by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, in Petaling Jaya on Thursday, March 10, 1994:
Australian editors and journalists should cooperate to verify and identity the Malaysian politicians and MPs who had been receiving bribes from ASIS
It is reported in a local press today that the editor-in-chief of Sydney Sunday Telegraph, John Hardigan, has agreed in a telephone interview to co-operate with Malaysian police in their investigations into allegations that Malaysian politicians and MPs had taken bribes from Australian spies.
John Hardigan said:”There is nothing for us to hide and we will co-operate fully with the authorities. We do not intend to stand in the way.”
Hardigan added that he did not know how much help he and reporter Brad Crouch who wrote the report could be to the Malaysian police.
When contacted by telephone by a local daily, Crouch, the Canberra correspondent for Sydney Sunday Telegraph, said he had yet to decide if he would co-operate with the Malaysian police and that he had yet to be approached by the Malaysian or Australian Police.
The Australian editors and journalists are likely to uphold the scared canon of journalism of protecting their sources, and the editors and reporters and. Sydney Sunday Telegraph and Canberra Times arts not being asked to violate this sacred canon of journalism.
However, the editors and reporters of Sydney Sunday Telegraph and Canberra Times should co-operate with investigations on their reports that Malaysian politicians and MPs had accepted bribes from Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) until four years ago, not to reveal their sources but to establish the veracity of the allegations and to identify the Malaysian politicians and MPs who had accepted ASIS bribes.
Such investigations would get a boost if the sources of the Australian allegations are prepared themselves to cooperate to verify and identify the Malaysian politicians and MPs who had received ASIS bribes until four years ago.