I totally agree with reader SR who demanded that the board of directors of the New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Berhad take immediate action against the New Straits Times group editor Brendan Pereira.

I was shocked when I read in www.jeffooi.com that Pereira had plagiarised the work of Mitch Albom, the writer of several bestsellers. When you compare the article written by Albom on Sept 10 and the one written by Pereira on Oct 30, it looks almost certain that Pereira has committed the most heinous crime a journalist could commit - stealing other people's work.

Any journalist worth his salt would resign if he is caught with his pants down for plagiarising other people's intellectual property.

Pereira did not only tarnish the good name of journalism, but has also insulted the intelligence of all Malaysians and all NST readers. Did he think that Malaysians are fools? Did he think Malaysians do not read? Did he think he can get away scot free? Did he think Malaysians are not learned enough to read works written by well-known writers like Albom?

Already the number of NST readers are dwindling. This will result in more people losing faith in the publication. I am sure no one would want to read plagiarised articles.

I hope the board of directors of NSTP will conduct a thorough investigation to determine exactly how many times Pereira has resorted to plagiarism. If it doesn't, other would do so gladly and make the findings public.

NSTP is a public-listed company. It should explain and apologise to shareholders for the misdeed of its group editor. In the event that Albom decides to sue NSTP for plagiarism, the company may have to pay a huge sum of money and the shareholders will be directly affected.

Editor's note: The NSTP today announced that Brenden Pereira will end his term of service as group editor of NST on Dec 31. The company said that Pereira expressed his intention to quit late last year and the decision to accept his resignation was made earlier this year. It rejected the allegations of plagiarism.