Act against Utusan, say FMT readers

A poll conducted by FMT shows that 60% out the 3,748 participants want the police to wield the axe on the Malay daily over the Christian plot allegation.

PETALING JAYA: A poll conducted by FMT showed that most readers wanted the police, among others, to take action against Utusan Malaysia over a report alleging that Christians were planning to usurp Islam’s position in Malaysia.

A total of 3,748 readers participated in the poll, which ran since last Wednesday before concluding at 11am today.

Hot on the priority list of 60% of the readers, or 2,247 of them, was for Utusan to be sent to the chopping block for its “unsubstantiated” news.

On April 7, the Umno-owned Malay daily reported that a group of pastors and a DAP leader had gathered in Penang recently to plot a Christian coup.

The report was based on the allegations by two pro-Umno bloggers – Zakhir Mohamad who goes by the monicker “Big Dog” and Abdullah Shukor who runs the blog, “Marahku”.

However, the report drew flak from DAP and Christian leaders who denied the allegation.

On the same issue, 15% or 565 readers wanted the police to take action against the two bloggers for making the accusation without verifying their facts.

The poll also showed that 21% or 775 readers wanted the police to act against the “Datuk Trio” over the sex video implicating Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim.

In April, former Malacca chief minister Rahim Tamby Chik, former Perkasa treasurer Shuib Lazim and businessman Shazryl Eskay Abdullah had invited several journalists to Carcosa Seri Negara to view the 21-minute video.

Anwar had since denied being the man in the video and many quarters, including the Malaysian Consultative Council for Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST), had urged the police to take action against the trio for being in possession of pornographic material.

Two percent or 59 readers wanted the police to probe the alleged local football match-fixing scandal. To date, the authorities had identified a trainer and a financier to be behind the scandal.

Lastly, 1% or 55 readers wanted the police to investigate what transpired in the meeting between DAP and the pastors that led to the Utusan report, while another 47 readers wanted the authorities to investigate Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) secretary-general S Arutchelvan for allegedly being involved in a theft case in 1995.

The PSM leader had since denied the allegation.