By Joseph Tawie
KUCHING: Two senior editors of a newspaper here have been sacked and suspended respectively for allowing a “negative” article on Chief Minister Taib Mahmud to be published.
New Sarawak Tribune editorial adviser, James Ritchie, has been removed and replaced by Taib’s former press secretary, Effendi Ariffin, while the newspaper’s executive editor, Paul Si, has been suspended.
The paper which recently changed its name from The Eastern Sun to the New Sarawak Tribune is owned by one of Taib’s daughters.
The offending Bernama article appeared on Aug 30, on the front page of the paper under the headline “Is Taib testing the waters?”
It is understood that the objectionable part of the article was a comment made by Jeniri Amir, a political analyst at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas).
Jeniri had reportedly said that it was only natural for other leaders in the state to openly declare their support for Taib as “everyone knows Taib is politically too powerful and nobody dares to ask him to step down as their political future depends on him”.
Jeniri felt that Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s “heart-to-heart” talk with Taib should be used as an avenue to tell the chief minister about the political situation on the ground and that Taib should also listen to the “voice of reason” from Sarawak.
He believed that Taib’s remark on wanting to step down this time around was genuine as he has realised the change in the political landscape.
“The onus is on him, not the prime minister or his party,” Jeniri said.- FreeMalaysiaToday
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