The letter was served on the Borneo Post Sdn Bhd and Borneo Post Online Sdn Bhd on June 26 through David Allan Sagah & Teng Advocates, giving the publishers seven days to reply to the letter.
Masing, who is also Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president, said they have seven days to offer an apology, failing which he will take further legal action.
Masing’s lawyer Allan Lao said so far there had been no response from both Borneo Post Sdn Bhd and Borneo Post Online Sdn Bhd.
“I have been advised by my lawyers that I have a good cause of action against the publishers for defamation.”
He said this in a press statement issued to reporters during a press conference attended by PRS deputy president Joseph Salang Gandum, Lao and several PRS Supreme Council leaders.
However, Masing was not at the press conference.
He said the preview blurb used by the Borneo Post Online was taken out of context and/or had misquoted his statement.
He said instead of reporting facts, the publisher chose to use a “preview blurb” which read “Should Sarawak use up all its reserves before the next state election?”
He claimed this had projected that he had proposed that the Sarawak state reserves be “used up” in its entirety before the next state election.
Masing has also clarified that his speech during the party’s dinner on June 17 had been misquoted and taken out of context, pointing out that he had never suggested to “use up all” state reserves before the next state election.
He said the “preview blurb” was purportedly in reference to a news report published by Borneo Post on June 19 this year concerning his speech delivered at a PRS dinner held on June 17 this year.
Masing said the “original preview blurb”, with the words “use up all”, was pinned to the publisher’s Facebook page/timeline to ensure maximum visibility and exposure to its Facebook visitors.
“I have tried to explain that the text of my speech was taken out of context.
“I offered a part of my speech text which serves as a structured guide for my speech for the night of June 17 to some members of the media who had interviewed me regarding the same matter.
“Consequently the ‘original preview blurb’ on the publisher’s Facebook page was amended to read ‘Should Sarawak use its RM31b reserve for developments before the next state election’ and the publisher had deleted the two words ‘up all’ which has changed the meaning totally,” said Masing.
Masing said on June 20, an article with the heading “Have the media misquoted Masing?” was also published, where he claimed that the publisher pointed out that he had deviated from his actual speech text and offered the readers an incomplete recording of only part of the speech that he made that night.
“Based on the recording offered by the publisher, I never mentioned nor suggested that the state government should ‘use up all’ its reserves.
“Based on the original voice recording that I have, the following crucial sentences of me saying “we have the money, but use that properly. Use the small project that has the greatest impact on our rural areas’ was conveniently absent from the publisher’s recording.
“The publisher acknowledged that ‘the reason why it changed the original preview blurb’ was because when the news broke, and subsequently public backlash ensued, they realised that many of their commenters were interpreting their preview blurb as a direct quote from me.
“I do not accept the publisher’s excuse that the ‘original preview blurb’ on its Facebook page was not attributed to me,” he said, adding that publishers continued to publish reactionary news articles on the subject.