An Internet portal trumpeting the merits and achievements of Sarawak chief minister of 30 years, Abdul Taib Mahmud, has popped up to serve as a counter to whistleblower website Sarawak Report 's damaging exposes against the state regime.

Named after its intended target with a mere letter difference between the two, Sarawak Reports hit the ground running when it emerged some time last week with an exclusive interview with the man himself, followed by a series of articles critical of Sarawak Report founder Clare Rewcastle Brown.

Brown, the sister-in-law of former British premier Gordon Brown, works with Sarawakian Iban activist Peter John Jaban to carry out and publish in-depth investigative reports that have made waves for their exposes on corruption, mismanagement and environmental and other abuses Brown and Jaban allege plague Sarawak public life.

NONE Both Brown (left) and Jaban (right) are also behind the Free Sarawak Radio , an independent station that started its daily broadcasts on Nov 16 last year to report on local activists and communities defending their land rights as well as alleged corruption involving Taib and his government.

Sarawak Reports , however, has nothing good to say about either Brown or her work and has attempted to dig up everything bad about the journalist and her in-laws.

Needless to day, its reports on the state government policies and practices are glowing, as its write-ups on the 74-year old Taib.

Unlike Brown’s website, which last month came out in the open to reveal its founders and their motivations, the pro-Taib Sarawak Reports offer no clue - other than its articles - as to who is behind it nor their motivations.