It seems that Malaysians are notorious for plagiarism. Remember, in 2012, the big plagiarism scandal by The Star columnist, Dawn Jeremiah.
She lifted a big portion from an article published by British property web site OurProperty.co.uk written by Hannah Shanks.
There are parts, where our Dawn Jeremiah copied word-for-word.
She did not make a link back to the original source and The Star also did not credit the UK web site.
It was taken down on September 4, 2012, but interestingly, the article is back on the star online page.
No explanation or apology over the whole shameful issue. You can read it over at: http://www.thestar.com.my/story.aspx/?file=%2f2012%2f8%2f25%2fcentral%2f11906219&sec=central
You can read more of this unpleasant incident by googling “Dawn Jeremiah scandal” or “Jeremiah Dawn plagiarism“.
Now there is this serious allegation of Malaysia’s government-owned national news agency Bernama violating copyright laws.
It was reported that Bernama “curi” (stolen) two stories from the Jakarta Globe newspaper.
It is about an election story which copied in verbatim by Bernama.
The original story published on Jakarta Globe website titled “In Closing Debate, Joko Promises Bureaucratic ‘Breakthrough,’ While Prabowo Strives for ‘A Dignified Nation.’”
The following day, Bernama published a similar article titled, “Joko Promises Bureaucratic ‘Breakthrough,’ While Prabowo Strives for ‘A Dignified Nation.’”
It only attributed one of the many quotes in the article to Jakarta Globe.
Bernama has the cheek to remove the names of Globe reporters Josua Gantan and Andrea Wijaya, and replaced the byline with someone called Elmi Rizal Alias.
It was reported that this is NOT the first time Bernama plagiarized Jakarta Globe.
Earlier, there was another article from the Globe titled: “Hatta Says Indonesia Should Take Advantage of Its ‘Demographic Bonus.’”
Malaysian news agency Bernama copied it published on its website with a different title: “Indonesia Should Take Advantage of Its ‘Demographic Bonus’ – Hatta.
Again, it just attributed one of the article’s many quotes to the Globe. And the original reporter’s name was replaced with Elmi Rizal Alias.
It was mentioned that the Globe tried to contact and seek clarification from Bernama. But so far, there is no comment from Malaysia news agency.
Oh yes, in 2012, it was reported that Bernama plagiarized an article published in Malaysiakini, written by Susan Lone about the late Karpal Singh’s remarks on DAP election policy.
Now it looks like Malaysia Bernama has nama busuk (bad name) for plagiarisiam. [source]