Thursday, July 05, 2007

O Tian Chua, what have you done!

Last week malaysiakini carried a news item where Malaysia’s self-declared de facto leader demanded DPM Najib Razak explain a claim by a witness in the Altantuya murder trial.

Prosecution witness Burmaa Oyunchimeg (a cousin of murdered Altantuya Shaariibuu) told the Shah Alam High Court that the late Altantuya showed her a
photo after the latter returned from a trip to France - see malaysiakini article Najib seen with Altantuya.

Burmaa claimed that the photo showed her late cousin having a meal with one of the accused, Abdul Razak Baginda, together with ‘a government official’ and other people.

Then Karpal Singh, who was holding a watching brief for Altantuya’s family, queried her about the 'government officer', to which Burmaa responded: “I remember the name Najib Razak, they had the same name, ‘Razak’. I thought they were brothers. I asked her if they were brothers.”


Needless to say, the de facto leader, leaping on Burmaa's claim, pounded Najib, the man whom he had hounded since Ijok, for an explanation, acting as if he was judge, jury, prosecution and hopefully executioner.

I had blogged on this issue in Altantuya trial & Najib Razak - why we seek alternative process.

Unfortunately Burmaa did not produce said photo which could have transformed her hearsay evidence (“Altantuya told me ...”) into steamy solid sh*t for the DPM.

But then, trust Malaysia's WB to oblige, well, in a sort of way.

Who’s WB?


Oh, it’s our country's most famous ‘wannabe martyr’.

Tian Chua, PKR’s head of publicity posted the missing photo on his blog to show an 'Altantuya' (with cleavage and all) together with a 'Najib' and a 'Razak' having a cosy French dinner.

As one visitor to his blog commented (extract): “... I understand that you need to pull all the shots you have at your disposal for your political sake. At least, just put there ‘this is a superimposed image’”

Yes, unfortunately Tian Chua neglected to mention that wee qualification about his posted photo.


Putting up a doctored photo as a joke is OK for ordinary bloggers like KTemoc. But for the PKR information chief to resort to such gimmickry, for obvious political gains, it is no longer a joke or a humorous gambit.

It actually demonstrated an act of desperation, a sinister intention to rubbish a political opponent along the lines of the infamous 50 Dalil Mengapa Anwar Tidak Boleh Jadi PM (50 reasons why Anwar cannot be PM).

Well, wouldn't it a case of orthnithological specimens of identical plummage ... eh? Yes, what irony!

Even Raja Petra Kamarudin of Malaysia-Today, a blog renown for bold hard hitting revelations and robust exchanges, saw it fit, nay, was compelled to qualify/question the authenticity of Tian Chua’s posted photo when he (Raja) posted Tian Chua’s article in his blog corner.

Tian Chua, known for his recklessness (though hitherto only to his own safety), has certainly exceeded his normal boundaries. I was shocked as I didn't expect him to descend to such gross grubby gutter level cheap shots, which would be more suited for another sector of the PKR. Much as I had ribbed him about his wannabe martyr inclinations, I, like many people, have a secret fondness and some admiration for the eccentric bloke.


Tian, having realised his faux pas which might even attract a libel suit, quickly made a damage control qualification the following day. He attempted to brush it off with a casual : "I thank those good hearted individuals who tried to inform me the picture is doctored. I should certainly know. I also believe the real photo exists, and hopefully it will eventually be displayed publicly."

"I believe the real photo exists ..." does not and cannot excuse a politician's surat layang-ish (poison pen-like) posting of a doctored photo. Alas, for a political party which wants Malaysians to take it seriously, the salacious sleazy sin has already been committed.

Oh dear, oh dear, Tian Chua, what have you done?

You have transformed not just the photo but your own WB image as an eccentric but still likeable ‘wannabe martyr’ into a malicious ‘wicked monger’.


And the collateral damage to PKR?

If anything, Tian Chua's intemperate act has proven PKR to be desperate, as 'desperate' can be.

15 comments:

  1. In this Bolehland, rumour finally turned out to be fact, the PM's marriage proved that. What not necessary did happen finally proven to be happened in court, like Anwar's tilam carried in and out case. Corruptors proven to be clean from hair to toe. Even killer would claim 100% innocent, remember Mokhtar Hashim?

    When the people do not have the freedom to know what did actually happen, well look at those persecutors, they 'irrelevantise' the witness for what? A cover-up!

    When the whole apparatus is trying a cover-up, Tian Chua did the right thing as a try to uncover the truth. Which side u stand decide you attitude towars Tian Chua.

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  2. Don't see anything he did specific wrong. The title in his blog entry simply stated 'French Dinner for 3' without a mention of Atlantuya. As a matter of fact, it wasn't even Atlantuya's face which was pasted, it was a famous Korean actress who committed suicide. I thought TC did a pretty good job getting the attention he wanted from the DPM.

