The NSTP Chairman lied?

The NSTP (M) Bhd had its Annual General Meeting this morning at their office in Balai Berita, Jln Riong, Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur. A lot of prickly questions were thrown at the BOD. One shareholder, Ahirudin “Rocky” Attan asked for more accountability from the company. It was raised in the context of the case NSTP and four others Vs Ahirudin Attan. The BOD explained that the company had footed the legal bill for the plaintiff, so far amounting RM 70,000. It meant that NSTP had paid and still paying for the bill for Brenden Pereira, the Group Editor who left in December, in that private suit.

Another shareholder, raised the issue why the two editorial personality members of BOD were not present and the answer given because were they were ill (Dato’ Hishamuddin Aun was said to have undergone a heart by-pass surgery in Pantai Hospital recently). A veteran NST Editor Dato’ A. Kadir Jasin then cynically pointed out Deputy Chairman Dato’ Kalimullah Hassan was able to write a long story about Ijok even though he was “hospitalised”. The Chairman, Dato’ Mohamed Jawhar stressed that Kalimullah was actually being inferred in Pantai Hospital when the AGM proceeding was in progress. When checked, Dato’ Kadir discovered Kalimullah is not being admitted in Pantai.

Please refer Rocky’s Bru, www.rockybru.blogspot.com , titled “NSTP AGM” for this story and Dato’ A Kadir Jasin’s comment on this incident.

“A KADIR JASIN said…

Sdr Rocky,

Many questions from the shareholders were not answered satisfactorily or not at all because the two editorial chieftains were “gravely” ill.

My attempts to get Sdr Datuk Syed Nazri and Sdr Datuk Manja to speak on behalf of the editorial department was not acted upon.

I told the meeting that the two were as capable as their missing bosses. (Sorry Syed and Manja if I put you chaps in trouble). I wanted to know if the NSTP is still practicing the “right of reply” policy because I noticed lately that NST, in particular, had refused to publish such a reply even when the paper was proven wrong.

I also related my personal experience when our query about the NSTP’s banning of Berita Publishing’s ads went unanswered for more than a year. We sent the latter in Jan. last year. Today I got the answer – the ban continues because I wrote “unpleasant” things about a certain powerful figure in the company.

As for the Deputy Chairman and editorial adviser not being at the AGM, the chairman told the meeting that he was hospitalized at Pantai, where the GEIC is being treated.

But upon checking after the meeting, I told the chairman that the information “could” be wrong. The deputy chairman was not hospitalized. The chairman replied via SMS. He said:

“Thanks Datuk. I am now informed he was not checked-in but he was required to do physiotherapy this morning and that was why he could not be present this morning.

“In fact the seating arrangement this morning included him and the secretary had to quickly rearrange things.

“Sorry my info was slightly wrong. You may want to verify that he had to do physio at Pantai this morning. Salam, Dato’.”

Could it be that somebody in the NSTP management did not given correct information to the chairman?

I also suggested at the AGM that if the new Malay Mail is not profitable, the NSTP should consider selling it.

Thank you

6:52 PM “

 

Did the “June 11^th syndrome” now somehow have its infectious way to the NSTP Chairman too? When the call on bloggers to be responsible were made, shouldn’t mainstream media people do the right thing first?