• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • RSS
  • Archives
  • Subscribe
The Nut Graph

The Nut Graph

Making Sense of Politics & Pop Culture

  • Projects
    • MP Watch
    • Found in Conversation
  • Current Issues
    • 6 Words
    • Commentary
    • Features
    • Found in Quotation
    • News
  • Columns
  • Interviews
    • Exclusives
    • Found in Malaysia
  • Multimedia
    • Audio
    • Pictures
    • Videos
  • Corrections
  • Letters to the Editor
  • Vault
    • Found in Translation

RM300 “gift” for reporters (Updated)

By Danny Lim

January 16, 2009

(Updated 9:45pm, 16 Jan 2009)


L-r: Ong Boon Keong, from Mafrel, Chan Wei See, Chen Shaua Fui and Haris Ibrahim at the poilice station

KUALA TERENGGANU, 16 Jan 2009: The Information Ministry today denied making any payment to journalists covering the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary by-election, polling for which is tomorrow.

The press secretary to the Information Minister, Hisham Abdul Hamid, said the ministry had never directed any of its officers to do such a thing.

“This has never been the practice of the Information Ministry,” he told Bernama here.

In a 3.40pm incident today, reporters working at the Information Ministry’s media centre for the Kuala Terengganu by-election got a surprise when they were each handed an envelope with RM300 inside.

No reason was provided for this mysterious “gift”.

Merdeka Review reporters Chan Wei See and Chen Shaua Fui lodged a police report about the incident at the Kuala Terengganu district police headquarters at 6.45pm.

The online news site has also reported the incident to election watchdog Malaysians for Free & Fair Election (Mafrel).

Reporters say an official working at the media centre asked them to write down their names, the organisations they represent and contact details on a piece of paper that was circulated around.

According to Merdeka Review‘s Chen, they were then told to put their initials on the paper before being given the envelope containing six RM50 notes, amounting to RM300.

Chen said that when the official passed the envelope to her, all he said was “Keep this”.


(Click on pic to view larger size)

The Nut Graph reporter was not at the media centre when the incident allegedly took place.

Some of the reporters have already returned the money to the officials at the Media Centre.

When contacted, the head of the media centre, Zaid Ahmad, said he was not aware of any such incident.

Another online media reporter who did not want to be named was inspired by the incident to quote Tok Guru Datuk Seri Nik Aziz Nik Mat: “Bagi duit ambik, bagi kain pakai, tapi pangkoh bule.”

See also:
Swing time in KT

Fence-sitters hold the key
Positive and negative campaigning
Reckoning with the electorate
Assessing Chinese Malaysian support
KT’s decorative touch
Surviving perception
Getting the message across in KT
Politicising Islam in KT
Contrasting campaign styles in KT


Danny Lim is a freelance journalist and photographer.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

Related Stories

Filed Under: News Tagged With: bribe, bribery, buy votes, Danny Lim, envelope, ethics, keep this, kt, Kuala Terengganu, mafrel, malaysian for free & fair election, media centre, media officer, merdeka review, money, rm300, rm50, unmarked, wang ehsan, zaid ahmad

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. k.sugumaran says

    January 17, 2009 at 7:19 am

    Still think denial will be believed. Still haven’t realised public has lost trust in authorities. Even if they speak the truth, no one will believe them. Not anymore.

  2. k.sugumaran says

    January 17, 2009 at 7:24 am

    Still stuck in the 20th century. Still think money can buy everything and everyone. Still unable to realise internet’s power. Still unable to grasp that authorities have lost public trust. Shows how desperate they are about the by-election. Win at any cost. Then talk about noble values.

  3. Andrew I says

    January 17, 2009 at 9:16 am

    Save the best for last. Sometimes, money makes the world (not the sun) go round the moon.

  4. Siew Eng says

    January 17, 2009 at 12:08 pm

    I’m expecting the police to solve this easily. Should be easy to identify the official(s), kan? Did reporters take a mugshot of him/them? Could they have hung around and taken shots of the official giving the envelope to others? Is the media centre a controlled area (only people with reporter or ministry tags are allowed in)? Let’s catch these people in the act.

Primary Sidebar

Search

Twitter

My Tweets

Recent Comments

  • Wave33 on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • Adam on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • PSTan on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • PSTan on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • Andre Lai on The Nut Graph stops publication

Recent News

  • The Nut Graph stops publication
  • Nasihat tentang sepupu yang mengganggu perasaan
  • Uncommon Sense with Wong Chin Huat: The Sunni-Shia split and the answer to Muslim unity
  • Why Malaysia needs the national unity bills
  • Challenging government in the digital age: Lessons from Kidex
  • Najib’s failure
  • Babi, anjing, pondan: Jijik orang Islam Malaysia
  • Kidex and the law – What the government’s not telling you
  • Beyond Dyana Sofya
  • Uncommon Sense with Wong Chin Huat: Does Malaysia need hate speech laws?

Tags

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Anwar Ibrahim Barisan Nasional BN Bukit Selambau by-election dap Deborah Loh Ding Jo-Ann Election Commission elections Found in Malaysia Found in Quotation Gan Pei Ling government high court Hishammuddin Hussein ISA islam Jacqueline Ann Surin Khairy Jamaluddin KW Mak Lim Guan Eng Malaysia MCA Menteri Besar MP Watch Muhyiddin Yassin muslim Najib Razak Pakatan Rakyat Parliament Parti Keadilan Rakyat pas Penang Perak PKR police politics prime minister Selangor Shanon Shah Umno Wong Chin Huat Zedeck Siew

Footer

  • About The Nut Graph
  • Who Are We?
  • Our Contributors
  • Past Contributors
  • Guest Contributors
  • Editorial Policy
  • Comments & Columns
  • Copyright Policy
  • Web Accessibility Policy
  • Privacy Policy
The Nut Graph

© 2023 The Nut Graph