Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein has aimed potshots at Malaysiakini over two news reports referring to the granting of citizenship.

On Twitter today, Hishammuddin accused the news portal of blacking out statements by the National Registration Department (NRD) and the Bangladesh High Commission, following a note published on a Bangladeshi agency website.

"Two days ago, Malaysiakini reported that the 6P (amnesty programme) issues citizenships to Bangladeshis. But when (NRD chief) Jariah (Mohd Said) answered with facts, and the (Bangladeshi) ambassador denied it - silence!" he tweeted.

NONE However, the chain of events suggests otherwise:

- Malaysiakini had contacted High Commissioner AKM Atiqur Rahman on Sept 19 and posted the report at 2.04pm the same day.

- It had earlier emailed the agency in Bangladesh on whose website the contentious note was posted but did not receive a reply.

- No report was posted about the notice until the High Commissioner in Kuala Lumpur responded on Monday afternoon.

- The High Commissioner had also issued a press statement denying the note, which was sent out by NRD at 6.26pm on Monday.

- Along with the High Commissioner's statement was the press statement by NRD chief Jariah, noting that 37 Bangladeshis have been granted citizenship since 2008. This was published on Tuesday .

Report rectified

The same data was mentioned in yesterday’s report quoting a source who claimed that a NRD officer had told her, during a citizenship interview, that her duty would be to "vote for the ruling party" if her application was successful.

Responding to this, Hishammuddin tweeted: "Today, Malaysiakini reports that an immigration officer conducted an interview for a permanent residency applicant and told her to vote BN.

"This is libel - immigration officers never conducted interviews for permanent residency applicants.”

In the report, it had been initially reported that the source had gone through an interview with the immigration department.

After subsequent checks with the source, who had requested anonymity so as to not jeopardise her application, the report was rectified the same day to refer instead to the NRD.

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