A report by The Malaysian Insider regarding Chua Soi Lek’s statement on Hee Yit Foong is screenshot below. The actual press release as worded by Dr Chua is reproduced at the bottom of the page. This posting compares the two versions and highlights the TMI embellishments.
(1) Dr Chua stated that it is unlikely Hee will win. The TMI article bylined to Clara Chooi flips it to say that Hee “will likely lose”.
While the TMI assistant news editor has not deviated the meaning, she nonetheless imposed her own negativity on Dr Chua’s original phrasing (a parallel analogy: a half glass of water can be viewed as either half empty or half full).
(2) TMI concludes Dr Chua as “distancing his party from the former DAP leader”. This is the portal’s interpretation. Dr Chua did not himself indicate so.
(3) TMI adds that Hee “was instrumental in Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) fall in Perak”.
However, it conveniently forgets to mention Anwar Ibrahim’s prior act of embracing the Bota state assemblyman who had jumped from Umno to PKR. Furthermore, the de facto Ketua Umum openly welcomed more BN reps to cross over.
Bear in mind it was Anwar and Pakatan who initiated the Adun poaching in Perak, not BN.
The Bota Adun was equally culpable but the pro-Pakatan media would prefer not to recall Anwar’s own edifying turn in the whole rigmarole.
(4) TMI then has this paragraph:
Dr Chua never made any reference to “most hated woman in Perak”. This bit was interpolated by TMI‘s Clara Chooi.
Below is how he phrased it:
If such – i.e. inserting a label calling Hee Yit Foong someone “who was once described as the ‘most hated woman in Perak’,” – is the journalistic path preferred by TMI, then may we by the same token request that any future TMI articles on Nurul Izzah should carry the following tag:
“Nurul, who was once described as the ‘most childish politician in Malaysia’.”
(See quote attributed to the head of Dewan Ulama PAS — below).
After all, since TMI feels that “the most hated woman” is a valid expression for its news item, there can be no reason why “most childish politician” in a similar vein will fail to pass muster.
(5) The next paragraph in TMI reads:
“‘While Hee can announce that she is the candidate for Jelapang in the coming general election, without the support from the MCA division and especially the grassroots members, it is unlikely that she will win in the election,’ he warned her.”
Read Dr Chua’s press statement for yourself (below). Did he really “warn” Hee Yit Foong as TMI would have it? Or did he merely issue a press release to clarify MCA’s position?
You can compare TMI‘s 432-word report ‘MCA distances itself from Hee, says she will lose without BN blessing‘ with The Star‘s 234-word article titled ‘MCA: Barisan has not agreed to field Hee in Jelapang‘.
(6) The following paragraph in TMI:
“Hee is known for her role in the 2009 Perak constitutional crisis which saw the state in turmoil for nearly a year after her defection, and that of two other former PKR representatives, caused the former Pakatan Rakyat (PR) government’s fall from power.”
It is undoubtedly correct to pinpoint Hee’s role as well as that of the “two other former PKR representatives” – the Behrang and Changkat Jering assemblymen – in sparking the collapse of the Pakatan state government.
Nonetheless and once again, TMI omits to mention the Bota state assemblyman who started the domino chain by jumping from Umno to PKR and back to Umno again, all within a fortnight. The Bota Adun Nasarudin Hashim’s switching camp preceded Hee Yit Fong.
Ref. ‘Umno Perak assemblyman defects to PKR‘ — TMI, 25 Jan 2009
I’m afraid that TMI’s memory is selective.
(7) And more opinionated and partisan reporting from TMI:
“At the time, the former Perak assembly deputy was said to have left the DAP in a huff, after repeatedly complaining to have been sidelined in the state administration and left out of positions of power.”
TMI opines that Hee “left in a huff”.
A different viewpoint could venture that she “departed in sorrow” after having been bullied by her DAP colleagues the evangelical warlord cousins. Or one might even lament that she left after being betrayed by the party jettisoning its socialist principles by turning itself into a (Christian) clone of PAS.
The TMI closing paragraphs are just as subjective:
- “She turned into a BN-friendly independent following her defection, a decision that earned her harsh criticism from Jelapang voters […] She boasted that anger against her had dissipated…”
Uh-huh, being “BN-friendly” is not kosher. But anyone who’s Pakatan-friendly – such as recent Sabah trophies Lajim Ukin and Wilfred Bumburing – are considered rightly exercising “a vote of no confidence” in their former bosses, the BN.
Reps who jump from Pakatan to BN are confronted by “angry voters” (Clara Chooi’s words) and made “an outcast” (ditto, her words) but reps who jump in the opposite direction from BN to Pakatan have instead done everyone proud (Anwar Ibrahim’s words, see below).
