Malaysiakini report on party finances sparks Umno anger

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Malaysiakini journalists were temporarily ejected today from the ongoing Umno annual general meeting for reporting on Umno’s financial statements that were tabled as part of the programme.

Umno secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said that the portal's reporters had initially been given permission to cover the general assembly.

He said they were asked to leave this morning because they had reported on the party’s financial statements.

“They stole the document, they should have checked with us first,” he alleged.

“They can come in but be ethical. Why did they spin things which are not true and tell half-truths? We know what we are doing, okay?” he told reporters at the sidelines of the assembly today.

Malaysiakini journalists were this morning told to leave the PWTC in Kuala Lumpur where the three-day Umno general assembly is being held on orders from the party secretariat.

Also ejected were journalists from news portal The Malaysian Insider.

Malaysiakini reporters were later allowed back into the venue.

While Tengku Adnan claimed that Malaysiakini was ejected for reporting on the party's financial statement, the portal had merely quoted another news portal with full attribution as is common in online journalism.

Citing an Umno financial statement it had sighted, The Malaysian Insider had reported that Umno had received RM82 million in donations last year, an amount which does not tally with the RM2.6 billion political donation Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak had received into his personal bank account.

Chased away

Tengku Adnan also said that Malaysiakini was allowed to cover this year's Umno but several Umno officials yesterday chased off the portal's reporters who had stationed themselves near the building's main screen.

An official initially told them to leave PWTC and later, another official said they were blocking the walkway between the main stage and the carpet for supporters and members to sit on.

The journalists, together with those from a few other media organisations, were then forced to station themselves away at a corner.



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