I would like to point out to Abdullah Ahmad Badawi 'DPM denies Daim under arrest' (June 15) that since the sacking of Anwar Ibrahim, more often than not, 'rumours' have turned out to be true.

Two months ago, when Abdullah was still claiming to be in the dark, 'rumours' were rife that reformists had been detained under the ISA. When the truth came out, Abdullah dished out the lame excuse that, "it was an ISA arrest; not an ISA detention".

Can anybody please tell what is the difference? Detained or arrested, you are put away without evidence.

'Rumours', it seems, are more believable than the 'news' they disseminate in the mainstream media. This begs the question: Why so? The answer is, time and time again, we have been fed propaganda and slanted news. Maybe that worked for the powers-that-be before, but not anymore when information is only a click away.

For your information, Mr Abdullah, the 'rumours' usually start from the people with the facts and figures, the officers of the ministries, those from the inner circles, your colleagues along the corridors of power.

'Rumour' is that Daim has a hand in the PUNB bond scam. Want to split hair, Mr Abdullah?