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| Rejal |
When Tokoh Wartawan Negara 2015 Rejal Arbee came over from Bernama to take over from Henry Chang as Editor of the Business Times in the late 80s, his reputation preceded him. As editor, Rejal was known to be uninterested in office or political intrigues, he stood by his journalists even if he had to stand in the dock, and defended his profession as if his life depended on it.
Judging by the way he's condemning the Edge's owner over the bribery scandal involving the infamous Justo Andre Xavier, the man hasn't changed a bit.
Justo tainted The Edge’s owner, says national journalism laureate
BY YISWAREE PALANSAMY
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 30 ― Media owner Datuk Tong Kooi Ong lost the legitimacy to accuse the government of corruption as the basis of his claims was stolen information he obtained by misleading Swiss national Justo Andre Xavier, new national journalism laureate Datuk Ahmad Rejal Arbee (pic) said.
Ahmad Rejal also dismissed Tong's claim in July this year that he had to misled former PetroSaudi Internationl executive to expose corruption involving 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
“The press always talk about corruption but once you join in, what legitimacy is there for you to question? What rights have you got? You yourself do it.
“Once you try to bribe the people, you flout the law. And for me, for The Edge to do that, I think it was right for the government to pull them out… actually the government should charge them in court,” Ahmad Rejal told Malay Mail Online in an exclusive interview.
On July 27, Tong and Ho Kay Tat, the publisher of The Edge Media Group publicly confessed to cheating Justo over a promised US$2 million (RM7.6 million) payment in return for documents the Swiss man stole from his former employer PetroSaudi.
Both Tong and Ho insisted they had not tampered with the documents provided by Justo as alleged, and said they have handed an exact copy of the data they obtained to Bank Negara Malaysia, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and the police as evidence in the ongoing investigation.
Shortly after their admission, the Home Ministry suspended printing permits of The Edge Weekly and The Edge Financial Daily on grounds their 1MDB reports are in breach of the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA) 1984.
On September 21, the Kuala Lumpur High Court quashed the Home Ministry’s three-month suspension order on The Edge Financial Daily and The Edge Weekly over the said reports.
Yesterday, national news agency Bernama reported that Justo will sue Tong, Ho and Sarawak Report found Clare Rewcastle-Brown to seek the return of the stolen PetroSaudi data.
A Thai court sentenced Justo to three years in jail on August 17 after he pled guilty to blackmailing his former employer.
p.s. Wonder if the other two living Tokoh Wartawan Negara recipients agree with Rejal ... Read Not all willing to openly agree with Kay Tat's way, The Mole, 22 July 2015
Such a pity to have members of the media especially a media laureate consciously covering up government wrongdoings. This is like the police trying to catch a group of criminals after they had tapped a phone conversation between them but now the police got blamed because the media laureate said it is illegal to covertly tap phone communications. So the criminals must not be punished. Did Rejal say anything about the information obtained from Justo? Now nobody is talking about 'tampered' or 'fake' documents anymore. Now the goalpost has been changed to "it is illegal to get information from a blackmailer". Predictable lah.
ReplyDeleteSaya tak pernah lagi seorang pencuri menggunakan mahkamah utk mengambil kembali barang uriannya.
ReplyDeletePerkara utama di sini ialah apakah maklumat itu benar ataupun palsu? Adakah yang berminat untuk membeli maklumat palsu dengan membayar harga USD2 million.
ReplyDeletewhen you try to obtain stolen info not even knowing whether it is right or wrong and then trick the person to get it what credibility that you have when you display that info to readers? U want readers to treat u like a hero ?...on what basis?
ReplyDeleteand its okay I suppose to lie and steal info but its not ok when a Malay becomes the PM?
Ya I hope you get whats coming to u.....truth is slowly revealing...:)
1:33
ReplyDeleteThe goalpost hasnt changed. Thats whats been said all along ever since its been established that the info was legit. Now its mere ethics. But they dont shout about the info being legit,
Trust me. This is getting out of hand. You can be propped up but trust is gone.
1. you talking about ethics? lol
ReplyDelete2. everything that has been revealed by the Edge is true.
Anonymous 11:36 is an idiot. When did anyone say a malay cannot become the PM? Is that the basis of his whole argument? By the way, any malays can be a PM as long as he is not deceitful and dishonest or a coward. Don't be a racist.
ReplyDeleteJusto tainted everyone around 1MDB!
ReplyDelete