"I am here because of women". Tourism Minister Tengku Adnan and I sat side by side this afternoon at a press conference after the National Press Club-Celcom VMY Treasure Hunt 2007. He was asked about the "blogging" controversy. I was not taking notes so please refer to Malaysiakini and the media for exact quotes. But it was clear the Minister was denying the Sin Chew report last week that he had described all bloggers as liars. He said he had meant only the Indonesian blogger, Nila Tanzil, not bloggers in general and not women bloggers. He said something to the effect that he loves and respects women, that he relies on women for support in his electorate, and he wouldn't have been in this world if not for a woman (his mother).
A reporter then asked me what I thought about the controversy and I said I would respond as a blogger after the press conference is over.
Engage the bloggers!
At the press conference after the press conference, I was asked several questions, mainly by Malaysiakini and the NST:
Q: How could you sit side by side with the minister, shook his hands, and then took his money when you have condemned the Minister in your blog for remarks that riled the women bloggers?
A: i/ I was there as President of the NPC and it was NPC which is taking money from the minister on behalf of its members, i.e. journalists like them and me; and
ii/ I believed bloggers should sit down with people who seem to be opposed to them and try to make them understand blogging and bloggers. Much of the fear against blogging, I added, was due to the fact that people did not understand why there were people who blogged; and
iii/ If I were representing the National Bloggers Club, it would have been a different story ...
Q: Is there going to be such a club for bloggers?
A: We are working on it. I need to speak to more bloggers. We might be able to make an announcement in April.
Q: Are you happy with the Minister's response?
A: I can see that the Minister was trying to appease the bloggers. But I don't think all the bloggers are going to be happy (with the response) .... people like Marina (Mahathir), Nuraina (Samad), Susan (Loone) and Elizabeth (Wong). They aren't going to be happy with how the Minister deals with the complaints made by Nila Tanzil.
Q: What do you think the Minister should do?
Engage the bloggers. The Minister knows who they are. Get in touch with them and engage them. There's a lot bloggers do and can do but the authorities must take the initiative to understand them.
Q: But why did it take nearly one week for the minister to clarify his remarks?
A: Why didn't the papers chase after him earlier? Why did you only ask him now? (The reporter said the Tengku had been asked on the issue yesterday or the day before but had declined to comment).
Click here and here for my earlier postings.
Good answers, Rocky. proud of you.
ReplyDeleteWhat they tried to get you too, they should go for Adnan and asked him more questions.
What...? Just because we criticise means we cannot sit by someone's side? They really have missed the whole point our 'criticisms'
So is he saying that Sin Chew lied?
Wonder what Sin Chew thinks of this?
Anyway, you are right, he took ages to reply. We also know why he is doing this --like he said he depends much on women in his electorate for support.
'just my rectum sense' - hahaha! :-)
Oh misquoted again?
ReplyDeleteThis is the typical syndrome among Malaysia's ministers and deputy ministers that whenever they went overboard saying something without exercising the right of using their brains properly and when things went wrong, they'll deny by saying that: Oh, I was misquoted by this and that press lar, what I mean is this and that bla bla bla bla"
I remembered when Noh Omar was the Deputy Education Minister, there was once he said that he was misquoted too, then someone posted the video clip on internet and that proved that he wasn't misquoted actually, it's they themselves who have forgotten that they've misfired.
The last thing that I'd like to know or to hear from any minister is: "You journalists having hearing problems is it?"
While I'm here offering my sympathy to all journalists who are being deemed to be quoting the wrong thing, next time, publish the conversation, prove to the world that you're innocent.
The bottomline? It's ok to make mistakes, humans do make mistakes. But hey, admit and rectify the problem and move on lah.
Or is it because you're a minister and you can make unfair judgements, saying that bloggers are liars?
Here's my middle finger.
Bro
ReplyDeleteDo me a favour, please. What is the meaning of fork tongue in Bahasa Malaysia?
If "I was misquoted" had not been a standard reply, I would give the man the benefit of the doubt, but he didn't even bother to deny it with something new, like "I swear it was not me, I know it was Mahadi and Jalud, they did it", or " No wonder the coffee tasted strange, I must have been drugged" or don't you know that I was joking, swear I tell you I was only joking".
