Malaysian Information Minister, Zainuddin Maidin loses it on Al Jazeera interview

Update: Oh wait. Kenny Sia did a transcript of this brilliant interview, so that we can better understand the minister's words. This reminds me of a quote by Mark Twain: "It is better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt."


Malaysia recently saw the Bersih protest rally, where 40,000 protesters massed outside Istana Negara, facing off riot police in defiance of a government ban on the rally, calling for clean and fair elections.

This is their Information Minister, Zainuddin Maidin, in an interview with Al Jazeera.

I think they should have provided subtitles. Or something to help make sense of his angry incoherence. Maybe some media training would be good too.

My friend's mom was among the 40,000 and she said the rally was not even anything resembling the "riot" the Malaysian media and minister made it out to be.

Here is The Star's report on Zam's response to Al Jazeera's coverage of the rally: Zam slams Al Jazeera’s coverage. Funny how he comes across way more coherent in the news report compared to the actual footage.

Also interesting, The Star reports the numbers at 4000, according to the Inspector-General of Police: Teargas and water cannons used on illegal assembly, 245 held.

I read elsewhere that the numbers were 40,000, not 4,000. Easy to miss a zero or two, I guess, when you are busy firing water cannons and tear gas on protesters.

Also related, this Al Jazeera interview with Anwar.