FOOTNOTE:
The press statement by Dr Chua, verbatim:.
In response to the statement by incumbent Jelapang state assemblywoman Hee Yit Fong yesterday, MCA would like to clarify that the Party had not had any discussion with the Prime Minister about giving up the Jelapang state seat in Perak.
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The Jelapang MCA division and I had neither deliberated about allowing an outsider to stand in the seat under the MCA ticket.
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Winning the General Election requires the support from all Barisan Nasional (BN) component parties, it is crucial that the candidate receives support not just from the people, but also the component parties.
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I must stress that BN is a collective decision-making coalition, it is never a norm for the coalition to talk about its seat allocation and candidacy openly.
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While Hee can announce that she is the candidate for Jelapang in the coming General Election, without the support from the MCA division and especially the grassroots members, it is unlikely that she will win in the election. (318 words)
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Updated: 9.06am
Helen Ang 
So, Tmi does exactly what you’ve been doing and you see fit to pass judgement? You are quite frankly, beyond pathetic.
i think sigh have a point :)
You mean like this [YouTube]. Whose judgement for how it fits us for the escapism that is provided as and when it fits or we can be gung ho beyond a namesake platform to exorcise our demons for what Helen provides for her goodwill.
What is the purpose, when the purpose depicts our own inability to recognize and capitulate because this is how it should be. The truth and and reality is not religious dictated but what is humane for how it should be for fellow Malaysians.
TMI is rubbish. They have the audacity to criticize Utusan but employs similar tactic. And then claim superior moral highground. So many bloody times when I write contrarion views (with no expletives) they censor. Jahabar Sidek and TMI are utterly rubbish. Why are they so chicken shit scared of contrarion views? Kata believe in freedom of expression and media. This hypocrite jahabar needs a knock on his head? He thinks people are stupid.
bloody well said.
TMI have some of the most stupid editors and writers in the world. Some of them should be certified mentally deficient.
semantic distortion… serbu tak pakai helmet TMI ni. tapi memang sengaja sebab nak tunjuk pandai. setakat tu sajalah kepandaian depa.
ps. nurul izah tu bukan budak2, dia dah mak budak tapi tetap bahlul macam unta baghdad. kononnya nak ambil hati jemaah gereja dan hadirin dari puak evangelist. tapi dia lupa, terlajak kata… telanlah semuanya. lupa… ya, melayu mudah lupa. DNA dia melayu ka?
Ellese, some people are stupid. You only have to read some of the comments here. Some comments I cannot fathom altogether because of the exuberance of their verbosity heheh…
Helen provides another perspective to what is going on around us, though some people may want to disagree with this but have difficulty to express what it is they disagree about. This is not meant to flatter but I find myself having a lot to think about when I read her postings.
And yet, Helen and/ or TMI, has failed to address why Jelapang and not Bota has become synonymous with turncoats and traitors since 2008?
Ok, fair point. I’m doing a follow-up although it will not address your question head-on.
Kiru,
I’ll make a quick attempt at rationale here. Taking a personal comparison: I do not wish to see hudud implemented. However I’ve spared PAS any harsh criticism on this matter even though the criminal law enactment/enforcement is a pet project of the Islamist party.
Instead I’ve trained my guns on DAP for colluding with PAS. For their Putrajaya ambition, the party’s Johnny-Come-lately evangelists are more than willing to step over Karpal’s dead body.
The reasoning: I do not feel any sense of betrayal by PAS b’cos I’ve never voted or supported the party plus we’ve always known that an Islamic state and hudud are what PAS has been pushing for since time immemorial.
It is rather DAP’s 180-degree turn on hudud (“don’t worry, it won’t affect non-Muslims”, “don’t worry PAS doesn’t have the numbers”) that is traitorous.
PAS on the other hand is not selling out the Chinese b’cos it never previously made sweet promises (whereas the DAP of Kit Siang’s generation had always guaranteed that the mullahs will have to step over their dead bodies first).
I guessing it’s a similar Chinese anger directed at YB Jelapang, compared with YBs Bota, Behrang and Changkat Jering. All four were responsible, so HYF should only be apportioned a quarter of the blame. But she’s bearing the brunt of it as you’ve pointed out.
Another reason is losing the state govt which is a big prize as Perak has never been ruled by the opposition before. Despite Nizar’s position as MB, the DAP excos were the ones calling the shots. So the Jelapang electorate (some 70 percent Chinese) could have felt that HYF cost them a Chinese state govt.
