A SO-CALLED pro-Barisan Nasional news portal has not taken down an allegedly false article after being given three days to do so by the Sabah Council of Churches.

The council’s head, Anglican Bishop Melter Jiki Tais, also demanded an apology from the operator of the online news portal SabahKini2, to no avail.

“We have been trying to locate the office of the news portal to hand over a written complaint as well as a copy of my press statement but we could not find it,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Melter had previously said he would not hesitate to take legal action if the portal failed to comply with his demands within three days.

A check on the article at press time showed it was still accessible online.

The portal had, on Nov 22, published a report saying Melter had lambasted Parti Warisan Sabah president Shafie Apdal for politicising Christianity, a claim the bishop denied in a statement issued the same day.

The report went viral, triggering questions among social media users in Sabah over those running the news portal.

Some called the articles the work of “cybertroopers”, while news portal Borneo Today alleged SabahKini2 was “pro-BN”.

The portal’s domain contained no names, contact details or addresses of its operators or offices.

SabahKini, which also runs Sayang Sabah, denied it was the operator of the portal, while SabahTV group said it was unaware that its video was used in the news portal.

A SabahTV personnel told The Malaysian Insight that it did not operate or own SabahKini2.  

On whether Melter would take legal action to force the website to be shut down, he said: “I will wait for my lawyer’s advice with regard to my next course of action.” – November 25, 2017.