KUALA LUMPUR, May 3 — Umno-controlled New Straits Times (NST) has been accused of fabricating words in a three-year-old speech by Australian Senator Nick Xenophon, a known associate of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, to portray the former as anti-Islam, Australian newspapers reported today.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) today, the independent senator is fuming from the “extraordinary attack” against his impartiality and is contemplating legal action against NST.
Xenophon (picture)told the Australian newspaper that NST’s alleged use of the word “Islam” to replace the actual term “Scientology”, which he had criticised in his 2009 speech, was “an example of the kind of dirty tricks the ruling party employs and had used against the Opposition Leader Anwar”.
NST has since removed the article from its website, but cached copies can still be found of the offending story.
In the NST article, Xenophon was not only accused of insulting Islam during his 2009 adjournment speech in Australia’s Parliament, but was also said to have expressed strong support for the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community.
NST’s extract of the speech quoted the senator as saying: “What we are seeing is a worldwide pattern of abuse and criminality. On the body of evidence, this is not happening by accident; it is happening by design. Islam is not a religious organisation. It is a criminal organisation that hides behind its so-called religious beliefs.”
Screenshot of the article quoting Xenophon taken from the NST website.
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