Update, 6.10pm: Ah, apologies to the NSTP gang, Malaysiakini tells me that you do have the balls to take on the BBC. Good good, let’s see what holds up in the court of law :)  

The truth is out there.

As you prob know, bloggers Jeff Ooi and Ahirudin Attan aka Rocky are both being sued by people from the NST.

48 posts on Rocky’s Bru and an undisclosed number on Jeff’s have been cited as defamatory. I don’t know which these posts are (anyone??), but seeing that Brendan Pereira’s name is on the list of people suing, I think it’s reasonable to assume that this involves the expose that Brendan Pereira plagiarised an article by Mitch Albom.

Even if the lawsuit and the posts cited do not include the Brendan Pereira plagiarism case, you’d have a tough time convincing me that the two are not related. Can they plausibly deny that this would be some sort of retaliatory measure, direct or indirect?

The NST has denied all charges of plagiarism (Brendan Pereira has never said a word about it in public, despite appeals to his integrity). It is worth recalling that the NST thumped their chest, yelled, screamed, and challenged to sue the BBC to take down their article about the expose. The BBC article still stands. No lawsuit has been filed.

Hmm… if you were them, wouldn’t you feel a little red in the face?

Too scared to take on the might of their elders in the Big Bad Corporation, looks like they (not heeding Yoda) decided to try and turn their embarassment into angry vengence by picking on ‘lowly’ individuals instead.

(Correction! Pls note 6.10 update above! :)

Back then, I was almost hoping for the NST people decide to take this matter to court. The evidence was just so very damning that there is no way a discerning public could possibly believe that plagiarism was not involved (again, copying the style of the article would have been fine, if Mr. Pereira had even included just one line of credit – that’s all it would have taken).

And now they have. And now the world will see.

Seeing that Brendan Pereira and the NST had no intention whatsoever of owing up to the most shameful thing any writer can do, I think the original NST tactic of trying to sweep this under the carpet and ignore it was perhaps their best bet of ‘escaping.’ Even today, it’s only a few of us who would remember or talk about such ‘old news.’

But it looks like they are out for blood. Trying to scare the blogosphere into submission.

The simple truth: as long as the NST’s editorial policy when it comes to politics/etc allows itself to be whored out to Umno and other unscrupulous politicians, the blogosphere will always be alive, well and only invigorated by your attack.

Shut a few of us down, why don’t you? (betcha you won’t even succeed at that). Others will fill the void. Three things my friend: the sun, the moon, and the truth. People will crave that truth – and seek it wherever it may be found – long after that stooge-run rag of yours crumbles into dust.

In the meantime, NST, does the phrase “come back to bite you in the ass” mean anything to you?

Tags: Integrity, Responsible Free Speech // 4 Comments »