Corrupt journalists behind attacks against Securities Commission?

I have heard of business journalists being bribed (i.e. paid money, given shares, or others) in return for writing articles on companies, especially listed companies. I have also been told by my associates of journalists asking for money in order to have their newspaper reports slanting in favour of the companies, or the promoters, or certain faction within the companies. The price tag: ranging from RM1,000, to sometimes RM5,000 and above.

So, when Rockybru started the ball rolling in attacking SC in his posting last Saturday, 26 June 2010, the first thing that came to my mind was, whether he was also part of them?

Based on the news article in The Star on the matter, it was clear that BK Sidhu was called for an interview with the SC as a witness, in relation to SC’s probe on irregularities concerning Kenmark. It was clear that SC was not targeting BK Sidhu for probable misconduct. The targets were clearly James Hwang (the Taiwanese) who allegedly absconded, and Ishak, the market manipulator.

But the fact that BK Sidhu chose to approach Rockybru to tell her side of the story was puzzling. Why didn’t BK Sidhu wrote her own piece in The Star? Why chose a blog to carry such an exclusive and explosive story?

Did the interview with SC went awry that it actually exposed BK Sidhu to possible misconduct, and thus, she had to resort to somehow spin the whole situation? Was she paid by somebody to write the news article on Kenmark, giving false hope to layman investors to continue to speculate in Kenmark shares? Did she herself gain, monetary-wise, by speculating in Kenmark shares based on the insider information she had gotten from the company’s officials? Did she then use the journalist’s non-legally-recognised code of ethics of not disclosing the source of information, to apparently protect her own self from prosecution under the securities laws for false reporting or for insider trading?

If journalists like BK Sidhu actually supplement their income through bribery, who would be best to start the ball rolling in investigating the claim, without fear of fallout from her fellow journalists, just like the case of this Kenmark investigation? What if Rockybru is being paid to deflect the issue of misconduct by Kenmark officials, to the issue of alleged high-handed mishandling and interrogation by the SC on the business journalists?

May be somebody should start doing a money trail against BK Sidhu and Rockybru on their supplementary source of income. May be somebody should look into the shares transactions undertaken by BK Sidhu and Rockbru, and linking them to their stories/ reports on companies around the time of the relevant share transactions.

To me, Dahlia, A Voice, Big Dog and others were all playing up to the gallery. Rockybru started the ball rolling on the attack against SC. And I wonder why? And why so many articles by Rockybru on the subject matter, within a span of one week? Why the need to mention the names of the investigating officers (when there’s no need to do that), and subject those mere down line officers to ridicule by the commentaries to the blog entries?

I am actually writing this piece because I am fed up of reporters and bloggers writing bad reports about authorities in Malaysia, be it the police, MACC, SC or others. The reporters, bloggers and commentators will then link the bad report s to UMNO (note: UMNO, and not BN as a whole!)

The police, the MACC, the SC have all done a good job in making Malaysia a good place to live in. Misconducts (if any) by down line officers within the organisation should not be generalised against the whole authority, or their chiefs. Calls for change of heads in police force, MACC, SC and others should also not be linked to the misjudgment by the PM for appointing them in the first place.

Calls to boycott the regulatory authority would not do good to Corporate Malaysia. Constant attacks against Malaysian authorities (be it MACC, PDRM, SC and others) would continue to undermine foreign investors’ interests in Corporate Malaysia. Corrupt journalists, who play a part in all these whole scheme of things should be taken to task for undermining the national interests.

May be, its time for bloggers and fellow Malaysians to rally against corrupt practices of these paid and unethical journalists.