As a media organisation that strongly believes in press freedom, malaysiakini maintains that legal action should be taken as the last resort. However, the situation has become alarming.

The allegations against malaysiakini , which is based on untruths and our purported link with international speculator George Soros, has resulted in accusations of the website serving the agenda of the perceived enemies of the state and that malaysiakini journalists are traitors. This has now led to death threats being issued against a member of the team.

Indeed, the website has been put under an undeserved cloud of rumour, suspicion, hatred and contempt through allegations of foreign interventions and harbouring an 'unpatriotic' agenda.

Which is why we have instructed our lawyers to take necessary legal action against those who have, and continue, to make unsubstantiated allegations against malaysiakini , to defend the reputation of the website and our journalists.

But who are the potential defendants? The following is a partial list:

Dr Mahathir Mohamad

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the wise man he is, knew all along that we were funded by Soros, or so he said. This fits perfectly into his worldview that all who are critical of Malaysia are foreign agents.

A genuine Malaysian would never have a bad word to say. He has labeled malaysiakini , and all those who read malaysiakini as traitors. Is this an opportunity for a class action suit by malaysiakini and our readers?

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi

On national TV, Abdullah declared that it is now " terbukti " (proven) that malaysiakini is funded by Soros. "Our perception that the news portal has a link with Soros, which was denied by the portal management, is now proven to be true and not a wild allegation," he said.

How has our link to Soros been proven? Is Abdullah aware of the facts, including our detailed denial? Have his trusted lieutenants let him down by not briefing him of the facts?

The facts are that malaysiakini has a business relationship through Kini Technologies with the Centre for Advanced Media, Prague (C@MP), a division of venture capitalist Media Development Loan Fund. MDLF has among its 20 funders and partners, George Soros's Open Society Institute.

The government should be proud that Kini Technologies, in partnership with C@MP, will be exporting software to the world, particularly to developing nations. Isn't this part of the South-South cooperation preached by the prime minister?

Should we ask the deputy prime minister to prove in court how exactly is it now "proven" that we are funded or linked to Soros?

Chong Yen Long

Former malaysiakini news editor Chong Yen Long has accused the website of telling half-truths. He said that we did not inform the public that we were receiving funds from MDLF and took it open himself to "spill the beans".

But who is telling half truths? Chong informed the media of two facts:

1) That malaysiakini received RM188,000 from MDLF

2) That MDLF is believed to be funded by Soros.

Yes, the above is true. However, there are two other pertinent facts that he failed to disclose.

1) The payment in question, was not a grant, but was for a software development project.

2) That MDLF has 20 funders and that none of the funds from C@MP originated from Soros as assured by C@MP project director Martin Hala.

Malaysiakini 's relationship with C@MP and MDLF was also no secret. We disclosed these facts to the public when we released our report of our year [#1] 2000 accounts[/#] , on Feb 27.

The link to Soros is so tenuous that it is much like the case of accusing Israel of supporting Malaysia and by extension, the government is therefore serving the Zionist agenda because it received a grant from the World Bank, which among its contributors include Israel.

More so, malaysiakini is a business entity. Over the past year, we have made deals with a number of business partners and have signed up a long list of advertising clients. No doubt, some of these companies can be controversial, perhaps even backed by unsavory characters whom we are not aware of.

But malaysiakini strictly adheres to a policy where any editorial interference by our investors, business partners and clients will neither be accepted nor tolerated by the website's editors and journalists. Indeed, as a news editor for one year, Chong can vouch for that.

Although Chong was informed that OSI does not fund malaysiakini directly or indirectly, he refused to believe this. Instead, due to his personal grievances with editor Steven Gan and myself, he has given fodder for the mainstream media and the government to spin a tale on our purported link with Soros.

One should not destroy an organisation and the journalists once under his charge because of personal grievances. Should he pay for the damage he has caused?

