DINO RAIS.... ANAK RAIS YATIM.

The sun also rise

Today, The Malay Mail received a demand letter from lawyers Jasbeer, Nur and Lee. They represent their client, Dino Rais. Dino is the son of Minister of Information, Communications and Culture Dato’ Seri Utama Dr. Rais Yatim, Ph.D. It is for the article which appeared as front page of the oldest English newspaper in country on 22 October 2010.

The demand letter against The Malay Mail and NST dated 2 November 2010

RM 5 million plus a public apology, within 48 hours or else Dino Rais will sue

The story is about a report where Abdul Razak Mohd. Noor, Aishah Harun and Numix Engineering Sdn. Bhd. filed an injunction with Kuala Lumpur High Court against Desmond Looh, Magic Telecoms Sdn. Bhd. and Sejahtera Selalu Sdn. Bhd. The High Court set 18 Novemeber 2010 for the hearing of the injuction.

It was said that Dino’s name was mentioned in the affidavit presented in the injunction hearing.

Rais' son in telco civil suit

The fact remains that the ‘Paper That Cares’ reported about what happened earlier in the day. Dino was contacted and he was allowed to say his side of the story, where according to the news paper he denied involvement in the case and/or the said companies.

Excerpts from the story:

In an SMS response to The Malay Mail this morning regarding the mention of his name in the afidavit Dino said: “I don’t have anything to do with Razak. I was merely invited by Desmond (Looh) to advise him in terms of Malay write up and Malay social ethic since his Bahasa vocabulary is not that generous.

“Furthermore his partner (Abdul Razak) is Malay and I was only giving personal views regarding simple matters. I never touched on business dealings and I’ve never owned a telecommunications company as mentioned lately.

“Perhaps Razak is not happy with certain things hence he is claiming ‘names’ as a stepping stone to wrestle things his way.”

********

It is clear that The Malay Mail reported the story as is.

This episode of Dr. Rais lodging a Police report against the Malay Mail Editorial Adviser Datuk Ahirudin “Rocky” Attan on 12 October 2010 has now turned into an ugly corner. This is on top of the media attention, both mainstream and new, on the report lodged and the speed of the investigations. For a matter of fact, it also grabbed the attention of Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Mohd. Najib Tun Razak on the 18 October 2010.

The spin off from the episode is where a lot of attention was suddenly focused towards Dr Rais’s Ministry, which include the Minister’s Communication and Multimedia Commission. The Universal Service Provider (USP) Funds (that MCMC managed from the 6% of profits derived annually collected from telcos and service providers) was even raised in the current Dewan Rakyat sitting.

This morning, MCMC Chairman called mainstream and new media practitioners for a special briefing on the USP Funds.

We believe had Dr Rais did not lodge the Police report against Rocky and all the media circus that went about town for exactly a month since, the petition filed for the injunction would inadvertently went on without being noticed. This new twist into the already complicated episode will only escalate further into something politically viscous for Dr Rais, who has been in Government for the duration of thirty years (with the interegnumperiod between 1987-99, where he was in Opposition assuming the position of Deputy President of Parti Semangat 46 between 1988 till the party was dissolved in 1996).

Who ever is advising Dr Rais and son should really be questioned for their motive. First Dr. Rais was adduced to make a Police report gainst Rocky. Then Dr Rais instructed MCMC IO to ask Rocky and BigDog to “Meet for chat over tea” on 20 October, the day before the 61st UMNO Annual Assembly begins, which was seen as nothing else but blatant abuse of power.

Bloggers have asked either Dr Rais be sacked or dropped in the next Cabinet reshuffle. It is very sad to see Dr Rais to go away in this bad publicity, in this silly manner.

http://bigdogdotcom.wordpress.com