It was a Chinese majority assembly on the Pakatan side. But the hostile takeover rendered the state govt of Perak ALL Umno Malay with the sole exception of one MCA Adun. With no Indian rep, they had to appoint an Indian guy to be Dewan Speaker who was not an elected Adun.
So the changeover was from a Chinese-dominant state govt to a totally Malay-controlled state govt.
From my analysis above, it appears that the reason they want to throw HYF into boiling oil is largely a matter of race.
Thank you Helen for your perspective.
kiru
Clara Chooi and her ilk among #Pakatoons media should not pretend to be independent or fair… it’s a pity people still fall for the “free and fair” rhetoric.
Its ironic that mainstream media got bashed everytime they made a slight editorial error or reporting what the opposition said black and white but denying it later while the so called “independent news media” always certainly got away scoot free for their irresponsible journalism.
Pantun Fusion buat Nurul Izzah:
Makan angin di Jelapang-Bota,
macam-macam hal terdengar khabar;
terlajak kata apa nak kata,
pasti khilaf laporan akhbar.
ikan yu ikan mas,
tenkiu veri mach.
1. The most hated woman is HYF?
2. The woman most beloved by the media is Virgin Mary, especially by Yahoo Msia…altogether 7 scoops made on VM alone!
Now I can see how bias a media could be
Dap said Hudud won’t affect non Muslim?
My question is, if it really won’t affect you (Dap), how come you take Pas’s side and not the side of the non-Muslim?
Are you (Dap) hypocrite or simply playing to the gallery for the sake of your survival?
its typical Pakatan media , make more lie’s for their stupid readers
the reason why the Pakatan media get away with all the lies is that their media is mostly English. if you have a decent command of the English language, you will see through the deception.
the readers are themselves not stupid. it is their lack of English that result in them falling prey to Pakatan’s deception.
the English language is a very deceptive and cruel language. deceptive in that in terms of vocabulary it has thousands upon thousands of words to deceive, to beguile those that are not well verse in the language. in terms of cruelty, the English language also contains thousands upon thousands of words that are vile with which a person can use to attack another person.
when a person who lacks a decent command of English is exposed to such vile and deception, naturally that person is screwed inside out.
kata nak dapatkan winnable candidate…datuk chua tahu ke kalau Hee bertanding akan kalah…sepatutnya Chua berterima kasih pada Hee kerana dia dan rakan rakan dapat balik bentuk kerajaan negeri dibawah barisan…dan yang untung pihak mca dan mic… jangan nak tuding jari pada Hee.. apa pengorbanan chua… nasib baik ada isteri maafkan kelakuan chua,, Hee telah tunjuk kesetiaan selama ini dan dapatkan chua tentukan semua ahli mca 100% sokong dia dan bole mendapat undi dalam PRU 13?? fikir fikir dulu..biar YAB yang tentukan kedudukan Hee dan bukan hanya chua…fikir lagi
Rarely has someone said so little with so many words, coincidently we have two though form an entirely opposed clique, the DAP fanboy KT and MCA eunuch ShuZheng.
So ShuZheng, cite me one commenter who believe Malaysiakini / TMI are about no twisting reporting, and enlighten me a media that “not propaganda disguised as news”, perhaps one from China since I know you have bad experience wrt Western media outlets, even the pretty balance and fair (my opinion) “The Atlantic” do not attain your expected set of ethics. I am asking for an answer in a specific manner.
I think Helen, unlike you, grasp well sigh’s phrase “Tmi does exactly what you’ve been doing”, and you were the naïve one to repeat the same by telling us Malaysiakini/TMI is bias, are you stupid or what?
Most Chinese see HYF as traitors because she is a Chinese, and secondly our Chinese education is more incline toward black and white on act of betrayal and defection, read the history of Yue Fei / Qin Gui (岳飞秦桧), Wang Jingwei (汪精衛), and Luxun brother Zhou Zuoren (周作人), so don’t blame everything on English/Anglophile. Your claim of Chinese press as being tolerance has everything to do with our baron control of “set of ethics”, go read the Chinese written blog and comments, but I guess your grasp of Hanyu and Hanzi is still at juvenile level hence may not be able to get my point, again.
Nga, is typical Chinese as compare to LGE, he would be the main contender to LGE in future, and why not, is that not politics is about? Your (and Helen) conjecture of Christian and Anglophile in DAP faction is like bedtime story for the consumption of kids.
ouch, that hurts isn’t it HY ? the fact that Shuzheng pointed out your naivety for the world to see must rankles. Ouch and your comment proved Shuzheng’s point. Ouch.
bedtime story that made you visit soo frequent… damn good story lah….
ppl like HY (awat akronim sama mcm mak cik kat subang jaya) make this blog hit 905,263 hits meter to date so fast. :)