Saiful was not even registered as a member of the university’s Islamic Club

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"An Open Letter for New Straits Times(NST) –
Saiful was not even registered as a member of the university’s Islamic Club

I am writing in response to Regina Lee’s article (on NST) titled “Anwar accuser a 'genuine guy’“dated 2nd July 2008. The article quote a guy (Daniel) saying that Saiful Bukhari (the accuser in Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s sodomy case) had been active in the university’s Islamic club. On behalf of The University Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN) Islamic Studies Society (PPI), I would like to deny the statement made by Daniel. The statement is clearly a false statement and I belief it has created a confusion among those who read it.

Saiful had never been a member of the university’s Islamic Club which is PPI and had never been actively involved in the club’s activity. I have looked through the database of the club’s members and Saiful’s name is not there. I have also asked some of the former PPI’s leader to check whether Saiful had registered before. The answer turned out to be ‘no”. Saiful had never registered as a member nor had been actively involved in the club.

This has created confusion among some people especially those who read it and those who had been in PPI. We do not want them to get false information regarding what is happening in the country. Furthermore it also affects the good name of the club by involving the club in the sodomy case.

I am not saying Saiful is not a ‘genuine guy’ or Daniel was telling lie. Perhaps there is some misunderstanding involved. However, what more important is NST’s credibility is at stake here. People will start to question the ability of such a big mass media company like NST to deliver the right and true information. Soon people will doubt the news published on NST and stop buying NST newspapers. I see this as a threat for NST and we do not want that to happen.

Thus, I urged the editor of NST to make a statement correcting what has been told on the article for the benefits of both of us. Thank You for your cooperation.

Dzar-Abdullah Bin Amir
President,
UNITEN Islamic Studies Society (PPI)