Popular Malaysian blogger Jeff Ooi, who runs his personal online diary called Screenshots today blasted national Malay-language daily Berita Harian (BH) for miserably failing to adhere to basic and fundamental journalistic ethics.

He criticised BH for casting aspersions against him without verifying the content of a controversial comment posted on his blog on Sept 30 during a discussion on money politics in Umno.

The broadsheet has an average daily circulation of 230,000 nationwide.

The report in Bahasa Malaysia entitled 'Laman web siar pandangan hina Islam Hadhari' (Website publishes view ridiculing Islam Hadhari) appeared on the frontpage of BH today.

Quoting an anonymous complainant, the report accused Ooi of "failing to control the forum by allowing an opinion ridiculing Islam to be published".

In a blog topic on Sept 30 entitled "Islam Hadhari and Money Politics", his opening remark was to state that both concepts were mutually exclusive not unlike water and oil that don't mix, which was the dilemma faced by Prime Minister and Umno president Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

His argument is that "Islam Hadhari and money politics logically cannot co-exist".

In responding to the topic, someone signing off as 'Anwar' insisted that faeces and urine should be the only way to make a comparison between both the concepts, prompting the BH report with reactions from religious figures.

The commentator called 'Anwar' argued that the "oil and water" analogy was unsuitable because both were sacred substances.

Verify facts

In an immediate response posted on Screenshots at 1.24pm today, Ooi zeroed in on the daily's failure to comply with the basic journalistic duty of fact verification.

Accusing BH of assuming the "self-appointed role of prosecutor", Ooi said it had also defied an accepted and fundamental journalistic practice of not contacting him and not naming the sole source or complainant in the report.

"It (BH) did not obtain a response from the target person it persecuted and adjudged, in this case Screenshots and its owner," he blogged.

"For the record, the paper did not contact me to clarify the points (made in the report).

"Does this mean that (BH) is an outcast of journalistic convention and does not have a duty to balanced reporting?"he asked, further criticising the newspaper and the reporter Misiah Taib.

As of Oct 1, Ooi said 'Anwar' was blocked from using the commentary-posting privilege on Screenshots after the writer ignored caution e-mails sent over issues of plagiarism and blasphemy.

BH's report was published the following day.

Chiding BH for referring to Screenshots as laman web or website, Ooi said he would have explained to them the distinction between "a website, a weblog and an online forum" had they contacted him earlier.

He defended his role as the blog's administrator by explaining the measures he had taken to moderate the comments received from readers who respond to his daily postings on mainly political issues.

"I have a warning to all Screenshots readers/commentators on the link 'Can you handle Freedom of Speech' that is posted on the frontpage (of the blog)."

'Anwar' was cautioned

Following the comment made by "a hardcore Umno detractor" who signed off as 'Anwar', Ooi said he immediately posted his response beneath it.

"I responded...by cautioning 'Anwar' on his posturing that could be deemed as blasphemy and (that) his words could hurt the feelings of people who hold their value systems dearest to their (hearts) ."

When contacted, he firmly believed that it (the BH report) was merely "an attempt to deflect the current public attention on money politics".

"It is malicious reporting because they never called me for any clarification. Furthermore, I do recognise that BH is an Umno mouthpiece," he said.

"In terms of moderating the forum, I've taken various security measures that could even enable me to pin-point the network from which a commentator comes from.

"The security features I use has the combined capacity to cache the IP addresses (digital footprints) of each commentator. If the person has used a fixed IP, he or she would be much easier to identify."

Ooi added that he was one of only 3,000 worldwide who use this particular web content management system.

The BH report also blamed him for perpetuating provocative postings on topics which provide an opening for readers of his blog to freely express their views.

The newspaper's editorial people could not be reached for comments.

In an update later in the evening, Ooi related how a New Straits Times reporter, claiming to be following her boss' orders, called him up demanding an apology to be published on Screenshots over the contentious comments.

He had refused to respond to the NST's queries.