case, who else, beside KaliUlar, the boss of Brendan, the Plagiarist.
The ministry needs not suspend hte papers. All it needs to do is to suspend the head of NST, KaliUlar, the ECM Libra head, all will be back to line including Hshamuddin Aun, who is no better than Brendan plagiarist. Once KaliUlar had to face the music, Hishamuddin Aun will immediately behave himselve and become a professional journalist overnight otherwise he will be jsut a mercenary like Brendan, the plagiarist.
Rocky, carry on with your good job to expose those unprofessional journalsit like Brendan, the plagiarist, Syed Feisal, Simon Burgess and Hishamuddin Aun.
Please do nto forget to inform Raja Petra that Michael Vatiokotis, is the other Singapore operative, who was appointed to write for NST by KaliUlar. We must be vigilant agaisnt these Singapore operatives and exposed them. The SIngaproe operatives chief is KaliUlar. Everybody know this except the PM, who is alseep all the time.
Bro Rocky,
ReplyDeleteThe suspension of Weekend Mail was jsut a face saving and damaged control exercise for the sleeping PM.
The PM should ask himself why there was such mess. It was due to the PM appointment of of his protege KaliUlar, who knew next to nothing about journalism and Malaysian values. KaliUlar is one of the Singapore operatives, who is bleeding our economy, is benefitting from our PM, who is asleep most of the time.
It was a sad case for the country. Why suspend the Weekend Mail. It should suspend the PM for chosing incompetent people, like KaliUlar, to run the nst!!
let us all put kalimullah, syed faisal and hishamudin aun against the wall and ...... cane them.
ReplyDeletethey are useless. useless cowards.
gutless. asinine. inept.
every move they make. every step they take, they demonstrate their complete lack of professionalism and inability to make good decisions, good strategy.
they cannot handle crises. they have proven that they cannot deal with a simple problem -- overcoming the issues arising from the publication of the smut mail.
any editor would be able to handle such a situation. any other editor, of course.
but what do you expect from kalimulah and the other two stooges?
they cannot do the job because they have never run a newspaper and therefore had never dealt with such a crisis.
and you thought it was a piece of cake (running a newspaper), huh, kalimulah?
as the morons say: dah bodoh, pengecut!
editor berani dan pandai.
its about time that people are getting serious about things happening in nst.
ReplyDeletealthough i do agree that innocent journalists and stringers should't be the victimised here as they were just doing what was ordered by a bunch of goons.
however, as compasionate as i would like to feel for some parties, there must be certain standards to be set and a line to be drawn between professional journalism and shit hole journalism.therefore, it would be great to see the licence of this publication being suspended permanently.
may this example be a lesson to be learnt especially to the instant "hulubalangs-hulubalangs" of the malay mail and the individuals who put them there.their days of sick fetishness are being numbered.
Be prepared to Fly Home Mojo(s)!!
Wait a minute - why is it that it is the *Internal Security* Ministry that is getting involved in this matter? Shouldn't it be the Information Ministry? Crude as the articles may have been, surely that little bit of smut isn't a threat to internal security?
ReplyDeleteOverkill, me thinks...
There are 2 separate issues here.
ReplyDelete1. The position of Kalimullah Hassan and Hishammuddin Aun. Only the PM can determine Kalimullah future. The whole world knows Kalimullah was appointed to NST because he is Abdullah's buddy.
Kalimullah in turn appointed the unimpressive Hishamuddin to succeed him. Only Kalimullah can remove Hishamuddin. I understand that Hishamuddin had seen, obtained Abdullah blessings for himself. Again, only Abdullah can remove Hishamuddin.
Its clear that these two are not honourable enough to do what is honourable, i.e to accept responsibility and to resign. Other NSTP GEICs and senior editors had done it in the past.
2. The Internal Security Ministry has no choice but to suspend the paper. It does not have the power to act on Kalimullah, Hishamuddin or Mojo M Zul. But it has the power to issue, suspend and withdraw printing permits.
