Tourism Minister escapes without a scratch

I don’t think it was funny at all.

Malaysiakini TV has this little title which says: Tengku Adnan is cornered on the blogger issue HERE. The title could do with some editing though, like “Tengku Adnan cornered on blog controversy”. But that (the part about cornering) didn’t happen at all.

It all happened like this:

“Tourism Minister Tengku Adnan and I sat side by side this afternoon at a press conference after the National Press Club-Celcom VMY Treasure Hunt 2007. He was asked about the “blogging” controversy (Rocky Bru).

What annoyed me most of all (when watching the video clip) was that, the Tourism Minister who lashed out at women bloggers on International Women’s Day for being liars, cheats and a threat to national unity, was not cornered at all!

He seemed to have been allowed to get a way scott free by laughing away the issue and joking about it as if those who were present at the press conference were kindergarten children.

At the end, he was saying out-rightly that Sin Chew daily, who carried his comments, lied.

He also implied that reporters, were so dumb, they didn’t understand what he was saying. He added he was probably in a joking mood the other day when he mentioned the matter. But then he realised that as a result of the report, people called him male chauvinist and racialist.

Come on, Mr. Minister, do people joke about such matters? You are not a cadet reporter, you are the Tourism Minister! And after you have realised the impact of what you said, what did you tell the Associate Press reporter? “

‘I do not have anything to say right now,’ he said. (Associated Press)

But he said he directed his criticisms merely at Nila Tanzil, not other bloggers. So, how on earth did Sin Chew get this wrong? The paper nearly created civil war between bloggers and Adnan. If the reporter who wrote the story does not stand by his or her report, then I am really, really very sorry. And yet, was Adnan’s response to Nila justified?

In the press conference, he repeated his take on 50 years of Independence. “Whatever we achieved today was because of our people…we are multi-culture…we need unity…if there’s no unity, this country will not survive…don’t joke, don’t kill yourself…we have a lot of races in this country…the main three races and then you add in another 50 groups…blah blah blah“.

At this point, he didn’t want reporters to quote him….”dah lah orang panggil aku ini macam-macam (already people called me many things)...racists lah…they don’t understand what I was talking about the other day…”

Then he said he was not upset, not even with Rocky as they were close friends because it was a matter of opinion. He blamed STAR for not checking with him about Nila Tanzil, before they carried a report on her complaints, while she was shooting a programme in Malaysia.

A reporter asked if there was an agenda to bring him down, to which he replied…”It’s okay, I am just doing my job…” which is: making sure 3 million people, who directly and indirectly earn from the Tourism industry, continue to make a living, as many of them were unemployed such as university graduates.

What a tongue twister. Earlier he said women, and now undergraduates. What next?

“That’s my job, whatever they want to say, let it be…my friend Rocky Bru knows me quite well…I’m easy going, no problem..no worries”.

Yeah, so easy going that he blurted out one of the worst insults men could say to women.

The he added, and I do not take this too kindly. It is condescending and make all women out to look like a fool:

“I love all women, I am myself today because of a woman, because of the love affair between my mother and father.If there were no women, there will be no human beings”.

“Sorry lah…(at this point, one of the officers approached him and whispered in his ear). To which he added: “My supporters in my electorate are all women”.

And everyone laughed. Really, what is so funny?

I do not think we should be swayed by his sweet talk, and let him get away unscatched. He took too long to answer these questions anyway, and when he did, it was merely insulting not only women bloggers but the press all over again.

Unless Sin Chew lied. So, Sin Chew, did you lie?

After all this, I am really lost for words. Even my rectum is hurting.

Well, Read Rocky Bru’s side of the story here.