Free Malaysia Today (FMT) has issued an apology over the actions of one of its journalists who posed a question said to have carried racial overtones during a public forum held on Monday.
The forum, titled “Gaza Exposes the Complicity of International Actors”, featured UK politician George Galloway.
FMT executive chairman Nelson Fernandez said the organisation had no prior knowledge of the journalist’s intention to raise the question and did not agree with the journalist’s comments.
He said FMT opened an internal investigation after the matter became a topic of discussion on social media, which led to disciplinary action against the journalist.
“The process is ongoing and FMT will not comment further on the matter at this time,” he said.
Fernandez also said FMT found during its investigation that, contrary to claims made by various parties on social media, the journalist did not use the word “apartheid” at the forum.
Earlier, independent preacher Firdaus Wong questioned the journalist’s alleged comparison linking Israel’s apartheid policy against Palestinians with how Malays allegedly treat the Chinese community in Malaysia, describing the comparison as unfounded and not intellectual.
Firdaus also questioned the journalist’s line of inquiry, including the claim about how many Chinese Malaysians had been driven out of their homes by Malays and had their property unlawfully seized.
He further mocked the comparison by posing questions, including how many people from Gaza could plant durians on Israeli land for decades without paying taxes and without being acted against, and even resist Israeli authorities who tried to take land said to belong to the Israeli government.
Fernandez said FMT acknowledged the sensitivities contained in the journalist’s comments and the question posed.
He stressed that, as a responsible news organisation, FMT does not report such matters or condone such lines of questioning by its journalists.
FMT expressed regret over the distress caused to the speaker, organisers, attendees and Malaysians at large, and apologised for any inconvenience caused.
