Utusan Malaysia columnist Zaini Hassan is ‘on strike’ this week, on the heels of three police reports against him and the Malay-language daily which publishes his weekly column ‘Cuit’.

NONE In the space reserved for his typically scathing column is the headline Cuit 'mogok menulis' minggu ini (Cuit is on a writing strike this week), followed by a paragraph explaining his decision.

Ekoran pojok Cuit minggu lalu bertajuk ‘India di India, India di Malaysia’, tiga laporan polis telah dibuat ke atas kolumnis Zaini Hassan dan Utusan Malaysia, it reads

(As a result of last week’s column headlined ‘Indians in India and Indians in Malaysia’, three police reports have been lodged against columnist Zaini Hassan and Utusan Malaysia.)

The remaining space is filled with details of the three police reports lodged by:

  • MIC Youth member T Padmanathan on Dec 10 at the Sentul pilice station

  • Jelapang DAP service group on Dec 12 at the Jelapang police station

  • 15 Indian Malaysians on Dec 13 at the Klang district police headquarters.

There is also a caricature representing Zaini as a gagged writer - he sits at his work station with his hands and feet bound and mouth taped shut. The word tutup (shutdown) is pasted on the computer monitor.

Cuit roughly means ‘to poke’, and describes the action of prodding someone on the shoulder with a fingertip to get attention. It is also used to loosely mean ‘to tease’ someone.

NONE Zaini’s column often takes a stab at various issues and eminent personalities. Last week, it drew the ire of many, who reacted to the piece headlined Alkisah India di India dan India di Malaysia (Tales of Indians in India and Indians in Malaysia).

In it, he recalled his experience with ‘noisy’ Indians during a short visit to Hyderabab for the World’s Editors’ Conference.

He likened the ‘noisiness’ of the Indians there to the antics of Malaysians of Indian descent who hold positions of power in Parliament and the Bar Council, among others.

Readers show support

Zaini, however, appears to have garnered support from certain quarters, including Malaysiakini readers, who see nothing wrong with his rhetoric.

The Forum section of Utusan today also featured two letters from readers.

indians rights Shahabudeen Jalil, who claimed to be a DKK ( Darah Keturunan Keling or person of Indian descent), commented that Indian Malaysians should be thankful.

Mansor Puteh of Kuala Lumpur questioned the ruckus over the column and said the issue has been blown of proportion. He claimed that the content is based on facts and should not be the target of anger.

This is not the first time that Zaini, an editor with the Umno-owned daily, has courted trouble. He was involved in the azan (Muslim call to prayer) issue ,which saw Seputeh MP Teresa Kok arrested under the Internal Security Act.

Kok, a DAP parliamentarian and Selangor exco member, has sued Zaini and Utusan over the matter.