YOURSAY 'Because cyanide is dangerous to health (just like radioactive material), it is only natural that the rakyat are concerned.'

Gold mining company sues Malaysiakini, FMT

LittleGiant: Malaysiakini and such other news portals are only doing their job. People look upon journalists of these news portals as their 'voice' and expect them to report their grievances.

It is, therefore, absolutely wrong to think that 'issues' affecting the well-being of the people can be kept off media limelight through legal actions.

Malaysiakini has the support of its subscribers. Even if the news portal should lose the case, its reputation for genuine reporting will remain intact.

Telestai!: The very day Malaysiakini becomes a tool of any political party, I'll stop my subscription immediately.

I've made this known to editor-in-chief Steven Gan that I'll not tolerate biased reporting in any shape and form in a news portal that I am paying a subscription for.

Now if some silly company wants to sue Malaysiakini for defamation when it is merely performing its duties, I'll say you have my support to fight the case till the very end.

More than being a mere subscriber, I am prepared to contribute towards defending Malaysiakini position as a free and independent news portal.

"Illegitimi non carborundum", which means "Don't let the bastards get you down".

Keturunan Malaysia: That, Telestai!, is exactly what a right-minded person should do. Meanwhile, until proven guilty (unintentional/genuine mistakes not included), we subscribers/ readers will back Malaysiakini to the hilt.

Anonymous_3f15: This is going to be a long legal case to establish a correlation between the health ailments and the chemicals from the gold mine. Because cyanide is dangerous to health (just like radioactive material), it is only natural that the rakyat are concerned.

Fair Play: It looks like a case of killing the messenger. Malaysiakini , as a news portal, is just doing its job without malice.

Raub Australian Gold Mining (RAGM), doing business in Malaysia is all right. Taking on the rakyat is another matter.

Blind Freddo: No, Malaysiakini didn't report the complaints of the Bukit Koman community in good faith.

Like all those people dressed in green, you ignored the facts from a multitude of surveys and monitoring and still reported the 'infirmities' of the ‘kampong' people as though they were cyanide-related.

Not Convinced: Blind Freddo, what multitude of surveys? Name one. RAGM has time and again refused to respond to the legitimate concerns of the villagers.

Anonymous #19098644: This is a golden opportunity to subpoena the managing director of the company. Put the company on trial, call the residents of Raub to testify so that all the world can see what has happened to the people of Bukit Koman.

Ferdtan: When RAGM are at the losing end, after the successful Himpunan Hijau Raub rally on Sunday, they must have felt so scared that they needed to react.

Then they found an opportunity by singling out only the two purported anti-BN news portal, Malaysiakini and Free MalaysiaToday, to sue for defamation.

This was in spite ofthe fact that there are many other media organisations which had also reported the same issue extensively.

Was this suit an attempt by a private firm to ingratiate themselves with the BN government hoping that 'protection' be obtained? They must have feared BN government's desertion as more voting rakyat are coming out to oppose the gold mining using cyanide.

The government may be forced to ignore RAGM's predicament and treat it as a lost cause which will cost them valuable votes in the coming election. This is the pre-emptive strike by RAGM to involve and keep BN on their side.

Conmen: Unable to stem the growing tide of public dissension, the inept and incompetent Umno government is resorting to using its proxies to silence its critics.

It's been a growing trend lately for Umno to employ its outsourced subcontractors and hired hands to do their dirty deeds to harass anyone who oppose Umno.

Vandalising Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim's stagecoach was a recent incident too.

AnakBangsaMalaysia: Funny, it seems to me that RAGM's filing of this lawsuit has done far more to destroy its own reputation than the Malaysiakini reports or even Sunday's Himpunan Hijau rally.

Abuminable: Why is Pahang host to such toxic industries? Is it because it's Najib Abdul Razak's home state and the royal household is involved?

Opah: That's the same defence that tobacco companies used for decades - that there's no proof smoking causes cancer.

So the sufferers have to prove wrongdoing, while the companies hide behind compliant governments.

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