Fahmi's 100 apologies

Social activist Fahmi Fadzil (you can follow him on tweeter at @fahmi_fadzil) wrote something in his tweets about a friend's pregnant wife quitting her job at Blue Inc. and how it had something to do with the HR policies of the publishing company based in Petaling Jaya, or something to that effect. There must have been a letter of demand sent by the company to Fahmi as a result of that tweet. In most instances, the company would sue for defamation but in this one the two parties settled out of court, with Fahmi agreeing to do 100 tweets apologizing for his original tweet. I thought it was a nice way out, and ultimately good for freedom and fairplay. Based on my own experience, a defamation suit would silent the writer for years, force both sides to waste a lot of money (which will cause the one with less money to suffer more), and damage rapport.

So kudos to both Fahmi and Blue Inc.

Earlier, in another sphere, a rare Lee Kuan Yew-style apology from Lim Kit Siang [read JMD's Lim Kit Siang offended the "tuan rumah". What else is new?] after being lashed kow-kow by Sabahan politicians who had invited him to address their function but ended up being ridiculed by the DAP man.

“If people think I was very harsh, that was not my intention. I apologise,” Lim  said two days after his speech at a DAP organised Kaamatan dinner gathering  held last Friday. Read more H E R E.