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  3. Tian Chua should had underscored the humour behind his doctored photo by cutting and pasting a photo of himself sitting between najib and baginda and grinning like a chesire cat

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  4. KTemoc,

    Tian Chua is not that stupid or reckless in putting up a picture which everyone seeing it knows is doctored. I think his main aim is to lure the court and Najib to comment as they have all been maintaining an eerie silence making it obvious that the whole trial is a sandiwara to cover up for Najib!

    I have always enjoyed reading your blogs KTemoc, but you can barely CONCEAL YOUR HATRED FOR ANWAR & PKR and don't hesitate to demonise them at every conceivable opportunity.

    Your energies could have been better utilized in demonising Pak Lah, Najib, UMNO, BN with their 1001 wrongs (and the number is rising daily) on the people. Yet you choose to demonise Anwar and PKR, who despite their faults, are doing their best, to hit out at UMNO/BN, which is the cause of all our problems.

    You must be highly paid by Pak Lah to run Anwar and PKR down.

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  5. As a person that reads Malaysiakini, and despise very much of what the ruling party does in our name, I will have to say that I agree with what the blogger commented on the issue.

    I think the blogger commented fairly, and I don't see any element of hate. The end does not justify the means. While I salute what Tian Chua did during the reformasi, and his steadfastness to his principle and loyalty, I failed to see leadership qualities in him. He may not be foolish, but he does suffers from an obvious lack of wisdom.

    But then again, I will not hesitate to have a fren like him...

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  6. i agree with anonymous 10.15 AM.

    that - the picture of the lady not being altantuya - plus the fact that the photo was badly doctored should be a giveaway what tian chua was up to. yes he meant it as a satire and he purposely had the photo up to attract attention.

    so i can't understand why all the bising-bising from so many bloggers attacking tian chua. i am no fan of PKR at all but in this instance of tian's action, i would support him. he's a smart devil to post this doctored photo up. not only he got lots of traffic and publicity to his blog, but he managed to get the mainstream media talking about the photo amy mentioned "having dinner with a malaysian government official... his name was najib razak...", which in the beginning when it was mentioned by amy was not reported at all in the mainstream media.

    see? tian's objective was achieved.

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  7. A spoofed photograph was put up, with a commentary that did not refer to the photograph that was posted. Where everyone else takes the connection and speculation cannot be the fault of the post'er himself. If anything, we were just to eager to jump on this juicy bit and took it way out of proportion.

    To put it simply, we got had and Tian Chua's experiment in how folks generally don't think much was vindicated.

    Oops .. egg on our faces.

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  8. bob, you gave tian chua too much credit - he was just pitifully desperate to attack najib on behalf of his de facto leader - his reckless nature is already wellknown, and so is his lack of clever strategising.

    so, while i admire your graciousness in attributing far more intelligence to a wellknown gungho character, not many would buy your kind hearted effort to teflonise tian.

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  9. You should get a life. Parody and satire are just not up your alley apparently... unless you think of it first I guess.

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  10. Ktomec, you've wrote this on June 10, ->
    "DAP - where sex romp is like snowflakes in hell".

    So, well done with your double standard, huh?

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  11. arifabdull: I suppose you missed the part where KTemoc pointed out that he's an "ordinary blogger" while Tian Chua is the information chief of a political party. There's a difference. The latter is supposed to be above that sort of thing.

    And there's no frickin' satire in using a dead woman to score cheap political points. Desperation and amateurism, yes. Class, no.

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  12. jeffrey hardy quah:
    oh, so if TC is an ordinary blogger it will be okay for him to do the super imposed? doesn't it called 'double standard'?

    anywhere, could u prove to me if that women in that picture also dead, was she also C4?

    hey, my eyes told me that women wasn't Althantuya. so, what is the point you all keep telling 'deceased', 'dead women', etc?

    suddenly, Malaysian cares on 'authenticity' and 'truth', which they never cared before.

    there are so lot of super imposed pictures on Najib, Badawi (even Jeanne Danker), Nazri and the rest that u can easily find on the net.

    nothing special LAH!

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  13. And NONE of them were created by politicians who supposedly want to change the country's direction for the better.

    And yes, it IS different when a blogger does it. Because all it would affect is him and him alone. When a politician does it, he taints his/her fellow politicians in the party as well.

    Plus: he's supposed to be some kind of freakin' leader! With actual leadership qualities! OF COURSE IT'S DIFFERENT.

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  14. at 1st many of PKR supporter EAT this picture.. now when the truth are out, the EATER say they not that STUPID to see the picture fake or real... soo my point is even u made TIAN CHUA or ANWAR say that they are guilty with their own world their supporter will always say this is a CONSPIRACY !!!!... haha no wonder why foreigner laugh at Malaysia opposition leader and supporter..

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  15. Tian chua please. Btw people be talking about the author being double standard while themselves being bias. Wtf people get your shit together.

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