Sarawak Report editor fumes over WSJ rip-off

Tan Wan-Peng Tan Wan-Peng Updated 5 years ago · Published on 27 Sep 2018 7:00AM · 8 Comments

SINCE 2015, Clare Rewcastle-Brown had kept silent as Wall Street Journal reporters shared her scoops on the scandal-hit 1Malaysia Development Bhd without crediting whistle-blower site Sarawak Report.

But her patience reached its limit this week as WSJ duo Tom Wright and Bradley Hope promoted Billion Dollar Whale, their book on the massive scandal, in Kuala Lumpur without as much as mentioning her work.

“This week, they (WSJ journalists) pushed it too far,” she told The Malaysian Insight.

The Sarawak Report editor said she had kept quiet because there was a “higher cause in mind” and she wanted everything on the financial scandal exposed without being sidetracked by the sideshows.

Rewcastle-Brown poured scorn on the book, saying she was the one who first broke the 1MDB scandal and gave the WSJ reporters her contacts.

In a lengthy post on Sarawak Report, she shared chapter 23 from her book, The Sarawak Report: The Inside Story of the 1MDB Expose, detailing exchanges between her, her sources, and WSJ reporters Wright and Simon Clarke.

The excerpt, said Rewcastle-Brown, challenged the Billion Dollar Whale authors’ claim that “insiders in the 1MDB investigation approached them”.

“I just wanted the truth to come out. Now, I’m moving on.”

Billion Dollar Whale details how Jho Low fooled banks and the world, but Clare Rewcastle-Brown says that is not the real story. – The Malaysian Insight pic by Najjua Zulkefli, 27 September, 2018.

She had also complained to WSJ editors and the Pulitzer Prize chair committee about its journalists lifting material on 1MDB and the main figures in the scandal without crediting her site.

WSJ journalists Wright, Hope, Simon Clarke, Mia Lamar and James Hookway were the 2016 Pulitzer Prize in International Reporting finalists for “masterful reporting that exposed corruption at the highest levels of a fragile democracy, leading to ‘Malaysia’s Watergate’”, but they lost out to The New York Times.

“Early last year (February 2017), I sent a letter to WSJ to complain, but they denied that they relied on Sarawak Report for their (1MDB) stories,” said Rewcastle-Brown.

Alleging that they “followed my blog like a stalker”, she also accused the WSJ reporters of “ripping off my stories, and my dear little researcher was getting furious”.

Sarawak Report would break a story, for example, on fugitive banker Low Taek Jho’s parties, and a few days later, WSJ would carry an “exclusive” report without crediting the site, she said.

Other Sarawak Report exclusives included PetroSaudi’s Venezuela deals.

“I’ve been putting up with this for three years. Enough is enough,” said Rewcastle-Brown.

Hundreds of people lining up to get a signed copy of Billion Dollar Whale, which was released in Malaysia on Tuesday. – The Malaysian Insight pic by Najjua Zulkefli, 27 September, 2018.

The lengthy post in Sarawak Report yesterday, she said, was to set the record straight and call out publicly the business daily’s “shameful behaviour”.

“I was naïve, I suppose. I have worked with The Guardian, Sunday Times, The Australian, Financial Times, and they all behaved like ladies and gentlemen.”

Billion Dollar Whale was released in Malaysia on Tuesday to much fanfare, with 200 hardcover and paperback copies sold out at Suria KLCC’s Kinokuniya bookstore.

“The premise of the book stinks. They are just trying to make Wolf of Wall Street 2 right? They made out that Jho Low is some clever guy who fooled the bankers.

“Jho Low is not a bright guy. He was the dumps. The letters are ridiculous. The real story is how a corrupt kleptocrat worked with the global banking system (to siphon off billions of dollars from 1MDB) and how the bankers got away scot-free,” said Rewcastle-Brown.

The Malaysian Insight has sent an email to Wright and is awaiting his response. – September 27, 2018.

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Comments

  • Clare...all of Malaysia will never forget the work you have done through SR. You were brave and despite the toxic regime hounding and discrediting you for years, your diligence and heart for Malaysians shines thru. It really doesn't matter to us about this book. Its you who kept us informed all these years and we know you were closer to the epicenter of this shenanigans then anyone else in the world. You caused the change in Malaysia and we will always be grateful. Thank you Claire.

    Posted 5 years ago by Alphonz Jayaraman · Reply

  • I bought Clare's book and am reading the other book as well. As I am reading it, I find myself getting whiffs of what Clare has said.

    Posted 5 years ago by Léon Moch · Reply

  • WSJ boys vs SR woman of steel. Indeed, its just not cricket. Lets see how the opportunistic American boys respond.

    Posted 5 years ago by Mahsuri Smiles · Reply

  • WSJ boys vs SR woman of steel. Indeed, its just not cricket. Lets see how the opportunistic American boys respond.

    Posted 5 years ago by Mahsuri Smiles · Reply

  • WSJ boys vs SR woman of steel. Indeed, its just not cricket. Lets see how the opportunistic American boys respond.

    Posted 5 years ago by Mahsuri Smiles · Reply

  • Once allies. Now, angry with each other? Fame and money can do bad things to us?

    Posted 5 years ago by Yoon Fatt Ng · Reply

  • Ah yes, Americans. They do love sensationalism, headline acts, book deals ... and of course, movie deals. But then again, theyre Hollywood. Why should they care ?

    Posted 5 years ago by Rock Hensem · Reply

  • Now that ppl are aware about WSJ etiquettes, we should all boycott the Bullion Dollor Whale book & intended up coming Hollywood style movie based on this rubbish book! Clare, we Malaysian are indebted to all your hard work in exposing 1MDB. Without you, Malaysia would have fallen deeper into the pit!

    Posted 5 years ago by Witzi Leong · Reply