So in this case, if indeed it is suspending the Weekend Mail, it is only performing its function.
We must understand the Ministry's position. After a series of serious oversights and "insincere" apologies by the NST group under Kalimullah, the Ministry has no choice but to make it clear that apologies are not enough. They have to be followed by concrete actions like the removal of those troublesome and inept editors.
We really can't blame others. The NSTP under Kalimullah, the Prime Minister's friend, brought these negativities upon itself.
Bro rocky, i agree with paper tiger. The paper should be spared. The three goons ought to be sacked - Kalimulah, Syed Feisal and Hishamuddin.
ReplyDeleteKalimulah is not worried,I'm sure. He is well trained and experienced enought to go thru all these with thick face. He is a business man after all.
Syed Feisal and Hishamuddin must be worried sick. These two are known for their "jsga nama" attitude. Always wanted to look right, with the right "accessories", and at the right time. Dengar cerita, Hishamuddin kalau photographer nak ambil gambar utk paper pun mesti from the right angle.
Itulah orang tak pernah dapat kekayaan, sekali dapat harta, berlagak sedemikian rupa. Tak tidur malam agaknya, wondering what people is saying about them. Tentu malu besar mereka dan keluarga mereka. Ha...ha...
"Accessories" mungkin genuine and good, but if the engine (brain)is "half past six"....gone case lah Hishamuddin and Syed Feisal.
Cuba2lah spin your part of the story, maybe Kalimulah can create a department for both of you at ECM Libra.
Bro, you are right… more need to be done to undo all these mess.
ReplyDeleteActually, what is now happening to NSTP is also happening in MAS. We have several British that are running MAS to the ground.
Martin Barrow, Peter Read and Munir Majid (the fake British who is more British than the British)
There is a big conspiracy to kill all Malaysian icons. Their interrelationship and similarities, hmmm …. Go figure, go figure, girl.
Perhap it is time to relook at how the newspaper business should be sustained. There is such a thing called 'social responsibility' and I am sure there's many who are charitable enough out there. Otherwise Rocky and the rest of us (posers and anonymous) will be here in a long lonnnnnnng timmmmme .......
ReplyDeleteGo get them bro,hit them so hard that their heads will roll OR will spin and spin and voila !....we get a new story !!
ReplyDeleteCheers bro !
*TypicalProgrammer*
ReplyDeleteI believe that 'Cerberus' will continue to do what it should do, take care of hell's gate. They will get what is coming to them.
I don't agree though that the Ministry suspended the license. Shouldn't we have the right to choose what to say and to listen. Fine the article might be distasteful inappropriate, but you are given a choice to ignore. We are all given a choice to speak, listen and ignore what we want. They should have just gave a stern warning and let the paper run while dealing with the real culprit. Ultimately the article was only a portion of the paper. Malaysia claim to have press freedom, bah I sooner see the sky turn purple.
Half Blind, again I regret that I can't publish your comment here, not because I fear your views but because you seem interested only in creating diversions instead of discussing/debating the issue at hand.
ReplyDeletePlease understand. This blog is not about you, or your state of mind, or what you think other bloggers should say and how they should say it. You can do that all in your own blog, if anybody goes there at all.
Let me give you a tip (something I never had to have to do with the other posters here). Instead of condemning my posters for NOT condemning the government for suspending the Weekend Mail, take the initiative and start the ball rolling (in fact, somebody has already done it here). What are you afraid of? If that is your stand, I will publish it. But if you are only interested in whacking others for not whacking the government here, then you can go whack yourself, Half Blind, because I'm not letting you do a Kali or a Brendan here.
Now, can you do the right thing by me and rewrite your last comment.
Condemn the government, Half Blind, for suspending the Weekend Mail.
Because I agree that the Government should not have done it. Bad, bad move for Malaysia's image, for transparency, for press freedom.
And, hey, throw in your real name, too, won't you, O Brave One?
