Remember The Star Malaysia contributor plagiarism controversy which shocked many Malaysians back in 2012?
It caused a big brouhaha among the Malaysian Netizens.
Yes, this female contributor, a broadcasting and marketing personality (according to the byline as stated in the article) who was then a contributor to The Star Malaysia for her fortnightly column “Living The Moment“.
Remember she is no “light-weight” as some of you called her.
Have you check out her academic qualifications or her extensive working experience available online?
Don’t just shoot your mouth off about her.
Anyway, let’s find out more about The Star Malaysia contributor plagiarism allegations.
The Star Malaysia Contributor Plagiarism
As they say, the devil is in the detail.
Let’s take a closer look:
Her article titled “Buying your first home is a big step and can be exciting” which was published on Saturday August 25, 2012.
It was exposed online that her article was alleged plagiarized another article published by a British property web site, OurProperty.co.uk.
That original article titled “Buying an Apartment” under the byline of Hannah Shanks.
As you can see from the comparison, both pieces of articles are uncannily similar.
I think ‘similar‘ is not the appropriate word.
Many of you would call it a blatant cut and paste plagiarism.
The shocking fact is this:
Out of the 24 paragraphs in her article in The Star article, 17 paragraphs are obviously lifted verbatim from Hannah Shanks’ writing.
The Star newspaper nor this contributor cited the UK web site.
Be ready to be stunned as clearly revealed here.
Wait, there are more startling exposé, keep reading…
Note: The Star Malaysia contributor plagiarism stories are sourced from this site.
In fact, her earlier article had already shown hint of alleged plagiarism.
In order not to bore you, I only highlighted a few snippets of both articles, to show you the highly suspicious similarity.
Her article “Finding your perfect abode” published on Saturday, 21 April, 2012 in The Star newspaper.
It is said to have copied from the a Yahoo article, “How Not To Buy Your First Home: Seven Lessons I Had to Learn the Hard Way” by C. E. Wolfe in July 2010.
This is from her article published on April 2012:
…tired of throwing money down the rental pit…
However, when it comes to buying property, which is likely the biggest investment one will ever make, there can be a lot of catches. I don’t claim to be an expert: I am not a real estate agent nor a property consultant. All I can tell you is what I’ve learned from my experience as a first time homebuyer, and a few things that “I wish I had known then”.
Lesson 1: Timing, timing, timing. You won’t get it perfect
Realise that buying real estate costs money. There are closing costs on a loan, inspection fees, lawyer fees. When you a sell a house, it’s the same deal. Not to mention the moving costs. Buying a house really is a long term investment, so you’d better be sure you know what you want and that you can afford it, because you have to understand that your house may drop in value in the short term. If you plan to be there 10 years, then a short term drop in value due to the economy should not bother you. You should buy for other reasons than potential profit, because as a lot of people are finding out, that’s not a safe bet.
Once you’ve determined a truly comfortable price range, then look at properties only in that price range. Tell your real estate agent you are only willing to look in that price range. Do not tempt yourself by looking at anything above that price range (because like me, you’ll definitely like it!) If you cannot find something livable in that price range, then perhaps it is not the right time for you to buy. Perhaps the smart thing to do would be to wait a couple more years until you have a more sizeable down payment.
This is from C. E. Wolfe‘s article published on July 2010:
You’re tired of throwing money down the rental pit…
However, when it comes to buying property, which is likely the biggest investment you will ever make, there can be a lot of catches. I don’t claim to be an expert: I am not a realtor or a real estate attorney. All I can tell you is what I’ve learned from my experience as a first time homebuyer, and a few things that “I wish I had known then”.
Lesson 1: Timing, timing, timing. You won’t get it perfect
Realize that buying real estate costs money. A lot of money. There are closing costs on a mortgage, inspection fees, attorney fees. When you a sell a house, it’s the same deal, except you pay even more in realtor’s commissions. Not to mention the moving costs. Buying a house really is a long term investment, so you’d better be sure you know what you want and that you can afford it, because you have to understand that your house may drop in value in the short term. If you plan to be there 10 years, then a short tern drop in value due to the economy should not bother you. You should buy for other reasons than potential profit, because as a lot of people are finding out, that’s not a safe bet.
Once you’ve determined a truly comfortable price range, then look at properties only in that price range. Tell your realtor you are only willing to look in that price range. Do not tempt yourself by looking at anything above that price range (because you’ll like it!) If you cannot find something livable in that price range, then perhaps it is not the right time for you to buy. Perhaps the smart thing to do would be to wait a couple more years until you have a more sizeable down payment or have eliminated your current debt.
Well, what do you think?
If this is NOT a plagiarism, then what is?
Let’s dig deeper…
Another one of her article: “True friends are the ones who stand by you – no matter what” published on Saturday, June 26, 2010.