ReplyDeleteI'll go one better than SK, this is my left hand's middle finger and this is my right hand's middle finger and this is the Mr Big Words,rectum.
"Do me a favour, please. What is the meaning of fork tongue in Bahasa Malaysia?"
ReplyDeleteLidah garfu!
Lidah bercabang la.
thanks for representing us.
ReplyDeleteoh yeah, i know i didnt show up at NPC the last time i was asked to go... do you guys meet up often?
and... a bloggers club? hmmmm...zewt likes the idea very much.
Bro Rocky
ReplyDeleteI suspect, by tomorrow, the site meter will reach the 1 million hits. Congratulations in advance for being the first (?) Malaysia's blog millionaire. Your blog has indeed made a difference, and I trust it will continue to make more waves in the future.
aMiR
Bro,
ReplyDeleteDoesn't he know we do not welcome his recurring rheto-rrhea? (A condition loosely associated with brainless rhetoric and verbal diarrhea.)
How would he explain the 8,000 unemployed women bloggers he casually let go on? Indonesian blogger, Nila Tanzil, is a woman and just one person.
See, he lies, contradicts himself, doesn't know what he is talking and doesn't know his math. He is way off - 7,999 marks way off his rockers.
From his constituency of about 1,000 voters population, he deserves to be forfeited 7.999 terms of electoral office years as punishment. Which means he might as well just keel over and expire. Because he has no hope, no brains, no nothing. Zilch!
Thanks to Rocky, these naive reporters better wake up and smell the coffee before shooting off half-past six questions. Experience and wisdom sets the jounal world apart!
ReplyDeletedear all, i saw the video clip on TA on malaysiakini -it seems he turned everything into a joke - what the heck and the reporters were laughing with him--- so what answers do u expect from him??? stupid answers of course!!!
ReplyDeletei would really ask him if he meant to say that sin chew lied? that it's really not funny the way he was laughing about it. well, we let him get away this time. not the next, i hope.
Salam Bro,
ReplyDeleteSuggest the following:
1 - Lets have the first event of Blogger United be the memorial event of the father of all Malaysian Bloggers, the late MGG Pillai. We may not have agreed with all he said, but I am sure we would share his hearty laugh in memoriam at how far we've come to be a thorn in the sides of some...
2 - Suggest Blogger United then approach Ku Nan to see how he thinks we can help VMY 2007. At the very least, it would help assuage the misleading propaganda that we are all unpatriotic brats with chips on their shoulders - I hate being described like a 4th floor minion!
rocky: i just watched the vid. was that june ramli from NST asking the questions? :)
ReplyDeleteNo apology ...but "I love women"?
ReplyDeleteThe latter sounds REALLY CREEPY!
Here's my response.
e wong
Rocky dude, i'm not a great thinker. I'm more concerned with my day to day problems. Realistically what i see is idealists versus politicians. I just posted on Pasquale that for the first time i would vote. just to make a difference but the majority are not you or me or anyone who reads this blog. Its the pakcik in the kampung or the chinaman who needs the local support to survive in the small towns. The direction of this country is in the hands of the rural/sub-SUB-urban folks.
ReplyDeleteIn which progressive country would we see illegal factories and Mat Rempits being legitimized? Bloggers in MAS are making a dent on URBAN public perception and hopefully it will make a difference in the long run.
This is what I wrote on my blog:
ReplyDelete“Bloggers are liars. They use all sort of ways to cheat others. From what I know, out of 10,000 unemployed bloggers, 8,000 are women.
“Bloggers like to spread rumours, they don’t like national unity. Today our country has achievements because we are tolerant and compromising. Otherwise we will have civil war."
Was clearly not stating a Malaysian blogger.
BUT
THIS STATEMENT DOES!!"
Click here to the full article.
hey bro,
ReplyDeletei think this is the problem if we write negative stuff about a guy or gal, it doesnt mean that we have a grudge against them.....but like u said mature adult discussions to resolve issues are much preferred to childish name calling or getting into the wrong car just to avoid the media :D
post some pix of the hunt! and all the best in your NPC election!
Bru,
ReplyDeleteI was on cuti-cuti Malaysia in Penang this week.