I beg to agree with the Internal Security officers; the suspension means no sale, which affects the paper. It serves to make everyone realise that you will be punished under the act if you stray.
ReplyDeleteIt is good to know that GLCs are not spared the whip. This can only augur well for transparency in Malaysia, although I might add I hope this not sandiwara.
Fingers crossed.
anyway of varifying if sales of the malay mail went up that weekend when the smut was published?
ReplyDeletesex certainly sells but the former malay mail was smart enough to have just gone with the page 3 girl. they even sold more copies in the process without revealing too much.
in the first place, how on earth can a company as established as the nstp appoint editors of such credentials to run the new malay mail.
very sad indeed
Half blind/juslo/whatever,
ReplyDeleteDon't you ever get the message?
enough already and go and get your own blog....
your irritating and irrelevant rants are a distraction to the other comments which are worth reading.
Go!
Sad and pathetic. That pretty much sums up the Malay Mail/Weekend Mail and its suspended editors. Sigh!
ReplyDeleteThe biggest black mark on Abdullah Ahmad Badawi administration insofar as Press freedom is concerned.
ReplyDeleteAt least Ops Lalang, when the Star was closed down, was about a newspaper that tried to push the boundaries of freedom when it came to political reporting.
I was a junior reporter with the Star then. I was hurt because I lost my job but I was proud that it was closed down because of what it tried to do. It was a scapegoat in a raging political turmoil between Tun Mahathir and his enemies, including Pak Lah! The Star came back with a vengeance and is where it is today partly because of the three-month closure in 1987.
Is Kalimullah (who had jumped ship just before the Star was closed down) trying to emulate that here with the Weekend Mail?
Fat hopes, you cow (short for coward, no disrespect for the sacred animal)!
The Weekend Mail has been closed for smut, for porn, for trying to bring down the integrity of Malaysian journalism, for embarrassing the journalists and editors at the newspaper, for going down FHM way, for trying to be clever.
And dear, dear Pak Lah, you have to suspend the Weekend Mail because they try to this to you.
And who did you think shit on your plate of Gemilang, Terbilang, Cemerlang, Mr Nice?
None other than your trusted, beloved Kalimullah Hassan. May you go wherever he goes, here and in the afterlife, Pak Lah.
Sdr Rocky
ReplyDeleteYou have helped him so much when you were in the NST - menaing doing favours for him with no demand for return. When Kalimullah is in power he threw you out, so is Samsul and other friends.
Bearing in mind these facts, do you honestly believe that he will stnad up for his colleagues in NST when he cannot take care of his friends who have drank with him and see that he got home alright, and help him.
Kalimuallah was jsut being consistent all these while when he chose to pass the buck to his subordinate. So let not complaint about it. So the NST people, please take note of the trait of your Kalimullah, do thigns for him and you will will be left in the cold when it needs be.
But I know people like Rocky and Syed Nadzri would not pass the buck to their subordinate and they will take the bullets for them. This is the quality of great leader in the newspapers industry. I am not flaterring you Rocky and Syed Nadzri, others in NST can judge you. Thats why until this day, you still have friends who are feeding you with good information for us to read and know. Keep it up Rocky, we are with you. Carry on to make the NST and Star like fools. Let them distort news and publish history. The judgment day will come and it will be too late for so-called journalists like Kalimullah and WOng Chun Wai and hte light.
I read the malay mail everyday and looked forward to the Sunday Mail.
ReplyDeleteThen this happened.
Is this another achievement of the NEP?
Please stop destroying once great institutions - NSTP, MAS and soon what more...
that was what you get when you appointed jokers to run a paper... kah kah kah padan serve the leaders right padan muka
ReplyDeleteLet's all do the math:
ReplyDelete1. Quoting nst old timer: 'Only the PM can determine Kalimullah future. The whole world knows Kalimullah was appointed to NST because he is Abdullah's buddy.'
