So Din Merican is JR Malott's friend and Malott is Din's friend. That's OK and that explains why Din Merican is putting his already-shortened neck at stake to defend Malott's rather awful piece on Malaysia, which has riled so many Malaysians. Din said Malott's intentions were good. That may be so, but as a former ambassador surely Malott is aware that good intentions are not good enough. You have to deliver them well. Din Merican has the benefit of being Malott's friend so he can say he knows where the man's coming from. The rest of us are not as lucky. But we do understand English.
The mainstream media's response to Malott has been quite sober, I must say. The New Straits Times produced articles by Azmi Anshar (Malott trying to distract us from Anwar's woes) and Shamsul Akmar (Get your facts right, Malott!), among others. These are not friends of Malott but professional journalists who exposed and discussed Malott's flawed assessments. No names-calling, as far as I remember. The Utusan Malaysia also came up with editorials to correct Malott's harsh description of Malaysia. Sometimes they are a little harsh, too, but not more harsh than Malott had been about us in his article, surely.
None of the writers in our mainstream media called Malott Anwar's pet as Rachel Motte did in her article, though. The NST and Utusan reproduced Motte's article simply because it would be of interest to read what an American blogger thought of it all, but that's now being used against them by both Din Merican.
I thought nobody read NST and Utusan anymore; guess I was wrong!
It's interesting to note that Rchel Motte's article has now been brought down by the New Ledger and I'm not sure if NST and Utusan are going to do the same. Malott seems to be putting the pressure on our papers with his threat of a legal suit, and Din Merican in his latest posting Mainstream Media and Umno Bloggers seems to be providing Malott the justification to sue the Malaysian papers.
I don't think Din and Malott should get too worked up by the whole thing. It's not like the papers started it, too, y'know. When Malott wrote the offending article in Wall Street Journal, I'm sure he expected -- hope for -- some backlast. Let's continue with the debate and not resort to legal suits.
p.s And Aang Din Merican, please advise your friend lah. And also, I strongly urge you to take alternative-stream media Malaysiakini to one side, quietly, to set the record straight. They can't still bedescribing you as "a close associate of Anwar".
The fact, as I know it, is Din Merican is no longer a close associate of Anwar Ibrahim. In his political ride, Din is now in "N" mode (that's "Neutral", not necessarily "Najib"). Yes, he used to be in "P" (for Pak Sheh aka Anwar) gear but that was another lifetime ago."According to Malott's latest article which appeared on Din Merican's, a close associate of Anwar, blog, he said that he is now contemplating legal action against both dailies."