Nineteen civil society groups today have asked Utusan Malaysia to apologise for the controversial short story and for its author to perform community service at Seputeh parliamentarian Teresa Kok’s service centre.

Utusan has in its Sunday edition on Oct 12 published a fictional story by Malaysian Press Institute chief executive officer Chamil Wariya involving the assassination of a politician modelled on Kok.

politik baru yb j newscut 241008 According to the NGOs, the short story despite it being a piece of fiction, “encourages the use of irrational violence”.

“Such a journalist (as Chamil) is irresponsible and only knows how to incite and raise emotions, especially during these political circumstances. The ill-intentioned story encourages the use of irrational violence and should be condemned by all,” read the memorandum signed by the NGOs.

“We were shocked that Utusan Malaysia allowed for such a story to be published. We were even more shocked that the author of the story is the CEO of the Malaysian Press Institute.

“We ask that Utusan Malaysia and its editor apologise to the public for this article that encourages violence. Utusan Malaysia should be more responsible and professional. The writer should serve at (Kok’s) community service centre to mend the harmed relations,” it added.

joint action group utusan malaysia memo politik baru ybJ 241008 01 Among those representing the groups who met with an Utusan representative this morning were Sisters in Islam’s (SIS) senior programme manager Maria Chin Abdullah ( left ) and SIS’ head of research and publications Masjaliza Hamzah.

Met by reporters outside the Umno-owned Malay daily, Maria said the Utusan representative - who declined to identify himself - responded that the piece by Chamil was merely a “story”.

An attempt to dabble in fiction writing

Entitled ‘Politik baru YB J’, it centres on elected representative ‘Josephine’ and narrates her thoughts moments before she was shot dead by a Chinese youth at a gathering.

um book launching 021205 chamil wariya The note found on the youth - who kills himself immediately after the assassination - states that Josephine was a threat to the multiracial harmony and peace.

Chamil, a journalist of 36 years, has denied that Josephine bears any resemblance to Kok, and has defended his work as an nascent attempt to dabble in writing fiction.

"(The story of) YB J is a manifestation of politicians who politicise race issues and have no respect for the rights of all communities," Chamil told news website The Nut Graph in an interview.

teresa kok His detractors, however, have argued that the story is a direct reference to Kok, who was detained under the Internal Security Act in mid-September.

Her one-week detention was ostensibly on the grounds that she was involved in several incidents pertaining to lowering the volume of the Muslim call to prayers and the removal of Jawi script from road signs.

dap forum on politik baru yb j 241008 05 Kok has denied the accusations and since her release from ISA has initiated legal action against Utusan , among others, for allegedly publishing false news.

She told a public forum ( left ) last night that she would to take similar law suits against Chamil and Utusan for the publication of the short story.

Watch 5-min video of visit to Utusan