2. The Internal Security Ministry issues and suspends printing permits.
3. Quoting nst old timer again: 'The Internal Security Ministry has no choice but to suspend the paper. It does not have the power to act on Kalimullah, et al'...
4. But the Internal Security Minister DOES have the power against Kalimullah. He just isn't using it.
5. Guess who's the Internal Security Minister??
we cant't wait for pm abdullah to remove kali, something should be done almost like 'now' to remove kali before the damages become greater.
ReplyDeletenstp being the mother of malay mail equally responsible over the misdoing of its weekend mail... nstp should also be suspended and all reponsible top guns must be removed at no time.. then only the new nstp be intorduced and operated...
Keranumu M Zul dan si Mat Salleh, nama baik wartawan seni, sukan dan lain lain Malay Mail telah tercemar.
ReplyDeleteHanya satu cara untuk mengembalikan reputasi wartawan2 yg tidak terlibat iaitu dgn menukar imej Malay Mail seperti dahulu.
M Zul, sebagai seorang bekan majistret, namamu telah tercemar. Saya berharap agedan ini akan termaktub pada hidupmu sehingga akhir hayat.
Kepada wartawan2 lain yg saya kenali, saya berharap kamu semua bersabar dan dgn keinginan Ilahi, kredibiliti kamu akan dicapai kembali.
The writing is already on the wall for Kalimullah, Brendan the Plagiarist, M Mojo and Hishamudin Aun.
ReplyDeleteIt should serve as a good lesson to UMNO head honchos. It was a grave mistake to let Kalimullah to run the show at the once highly-regarded NST and Malay Mail.
What they should do now is to stop the NST and Malay Mail from falling into total abysss. All is not lost.
Look around how the Edge and the Sun were propelled to such a height that people now take these two papers seriously. And not to mention "laughing all the way to the bank".
Azam Aris (Group Executive Editor) and Othman Abu Bakar (Head, Webcasting Unit) are 2 capable Bumiputras at the Edge. They were once buddies at the Business Times, together with Rocky.
They are highly regarded in their respective fields, and maybe in the country. If UMNO head honchos are looking for replacements at the NST and the Malay Mail, maybe they should look at these 2 capable Bumiputras. They know how to do it!
Shanghaistephen,
ReplyDeleteYou are sour coz' no one wants to sing with you, let alone read you now.
pm abdullah obviously knew what is happening in the nstp top management, but why is he being so staburn for not acting.
ReplyDeletei think being bujang for too long has dunggued himself... its about time for him to settle down so that all his pressure will be softened down when there is woman besides him.. the hand that rocks the craddle can rock the world... weekend mail would be able to give professional advise on how to deal with lonely man...
Verbatim,
ReplyDeleteDoes this mean that KKDN does one thing and its minister (Pak Lah) does another?
Zam (now Dr Mahathir's number 2 hater) once said Kali's and Brendan's days were numbered.
Zam is now Datuk Seri and he's still wrong about Kali. He refuses to acknowledge how deeply Pak Lah loves Kali.
Some posters credited Abdullah for allowing Press freedom. Yes, the Press is free to support him and to demonize Mahathir.
On a different note, I was told one of Pak Lah's UTK security men was arrested upon his return from accompanying Pak Lah to Pakistan.
It is very risky to have people like these guarding the PM and DPM.
I hope Pak Lah will eat his words and immediately form IPCMC to monitor the police.
imagine hisham baru nak rasa hidup macam orang kekaya, out of sudden being ripped off from his so called important seat and worst becomes 'penganggur', rasanya no other publications houses (not even akhbar nyamok)would want to employ him. nak start on business pun bukannya bijak sangat... setakat half past six mentality that he has wont take him far...
ReplyDeleteso, he is back to his old lifestyle, no more mers with driver. no more boardroom office, and no more respect.. mana nak letak muka.. start up own blog pun belum tentu ada followers(plus english pun so.. so.. je). that is why some says; 'be nice to people you see on your way up, as you will be seeing them again on your way down...'
hisham and konco, selamat kembali ke alam nyata...
