'You dare to sue, we dare to publish'

A police report lodged by MCA president Ong Tee Keat against a tabloid-style Chinese political magazine has ignited a war between Malaysia’s two biggest newspaper companies.

An apparent truce called last Wednesday has turned out to be short-lived, with the latest edition of Special Weekly mounting another attack on Ong over five full pages on Monday.

An angry image of Ong (right) was accompanied by a heading that parodied him - ‘You dare to write, I dare to sue’.

The headline for the editorial was equally belligerent, stating ‘You dare to sue, we dare to publish’.

The magazine claimed that, when Ong had been marginalised in MCA eight years ago, it had supported him by publishing an exclusive interview with him.

At the time, Ong had challenged the magazine by asking: “Do you dare to publish if I dare to speak?”

The magazine’s response was ‘You dare to say, we dare to publish’, which becomes the headline of the front-page article (left) .

In the most recent editorial, editor Joseph Xeow refuted Ong's allegation that the magazine had defamed him in its March 2 edition.

It had lampooned Ong, putting him in ‘Superman’ costume on the front cover (photo below) .

Three articles inside commented on his relationship with MCA deputy Dr Chua Soi Lek, the Perak political crisis and DAP-turned-Independent Jelapang assemblyperson Hee Yit Foong.

“Whether these three articles really defame or hurt Ong cannot be decided by Ong, as if he is the judge,” wrote Xeow.

“No matter how good Ong is in distracting attention from the issue, he still cannot answer why he has resorted to draconian laws (criminal defamation and the Printing Presses and Publications Act as the basis of his police report early last month).

"This contradicts his call for press freedom and freedom of expression.”

Ong has also threatened to institute civil proceedings against the magazine for alleged defamation.

War between top-selling dailies

Special Weekly is published by Media Chinese International Limited (Media Chinese), owned by Tiong Hiew King, a politically-connected timber tycoon from Sarawak.

The international publications group also controls Malaysia’s major Chinese-language dailies - Sin Chew Daily, Nanyang Siang Pau, China Press and Guangming Daily .

Soon after Ong’s police report, these Chinese dailies began running statements by opposition leaders and Chinese association leaders accusing him of suppressing press freedom.

However, Ong defended himself saying that press freedom does not include “fabricating news, doctoring pictures, and obstructing other people’s freedom”.

The feud then spread into the English-language daily Star , owned by MCA’s investment arm. On May 25, it published a commentary entitled ‘ Natives get restless in PNG ’.

This hinted that the Rimbunan Hijau group, the largest timber operator in Papua New Guinea, was to be blamed for an anti-Chinese riot in the Pacific island nation. It also published a photo of Tiong, who owns Rimbunan Hijau.

The next day Sin Chew Daily published three articles to rebut the Star . Two of these were statements from the PNG Forest Industries Association and Rimbunan Hijau PNG.

The first condemned the Star article as “irresponsible and risked further inflaming a dangerous situation” while the second denied any wrongdoing and instead claimed that the company “contributes significantly to the PNG community”.

The third article was an analysis by Sin Chew Daily' s correspondent in PNG, tracing the cause of the violence to high unemployment and poverty, and not due to foreign timber operations.

Business weekly The Edge quoted sources claiming that top executives of Sin Chew Daily had contacted their counterparts in Star last Monday, requesting that the three articles be published the next day but without success.

Sin Chew attacks MCA-owned Star

Last Wednesday, Sin Chew Daily wrote an editorial headlined ‘Assumptions ultimately mislead readers’, in which it questioned Star's professionalism and ethics.

“The newspaper not only fails to carry in-depth and truthful reports on the incident but has intentionally linked the riots in PNG with Malaysian-owned businesses in a bid to confound the readers,” it stated.

“The biased report, especially its numerous baseless criticism of, and accusations against, Rimbunan Hijau, is an obvious departure from its previous professional and responsible conduct.”

It was then reported that Liew Chen Chuan, senior advisor of Media Chinese, and Clement Hii, the executive deputy chairperson of Star Publications (M) Bhd met the same day to work out a truce.

According to a source-based report in The Edge , Hii offered an olive branch by arranging a meeting with Liew, who is also managing director of Sin Chew Media Corporation.

Following this, Star ran the two statements previously requested by Sin Chew Daily the next day in a article headlined ‘ Attacks by PNG not caused by forest industry ’.

Will the Special Weekly’s latest salvo go unanswered?