All five-star beach and city hotels were literally empty.
The once rich Malaysian tourists and businessmen were either absent or had down-graded to cheaper hotel.
Several 5-star hotel closed purportedly for renovation. I I think they they were closed for lack of business.
The foreingers are still coming. They stay in tourist-class hotels.
I fear property boom and destruction of coastal hills will lead to Penang's undoing. Batu Ferighi and Tanjung Bungah are looking like tourist slum.
Penang in general is still dirty (or diertier).
With tourism not showing signs to improvement, you know why character like Teuku (Achenese) Adnan Teuku Mansor is desperate.
They are not desperate because of the country but their high post and the perks that come with it.
Just goes to show you can get away with murder with that 'Poor 'ol innocent me was misquoted' quip.
ReplyDeleteBut I must compliment you on the way you answered the questions from the reporters AND I am surprised by the (intentionally or otherwise) ".....then took his money..." question and others.
Shows poor undersanding of the situation. In a way glad he asked you that . At least it cleared some obvious issues in his/her gead. Imagine what he would have wrtten if he hadn't asked .
I'd say you have been too kind on them.
Reading it all over again,I don't know whether to be angry with the Minister or the reporters who questioned you.
Sons and Fathers
You know, he could have gotten onto a better footing by just apologising for his remarks. But then, when do our Ministers ever apologise for anything? I am STILL offended, and I stand by my sister Nila who is not a liar and cheat either.
ReplyDeleteDear Bro Rocky(Still a Samurai to me),
ReplyDeleteThanks for representing us and putting us in a good light.No one could have done it any better.
TA lied again . Nila Tanzil certainly had legitimate ground to complain about the inefficiency of his ministry and Am very sure that the newspaper didnt misquote him.Even if her report was inaccurate she didnt deserve the spoken words heaped upon her by ever graceful TACC.
TACC(TA Cerebrally Challenged)minister still owe apologies to the Sin Chew for saying that they lied,all women bloggers and most of all to Ms Tanzil.
This man has no honor!!
TACC is a woodchuck and his lie is wood, then the riddle goes:
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
( say this many times and faster)
Ans: Plenty
Just a proper Answer:
ReplyDeleteA woodchuck would chuck all the wood he could chuck if woodchuck could chuck wood.
With all due respect, I think that all these misquoted individuals should own up, rather than claim innocence.
ReplyDeleteBe a man; do the right thing.
To be fair, someone should have asked the Tourism Malaysia people to rebut what Nila T alleged in her blog.
ReplyDeleteYou want to hear both sides of the issue before making up your mind who is right and who is wrong.
Well Rocky, that happening is the real world. Blogging is here to stay. Great for democracy.
ReplyDeleteIt was good of Ku Nan to attend the function, knowing fully well that he was going to meet up with you. But he missed a good opportunity to make good his earlier remarks. And saying that he appreciates women is not really what bloggers (male and female) wanted to hear.
ReplyDeletePeople like Ku Nan think they are sent by God to govern, and therefore presides over people and issues as if his words and deeds are divine! People like him are not going to apologise. They think that admitting to his mistake is a sign of weakness. What he doesn't know is that he's increasingly being seen as a liability to the present regime (not that the present regime are much better).
Did I hear right? Did he say Nila lied about the problems she faced in Malaysia?
ReplyDeleteDid he say Nila was sacked? And do we know why she was sacked?
I think Tourism Malaysia owes Nila a long-overdue apology.
By the way, the question about how you could be sitting next to the Minister, shake his hands blah blah when you had criticised him in your blog?
My, my, that's a naughty one. The reporter could hve been instructed to ask the question. Or, if she had not, then it was her perception that TA and Rocky are enemies and had no business to be civil with each other.
Now, that's a narrow and blinkered view of things. Not to mention, presumptuous.
Kak Nuraina
ReplyDeleteThere is a letter on the Nila T issue today in The Star. It's from Datuk Mirza, the Tourism Malaysia D-G.
Quote from the letter: "In a letter (addressed to Tourism Malaysia Jakarta), Bapak Gunawan, the producer for SCTV said Nila was acting on her own and her actions have transgressed the terms at SCTV".
