DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang is without a doubt the most divisive figure in Malaysian political history. For some, he is a symbol of hope and the very embodiment of Malaysia Baru. For others, Kit Siang is the damned devil himself.

Yet, even the most hardcore of DAP supporters would be perplexed by the latest controversy shrouding over the 80-year-old Iskandar Puteri MP.

On July 5, in response to a Facebook post by PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, Lim released a statement that has since been called “blasphemous” and seditious by the latter’s slew of detractors. Even the home minister chipped in and said police would be investigating “Laoda” for his remarks.

The following day, Lim retracted the statement and duly apologised after realising that he had misunderstood the meaning of the term “Kerajaan Allah” or “Allah’s government” as asserted by Hadi.

Was the apology sincere or just an exercise in damage control?

Well, just like the rakyat’s perception of the DAP veteran, the answer varies, depending on which side one sits in the political divide.

In his apology statement, Lim clarified that he was under the assumption that “Allah’s government” in a Free Malaysia Today (FMT) report attributed to Hadi’s referring of “Kerajaan Islam” or “Islamic government”, which the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government has previously claimed itself to be. A “Malay-Muslim government” to be precise.

Lim said: “As a response, I issued a statement which questioned Hadi’s reported statement, with the understanding that Hadi Awang is saying that only a ‘Kerajaan Islam’ such as the PN government can deal with the Covid-19 pandemic.”

In actuality, what Hadi meant by “Kerajaan Allah” in his Facebook post is not a government at all, but instead referring to God himself.

So, how did Lim confuse “God’s kingdom” with “Islamic government”?

Well, the DAP veteran said he wrote the retracted statement based on an FMT report titled “Covid is a test from God, only Allah’s govt can overcome it, says Hadi”.

A quick Google search shows that there is no such report by FMT; or more accurately, not anymore.

You see, FMT has edited the said report and changed its headline to “Covid is test from God, only Allah can overcome it, says Hadi” instead. While almost similar with its original title, the two have completely different meanings.

Furthermore, if you were to see the cached version of the original FMT report via the internet archive – a digital library of internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form – side by side with the report’s current iteration, you can understand how Lim got the assumption that Hadi meant “Kerajaan Islam” as a reference to “Islamic government” because FMT propagated the assumption as something factual!

The first paragraph of the original report is really telling in that regard:

“PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang has reiterated that the Covid-19 pandemic is a test from God and only an Islamic government can overcome the battle against the disease, although the leaders are humans.”

Clearly, FMT has misrepresented what Hadi said. Worse, FMT added the “although the leaders are humans” part in a botched translation of the post. Such lazy journalism has not only misled Lim but countless other Malaysians who shared and commented on the report without realising that it is a flawed representation of Hadi’s words.

Of course, a leader of Lim’s stature should have double-checked what Hadi actually meant before issuing a statement in response.

By the looks of things, Lim is set to pay the price for failing to meet the high standards he and the rest of Malaysia have put upon him.

However, isn’t it time for us to put similar high standards on our media organisations as well?

Mind you, FMT is not one of the random “new age media” sites that are currently growing like mushrooms in Malaysia which do nothing but regurgitate others’ contents and survive on clickbait articles. On the contrary, FMT is a well-respected independent media organisation that is ranked the 14th most trusted news media brand in our country early this year.

Yet, their handling of this whole matter is downright disappointing. Lazy journalism by putting the writer’s own assumption without proper checking is one thing, but the lack of transparency by quietly “fixing” its errors is utterly irresponsible.

Not only did FMT fail to put a remark in the report that it has updated its contents and apologise for the error but it also never bothered to update the caption on its various social media postings of the article to make it known that its contents have been edited.

What FMT did was only updating the article, debugging its URL and pressing “refresh share attachment” on Facebook.

Where is the apology for misrepresenting Hadi’s words?

Shouldn’t it also take a sliver of responsibility for the fallout that Lim has received?

After all, isn’t it its “divine distortion” that arguably caused this mess in the first place? – July 7, 2021.

* Saiful Ridzaimi is a Malaysian political observer.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.