RTM

In early February, RTM ran a special on malaysiakini for an entire week. In its prime-time news slot on TV1 and TV2, it highlighted our alleged link with Soros. RTM interviewed several politicians and media experts who dutifully questioned our reporting and independence.

To further erode malaysiakini 's credibility, RTM reported that they had found that a 1995 article by editor Steven Gan and his special issues team at The Sun , exposing the deaths of 59 inmates at the Semenyih illegal immigrants detention camp in Selangor, was apparently not true. RTM quoted Bukit Aman's public relations head Supt Benjamin Hasbi stating that only eight people died, including a police officer.

Announcing the 'false report', RTM interviewed several personalities including Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar who quickly condemned Gan and questioned how he could have received the International Press Freedom award for an untrue report.

Gan had received the award in November last year from the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists for his pioneering work in malaysiakini and his track record for independent journalism. In the award citation, CPJ had also mentioned the Semenyih death camp story.

Several media personalities, including a representative from the Malaysian Press Institute said that they would write to CPJ, informing them of Gan's false report and request that they withdraw the award.

Gan responded in an editorial ([#2] Demonising malaysiakini [/#] ), pointing out that RTM had mixed up two unrelated incidents. The death of eight migrants including a police officer occurred in 1998, following government attempts to deport Acehnese who feared retribution if they were returned to Indonesia.

The story by Gan and his colleagues was about 59 deaths at the Semenyih detention centre and was written in 1995. In fact, the piece, titled "Shattered Dreams", won an Malaysian Press Institute award in 1996 with the award being presented to Gan and his colleagues by the prime minister himself.

Malaysiakini has written to RTM requesting an apology and a retraction. None has been forthcoming.

Zainuddin Maidin

Zainuddin has had a lot to say about malaysiakini . He said that we will not be given press accreditation because we lack credibility. If credibility is the benchmark, it is a wonder how some other media organisations are given accreditation. To support, his attack on malaysiakini , he claimed to have "proof" that Gan worked for an anti-government newspaper.

The only newspaper that Gan has worked for in Malaysia, is The Sun . Is he suggesting that The Sun is anti-government? Perhaps action should be taken against Zainuddin to remind the parliamentary secretary of the Information Ministry that he should get his facts right.

Far Eastern Economic Review

The Review was the publication which got the ball rolling. In their Feb 8 issue, the Review carried an interview with George Soros, titled "Levelling the Field". In its introductory paragraph, the article states that Soros' Open Society Foundation funds, among others, Malaysiakini.com. Malaysiakini immediately issued a denial and called on the Review to issue an immediate retraction. Open Society Institute, which administers Soros's fund, also issued a statement stating that it does not fund malaysiakini .

Instead of retracting their statement, the Review pointed out that "the Open Society Fund funds, the Thailand-based Southeast Asian Press Alliance (Seapa), one source of funding for Malaysiakini.com."

The clarification misleads the public to believe that the Review was right all along, that OSI does indeed fund malaysiakini , but the funds flow via Seapa.

Like Chong, by reporting selected facts and omitting others, the Review was able to cast aspersions on malaysiakini . The Review was aware of two important facts:

1) That Seapa, a regional organisation of journalists who have long struggled for independent media in Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand, has a large number of funders.

2) That the OSI funds go only towards paying the salary of one Seapa advisor, and none of it reaches malaysiakini .

Yet, the Review refused to disclose all the facts and maintained that their clarification is adequate. Stating two out of four pertinent facts, is as good as lying.

George Soros

But what about George Soros? Are we going to let him get of scot free? After all, all this hot air is about a link to the man himself. Shouldn't he pay? Perhaps we should sue Soros for RM100 million. If, as all of the above suggest that Soros is in fact funding malaysiakini , Soros probably would not even fight the case. Yes, perhaps we should sue Soros to ensure malaysiakini has enough funds to last a decade at least.

PREMESH CHANDRAN is malaysiakini 's chief executive officer.