It is sad that this paper has been suspended by the govt. But,on the other hand does this paper really have a following like the Sunday Mail or even the malay mail had before. What was once a light hearted read, suddenly became obsessed with tabloid trash, just to perk up falling sales. The recent revamp of both the malay mail and the sunday mail is just a follow up of this trend but with more colors added in. With stiff competition, from other media the owners will have to make decision as to whether to continue with it's past standing and reputation or to turn it to a trash tabloid with obsene colors,pictures and of course the smut! The owners have to give direction for the newspaper! The paper that cares is suddenly in this dilema, cos' the owners themselves are clueless as to how to run a newspaper!
ReplyDeleteYep, paper tiger is correct. Leave the cari makan fellas yang tak bersalah to do what they do best - investigative reporting for The Paper That Cares.
ReplyDeleteMy best wishes to them!
Arse-spanking Azlan Ramli.
The legacy of Kali/Syed
ReplyDelete1. Two VSS (maybe one more coming) – got rid for experience, knowledgeable & productive employees - keeping deadwoods
2. The cartoon issue
3. 4 editors for NST (so far)
4. The embarrassing removal of the Company Sec - WHY?
5. The humiliating circulation figures
6. The equally humiliating share price
7. And finally the Suspension of a product
Can your readers add more?
Suspending the Weekend Mail seems to suggest that we are in a police state. The Weekend Mail articles i found to be not so much offensive as stupid and boring. Who the hell cares about what Malaysians have to say about sex? How do we even know there were interviews, and that the whole thing was not just made up by the writers? I would not even have read the articles for free, let alone buy the paper to read them. I only read them after the paper had to say sorry, cos i wanted to know what was the deal about. Big deal lah. Such a non-issue. It's a stupid paper, but entirely harmless as far as i am concerned. That's cos nobody takes it seriously at all. What a difference compared to the papers you were editor of, Rockybru!
ReplyDeleteThis bunch of jokers don't even know how to tell a lie properly. :)
ReplyDeleteBro Rocky
ReplyDeleteI happened to see the Malay Mail today by chance (I hve not spend a Sen on Malay Mail after you left.)and i am disgusted with the explanations, which ion actaul facts a classic case of passing the buck. Kalimullah seemed to be angel and not responsible for anything in Malay Mail.
Kalimullah, you are the CEO of NSTP. Therefore, you are to be blamed for cause of the suspension. I am sure that you must have seen the rush copy and did nothing about it. Therefore, you have approved it.
Strictly speaking, Kalimullah should be suspended for the mismanagment of the Malay Mail by appointing those incompetent people like Syed, Zul and Simon Burgess to run the papers. So what do you expect. Not Syed Nadzri OK.
Kalimullah, the ECM Libra boss and a close budy of Khairy, do you self respect??? How can you hold on to the post in NSTP after all the scandals of you lying in the famous June 11 article about the meeting between Tun and the Sleeping PM in Tokyo, Brendan the Plagiarist, who is your trusted aide, behaving in such a dishonest manner, you having turned the Malay MAil into a sex papers and appointed a Mat Salleh to run one of the UMNO controlled newspapers.
We all knew that you, Kalimullah, is a Singapore operative all these while. Are you trying to systematically destroy UMNO controlled newspapers (NSTP) as part of the Singapore agenda?
Mr PM please wake up, as sleeping too much is no good for your health, and removed this Siongaproe operative, who is creating problems after problems for you, UMNO and the country.
Mr PM you are there to protect the interest of the country and as President of UMNO you are there to protect the interests of UMNO/Melayu, so why are you protecting this Kalimullah, who is a fraud, a Singapore operative and interested in making more humdred of million Ringit. Mr PM, if you do not care about UMNO, please take care of the Melayu in NST, who have been margainalised by a few selected Melayu engineered by Kalimullah, who know nothing about journalism, and Mat Salleh.