Limbang

What have the people at the government news agency Bernama been smoking when they went to town with the story a few days ago, that the Brunei government has dropped its claim over the disputed territory of Limbang in Sarawak? I had thought then it was damned sporting of the Bruneians. I also believe the Borneo Post even went a bit further claiming that Sarawak chief minister Taib Mahmud also played a prominent role in the negotiations.

A senior Brunei minister has since refuted this, saying that the claims on Limbang were never discussed during the recent meeting between Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei and the Malaysian prime minister.

Today's the Sun frontpaged its headline "Red-faced over Limbang", here, and the news that foreign minister Rais Yatim is now doing damage control and making soothing noises over the fact that what we 'perceive' may not necessarily be the same as what they, the Bruneians believe. A simple matter of perception then, really, but irresponsible reporting can do a lot of harm to good relations between two very close neighbours.

After charges that many of us bloggers are indeed frauds and charlatans who shoot off our rabble-rousing mouths etc., etc., made by a pompous NST editorial some time ago (read my earlier blog "The Loony Fringe", here), what do we call this brand of journalism by government newspapers and agencies?