After ‘Listen, listen, listen’ video, speaker loses paid gig

A screen capture shows Sharifah Zohra lecturing a student during a forum organised by SW1M.

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 16 ― Sharifah Zohra Jabeen Syed Shah Miskin’s tirade on YouTube may have cost the controversial speaker a paid engagement, after organisers of an entrepreneurial seminar scheduled for next week said today they are calling off the event over security concerns.

The activist who is seen as pro-Barisan Nasional had sparked a firestorm this week after a varsity video exposing her verbal assault on a student went viral, leading Internet users to dub her the “’Listen, listen, listen’ woman” over her repeated use of the word while interrupting a student.

“The committee discussed the pros and cons, and decided that it would be best to cancel it,” organiser Lina Ahmad was reported saying by The Star Online.

The police had advised the organiser to call off the talk following news of a planned public protest against Sharifah Zohra on that day, the news portal reported Lina adding.

Sharifah Zohra was set to appear on January 26 at the DoubleTree Hotel, part of the Hilton group, in the national capital for a talk titled, “How to make your first million” with two other speakers, retired diplomat Datuk Pahamin A. Rajab and Zafri Zakaria Merican, that charged participants RM200 per person.

A former member of the Indian Muslim Congress of Malaysia (KIMMA), Sharifah Zohra had been blackmailed over the now-viral video showing her bullying a Universiti Utara Malaysia student and has now gone into hiding to ensure her safety and that of her children, a representative of the little-known organisation Suara Wanita 1 Malaysia (SW1M) had told The Malaysian Insider yesterday.

The spokesman, who wanted to be known only as Emalee, is also the chief administrator of the SW1M Facebook page.

“I ask her to go somewhere safe because she has children. Someone try to blackmail her, this issue has become quite serious,” said the SW1M supreme council member, who uses the moniker “Ratu Naga” on the NGO’s fanpage.