If there's a letter, then it's on the record, right? Unless the said letter does not exist.
So, who is not telling it straight - Nila, Bapak Gunawan or Datuk Mirza???
Seriously though, Ena, do you think Tourism Malaysia will apologise to Nila?
ReplyDeleteI asked that Datuk Mirza, the Tourism Malaysia D-G make public the letter from the producer of SCTV station from Indonesia addressed to Tourism Malaysia Jakarta which he claimed said that Nila was acting on her own and her actions have transgressed the terms at SCTV. Prove to all not only in Malaysia but also in Indonesia that Miss Nila accusation is baseless and that there is indeed blogger that are not telling the truth.
ReplyDeleteI for one as a Malaysian would be very angry with Miss Nila for trashing Malaysia reputation if indeed she was unreasonable in her demand.
Tch! Tch ! Tch !
ReplyDeleteDatuk Datuk oh my Datuk !!!
Remember how letters were declassified (Because they actually existed) just to prove their point ?
Now the letter from the the producer of SCTV can't be that secretive !!
So--apa lagi !! produce them lah !!
Otherwise , its a clear-cut case of another lie to cover a lie !!!
anak-anak dan bapak-bapak .
dear Ms Jiannathewitchqueen,
ReplyDeleteyes. the letter. i won't go that road and say that anyone is a liar.
but i certainly wont say that Nila is a liar just because a letter has been published.
I am also aware of what happened in Jakarta after Nila complained about her experience.
Still, I am not about to publicly condemn anyone.
Thank You.
Saya tanya:
ReplyDelete"Do me a favour, please. What is the meaning of fork tongue in Bahasa Malaysia?"
Amir jawab:
Lidah garfu!
Lidah bercabang la.
Saya tanya lagi:
Bukan lidah bewak ka, Ustaz?
n.b. Ustaz tu ustaz bahasa la... Mohamed Rafi, a renowned Hindi singer, is affectionately called Ustaz Mohamed Rafi.
How can Tourism Malaysia respond to Nila in a blog? It would take them two weeks or more to work out what to say!
ReplyDeleteIt is truly sad that Tourism Malaysia can have so much influence that Nila Tanzil can get suspended from her job. Just shows SCTV's lack of backbone for not standing up for their own staff. Her blog may be her own but she was in Malaysia as SCTV staff.
Despite this, there was no need for Tengku Adnan to insult all women and all bloggers, and just saying he only meant Nila is not good enough. ALL bloggers does not mean ONE blogger unless he thinks we are Musketeers (All for One, One for All!) which, maybe, we are!
He's just a slimebag, let's face it.
Either that, or his brain is in his nether regions.
ReplyDeleteKak Nuraina
ReplyDeleteI have read and re-read the specific entries in the Nila T blog.
She made some pretty damaging allegations against Tourism Msia.
I have yet to see complaints from the other Indonesian journalists and reporters who were hosted by Tourism Msia - the same group that Nila T was part of.
So, how does Nila T come across as an angel, pure as the driven snow, while Tourism Msia is tagged as the dastardly villain?
And, if you don't think that Nila T has an agenda, then I have a get-rich quick scheme that I may be able to sell to you.
Hey guy's... i think there something that stinkd here.. mr. gun that was the produser of nila has sent his comment about nila;s case that clarifecates that Nila's said is 100% true., he also Gives his comment for blogger to keep telling the truth..! 'this comment i read in ndoro kakung's blog, but in Indonesian Languange.
ReplyDeleteHere's my point...
1. "Is SCTB try to wash their hands about this matter by sending the letter to MTB ?".. or is it or is it mr. Gun that want to wash his hand?
2. what's wrong whith these guy's ? .... Are they affraid to tell the truth about this matter?
I think it's obvius that Nila's complaint is true, and MTB ,Mr. Gun , even the Minister with the one who responsible for giving such trouble to nila and the crew.
By stop accusing that Nila's complaint is not true, with this step everyone will have their chance to think and not doing their mistakes again in the future.
NOBODY is Perfect, and There is NO such INSTITUSION is Perfect also.
Without Critic and mistakes we aren't getting anywhere, so face them wisely... By denying them it shown that u are a foolish person which lack of competence for solving problem wisely
b.v