Bye-bye Star, bye-bye NST

I made one, and my family another stupendous decision today.

First, I decided to go yellow on the blog. ROS and Kerismudin, please take note!

My family then spoke to our daily newspaper delivery boy this morning and gave him the bad news. We decided to cancel with immediate effect our subscriptions to the Star, Sunday Star and the Sunday Times (NST Group).

We felt nothing but regret and sorrow. For the delivery boy, that is. We'd known him for over 10 years.

For the spinmeisters, we felt nothing but contempt, loathing and disgust.

I was particularly incensed after reading excerpts in these cat litterliners that DSAI was guilty of a crime, er..., what exactly I don't know.

It had been alleged by the AG, his deputy AND Defence Counsel in open court that certain unknown "experts" in USA and/or Korea had identified DSAI 99.99% as a participant in an a sex video by using high tech facial and body identification techniques.

Hard evidence was not presented by anyone since DSAI was nowhere named as a party to the case! Oh, you beauty!

(About a year or two ago, it was for that precise reason that the Court of Appeals expunged certain statements from a judgement made by Judge Sri Ram that mentioned Tun Daim Zainuddin - that Tun was not a party to the relevant court case and should not have been been implicated when he could not legally defend himself! That's my amateur interpretation of that matter).

Certain choice expressions leap to mind:

1. Kangaroo Court ( I mean, why did the Honourable judge allow it or not expunge wild flying allegations?)

2. Trial by Innuendo

3. Trial by Media

4. Conspiracy

What's even more beautiful is that a defence lawyer expressed being mega impressed with a former CM's credentials. That former CM was once accused of having sex with a minor, which constitutes STATUTORY RAPE. In that instance, the Government through the AG later withdrew the charges.

I could be wrong, but I vaguely recall that several others were charged and convicted of having sex with the same minor!

It was also the instance when a DAP politician, now CM of Penang, was sent to prison. Here is the summary of that sordid episode in M'sian legal history when a man was sent to prison for defending an under-aged Malay girl on a matter of principle. Refer Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lim_Guan_Eng:

"Lim was arrested by Malaysian police in 1994, following his criticism of the government's handling of allegations of statutory rape of one of his constituents by former Chief Minister of the state of Melaka, Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Thamby Chik.

Consequently, while the Attorney General decided not to charge Rahim Thamby Chik, Lim was charged under Section 4(1) (b) of the Sedition Act 1948 for causing 'disaffection with the administration of justice in Malaysia'.

Lim was also charged under Section 8A (1) of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 for 'maliciously printing' a pamphlet containing allegedly 'false information' because he had described the alleged rape victim as an 'imprisoned victim' because she was initially detained by Malaysian police without parental consent for 10 days.

During the judicial procedure, Lim was quoted saying:

“ If I fail and have to go to jail, I have no regrets. I have no regrets of going down fighting for the principles of truth and justice. And pursuit of human rights, especially women's rights. There can be no women's rights if women rape victims are considered equally responsible, and even detained, whilst the accused remain free. ” — Lim Guan Eng, http://home.clara.net/heureka/sunrise/lim-guan.htm

After a series of appeals, Lim was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment. He was, however, released after 12 months on August 25, 1999. Due to his incarceration he was disallowed from standing for election to public office for a period of 5 years, and he was therefore ineligible to contest in the 2004 Malaysian General Election."

I am not so naive as to think that all newspapers embrace the middle path. British newspapers like Times, Guardian and Daily Telegraph all lean towards one political party or another and such is also the case with dailies in USA, Singapore, Australia, you name it.

But I am also reminded of how our some years ago our NST tried to influence voters by front paging a photo of Tengku Razaleigh wearing a Kadazan hat which was spun as him promoting Christianity! That was really scraping the barrel. So, there is a limit that must not be crossed!

Oh for sure too, the STAR and NST are not going to file for bankruptcy from my cancelling my subscription to their publications.

But, it's my and my wife's hard earned money. We've had enough of lies, lies and more lies.

So, we opened the windows to our home and shouted out for all the world to hear:

"WE'RE FED UP. WE'RE NOT TAKING THIS CRAP ANY MORE!"

So, we'll keep our money in our pockets for a rainy day.

I urge everyone out there to think carefully.

Newspapers have a duty to report the news fairly. They should not become mere propaganda machines for political parties and publish blatant lies. They should not be their political masters' mouthpieces.

When they cross the line, we should act promptly and show them who's the boss!

- donplaypuks® with my newspapers, man!