MALAYSIA: KL minister in row over reported remark on bloggers

Tourism Minister refuses to respond to accusations that he called all bloggers liars

Straits Times
Monday, March 12, 2007

Kuala Lumpur --- Malaysia's tourism minister refused to respond on Monday to accusations that he had insulted women by reportedly saying that Internet bloggers are liars, and many are jobless women.

The Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Jit Poh quoted Tourism Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor as saying last week that "All bloggers are liars, they cheat people using all kinds of methods.

From my understanding, out of 10,000 unemployed bloggers, 8,000 are women."

The report sparked a storm of criticism among Malaysian bloggers, including former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's daughter, Marina Mahathir, who called Tengku Adnan's reported remarks an "unbelievable bit of foot-stomping" by "a supposedly sober person in high office."

The tourism minister reportedly made the comments in response to questions by reporters about criticisms of Malaysian tourism authorities contained in an Indonesian broadcast journalist's blog.

On Monday, Tengku Adnan refused to comment or confirm whether he had been quoted accurately by the newspaper.

"I don't have anything to say right now," Tengku Adnan told The Associated Press.

Freelance writer Susan Loone said in an open letter to Tengku Adnan that his reported comments were "highly demeaning'" and seemed to reflect the ideas of a "woman hater."

"Women these days are different. We don't merely sit around looking pretty," Ms Loone wrote in her blog. "We work, take care of the family, write, blog, ask questions, analyse, create, invent, and a million other things."

Date Posted: 3/12/2007