Writer accused of plagiarism dismisses allegation, plans to take legal action

 

Book publisher and author Mohammad Qayyum A Badaruddin has dismissed the allegation that he plagiarised certain online articles for his books.

Some netizens compared his books Dekad Membaca and Excellent Secretary to online articles and claimed that Qayyum had used the Google Translate to translate other writer's contents and compile them in his book without crediting the original authors.

"I don't see my work as plagiarism. That's other people's perception.

"Only some individuals read my book and thought that it was plagiarism," he said.

Qayyum had authored 154 books on motivation and current issues, while his publishing company Casamas Resources Sdn Bhd had earned the 2019 prolific publisher award by Yayasan Pembangunan Buku Negara (YPBN) for producing the greatest number of books in 2018.

The then federal territories minister Khalid Samad had officiated the awards ceremony on Apr 1, 2019, in Kuala Lumpur.

Labelling the accusation against him as slanderous and unethical, Qayyum said he was planning to take legal action against his accusers.

"My lawyers are looking into the next course of action against those who slandered and accused me," he said.

However, Qayyum had admitted to using Google Translate to finish his books as he was rushing against time before the launch date and not giving credit to original writers.

Certain quarters had slammed his book Dekad Membaca, which is purportedly laden with grammatical error but Qayyum said he would come out with a better edition.

"I admit my mistake (on certain highlighted chapters), and I will make the necessary correction in the new edition," he said.

Meanwhile, YPBN spokesperson said the foundation apologised to the public as it had overlooked in selecting certain works.

"YPBN's advice to writers is not to plagiarise other people's works and every reference must be given a credit to the original writer," he said. - Mkini