Environment minister disagrees with 'attacks' against journalist
Environment Minister Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said he disagreed with personal attacks made against journalists.
"YBM (the minister) does not agree with personal attacks against any journalist," said Tuan Ibrahim in a message shared by an aide in his ministry's WhatsApp group today.
Environment Minister Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said he disagreed with personal attacks made against journalists.
"YBM (the minister) does not agree with personal attacks against any journalist," said Tuan Ibrahim in a message shared by an aide in his ministry's WhatsApp group today.
"Misunderstandings, quotes taken out of context and inaccurate summaries are normal issues.
"It must be dealt with by an explanation in a professional manner," said the PAS deputy president.
Tuan Ibrahim (photo) was referring to a barrage of personal attacks against Malaysiakini reporter Kow Gah Chie, who was ridiculed on Facebook over a report on Wednesday that allegedly quoted the minister as having defended logging activities in Kelantan.
On Thursday, a Facebook post implied that the Malaysiakini article had been fabricated as it was not asked during Tuan Ibrahim's press conference the day before, which had been streamed live.
The ministry subsequently claimed that the Malaysiakini article was inaccurate, but Malaysiakini stood by its report which was based on a doorstop interview after Tuan Ibrahim's clock-in ceremony and press conference in Putrajaya.
Below is the video clip of the doorstop interview.
The abusive posting was reported to Facebook but the report was initially rejected on grounds that "it doesn't go against any of their Community Standards".
Facebook's Community Standards state that it does not allow hate speech.
A review of the rejected complaint saw the post being taken down for several hours before it was overturned on Friday night.
Further engagements with Facebook and another article which highlighted the harassment against Kow eventually saw the posting taken down permanently this morning.
In an emailed statement, Facebook Malaysia head of communications Serena Siew confirmed that the post had been taken down for good.
"When we're made aware of the abusive content, we reviewed them with our community operations team.
"We have found that this post violates our Community Standards and has now been removed," she said.
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