BUTTERWORTH: A reporter said yesterday he wrote a article on PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu allegedly calling communist Ahmad Indera, who led the bloody 1950 attack on policemen in Bukit Kepong, a national hero based on a video recording.

Utusan Malaysia journalist Mohd Asron Mustapha told the Sessions Court here that the video was sent to him in Kuala Lumpur.

“I got the copy of the video recording of the ceramah from an Utusan reader,” he said.

The Kuala Lumpur-based journalist said he watched the whole video of Mohamad’s ceramah and contacted his colleague in Penang to check on the ceramah.

“After I verified that the ceramah had taken place, I processed the recording and wrote the news report,” said the 32-year-old journalist.

His news report titled “Mohamad Sabu hina pejuang, anggap pengganas komunis hero sebenar Bukit Kepong” (Mohamad Sabu insults heroes, regards communist terrorist as true hero of Bukit Kepong) was published on Aug 27, 2011.

Mohd Asron, who was questioned by deputy public prosecutor Yusaini Amer Abd Karim, also told the court how news stories written by reporters were edited and given headings, and how editors chose the page on which to run them.

Mohamad, 59, popularly known as Mat Sabu, was charged with defaming policemen killed in a communist attack at the Bukit Kepong police station in Johor in 1950.

He allegedly made the remark during his speech in Tasik Gelugor, Penang, on Aug 21, 2011, saying the communists led by Ahmad Indera, better known as Mat Indera, were the true independence fighters in the Bukit Kepong incident which saw 25 policemen and their family members killed.

During cross-examination by Mohamad’s lawyer, Mohamad Hanipa Maidin, Mohd Asron was asked why he reported in the second paragraph of his article that Mohamad had said: “Mat Indera, a Malay man who was in cahoots with Goh Peng Tun, and 200 communists were the real heroes, not the 25 policemen and their families who defended themselves in the attack on the police station.”

“You wrote ‘menurutnya’ (according to him) but Mohamad never said that in his ceramah. You added that yourself. Do you agree?” Hanipa asked.

Mohd Asron confirmed that he had written the paragraph, and Mohamad Hanipa then asked if he had been trained as a journalist not to write what the newsmaker did not say.

“I was not trained like that,” the journalist said.

The hearing continues. — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on September 23, 2014.