It is alleged to have copied from Professor Philip Lopate’s essay “Modern Friendships“, published in Columbia Forum, July/August 2009.
Again, I just highlighted a few snippets of both articles, to unveil the surprising similarity.
This is what Malaysian The Star columnist wrote:
Our first attempted friendships are within our immediate families. It is here that we practice the techniques of companionship, listening sympathetically and proving that we can be trusted, and learning the sort of kindness that we can expect in return.
Some view like-mindedness as both the precondition and product of friendship.
What attracts me to people and the conversations that I have with them is the give-and-take and the ability to widen one’s perspective with new and unfamiliar ideas, not necessarily thinking and believing the exact same thing.
This is what American professor Philip Lopate wrote:
Our first attempted friendships are within the family. It is here we practice the techniques of listening sympathetically and proving that we can be trusted, and learn the sort of kindness we can expect in return.
Some view like-mindedness as both the precondition and product of friendship.
What attracts me to friends’ conversation is the give-and-take, not necessarily that we come out at the same point.
This Star newspaper contributor did not attribute to Philip Lopate.
What about this article?
Here is another article “Let’s not be hypocritical” published on Saturday November 19, 2011.
This is what she wrote:
The drive to keep up with the Joneses or even get ahead of them is probably rooted in the days when our place in the pecking order determined whether we had a full stomach, a quality spouse, and a good chance at survival and living to an old age.
But this instinct doesn’t explain why people leave claw marks on their fellow humans or have two faces, even to their own disadvantage.
Extreme ladder-scaling may stem from a combination of low self-esteem, envy and self-comparison.
But things may not always be so ruthless.
This is what Jill Coody Smits wrote in “Field Guide to the Social Climber“, published in July 3, 2011 in Phychology Today:
The drive to get ahead of the Joneses is rooted in the days when our place in the pecking order determined whether we had a full belly, a quality mate, and a shot at living to old age. But basic instinct doesn’t explain why some leave claw marks on their fellow humans in a relentless clamber to the top, even to their own detriment.
Extreme ladder-scaling may stem from a combo of low self-esteem, psychopathology, and an extreme tendency toward self-comparison. America’s rags-to-riches motif may also spur climbing, but not necessarily of the ruthless variety.
Finally there is this article from her same column “Live The Moment“.
The article titled “Resumes should be simple, bold and professional” published on Saturday, 15 Jan 2011.
This was what The Star columnist wrote:
I’ve helped conduct searches for new blood in the past few years and among the sea of resumes belonging to fresh graduates, around 15% would be good, quality ones. However, kicking off my search again last month made me ruminate about some pretty hilarious resumes.
Here are some examples, with details omitted for anonymity:
“I took a break from work in 2009 to renovate my horse”
“I performed service for old man to check if he still alive or not”
“My hobbies is enjoy cooking Chinese and Koreans”
And this is what is found in: “150 Funniest Resume Mistakes, Bloopers and Blunders Ever“, November 25, 2007.
From Resume Hell:
“Career break in 1999 to renovate my horse”
“Service for old man to check they are still alive or not.”
Hobbies: “enjoy cooking Chinese and Italians”
All this time, The Star, the most read English newspaper and online site in Malaysia did not utter a word of explanation over the allegations of her plagiarism.
When all is said and done, this is what I have to say:
I think The Star should start including this disclaimer to all its articles: Any resemblance to any other written work is purely coincidental.
I kid you not.
I am sure the female columnist knew by copying someone’s work would be a problem eventually.
Curses, like chickens, come home to roost, so they say.
Probably to this The Star columnist, it was not an egregious error or unethical.
Interestingly, this is what she posted in her Facebook:
In regards to the whole situation of unsettling allegations, I would like to make an apology; something that I think is well overdue. It was an oversight that the sources were not cited within the article and this was never an intention by me or anyone involved. I’m glad that I am now able to come out and say this and I thank you for hearing me out.
First, she called it allegations.
Rather than admitting she made a mistake, she defended the whole incident as not an “intention“, but an “oversight” for not citing the sources in all her articles in The Star newspaper.
Unfortunately, most Malaysians sighted her writings and were discussing them all over the blogosphere.
Over times, no doubt many of these online article links have been removed.
But as they say: what happens online, stays online!
With a little help from The Wayback Machine, it can bring you all the way back to where it all had happened.
Remember, this The Star contributor plagiarism allegations is not the only case in Malaysia.
Malaysians are notorious for plagiarism, especially in the institutions of higher learning in Malaysia.
Plagiarism is common among students in both public and private universities.
It is committed not only by students, but by academic staff as well.
Back in 2009, two Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) lecturers were found for plagiarizing materials from the Internet to produce a guide book.
Well, to avoid all these plagiarism problems, get hold of this book “Teaching to Avoid Plagiarism: How to Promote Good Source Use” by Diane Pecorari.
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