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Which is the precise version ? Those managing editor, the chief-sub and bla bla bla are too independent on their own decisions or it just sounds that Pak Lah "Tak Dak Power?"

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Malaysian newspaper editors are not the same as those editors attached to New York Times, Asian Wall Steet Journal etc. etc. They are merely reporters who are found of licking the boots of the old fox.

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To art chan, justme, jasman in this blog...

The blog topic here is about Star's misplaced headline (?) and not about EPF.

Please repost your Conversations in this specific thread on EPF:
http://www.jeffooi.com/archives/001347.php

I will delete your postings - which are not relevant to this blog topic - soon.

methink this time compare to the 'penang hill cable plunge' fiasco, the phrase 'thinking stage' here is not used by the reporter/sub editor or whoever from the star. it came straight from the horse's mouth, i.e. EPF's chief executive officer datuk azlan zainol, who said: "The EPF would like to reassure its members that this review is at the
thinking stage and the status quo remains with regard to withdrawal schemes."
read bernama report:
EPF withdrawal review at thinking stage, says CEO

so i guess the reporter just picked up what EPF's CEO said re: the thinking stage... it did not come from him/her.

Sorry, I failed to point out the obvious, or the obvious didn't get noticed?

It's the headline. Should it be:

a) ... make their own decision

or

b) ... make own their decision

Version (b) is the one printed in Page 4 The Star (Klang Valley edition).

oh sorry, when i click on the star's report link, the headline that greeted me was "review only at the 'thinking stage' says EPF", so i assume you wants us to discuss on the 'thinking stage'.

anyway..... version (b) headline is definetely wrong.

Maybe when it comes to phrases like " Making your own decision", the MD, chief sub-eds,etc., suffer mental paralyses and hence the garbled line. Why, its been a long, long time since they practise it. Its like some rarely used Latin phrases.

That is what I call "make your jaws drops". It show some sign of havocs inside the star. On the way to the printing till the distribution, it is a suprise that nobody detect the error. A reprinting of the frontpage is not impossible, except it involve some cost and resources. Even a leaflet should help solve the problem.

Somebody must have seen the error, except
i. thestar staff are so used to "mind your own business"
ii. staff of thestar don't bother to read their own paper.

LAZY, SHODDY JOURNALISM. A sign of the malady and malaise that grips this country.

you wanna know what I think of the Star's English?

it ain't even American!

Mr Jeff ooi

Ok, it was a silly mistake that needs to be pointed out. You did the right thing, but you should look at your own writings....there are mistakes as well. for example it is not nib in the bud, it's nip. nib refers to the point of anything eg bird's beak, a pen.

More?

The `blog` does not have office boys, editor(S), sub-editor(S), copy readers etc.
I`m glad there`s a mistake here and there. Proves you are human Jeff.
By similar token, the Media cannot be xcused. Heck they even charge us to read their rubbish.

hello guys, am i at the right place here? i think this blog is turning into an Oxford Center for Linguistic Studies.

let's put a stop on this paper chase, OK? mistake happens all the time, just live with it, ladies and gentlemen...

Quote :
"mistake happens all the time, just live with it, ladies and gentlemen..."

Hmmmm, sound like the talking of WMD in Iraq. Opps, your bank ATM show you only left with RM10.00. And the RM9999.99 that you bank in yesterday just vanished in the think air.

sayur...

Thanks sayur. My mistake. Corrected in due course. I failed my English again like I said.

Somebody told me The Star makes money for every copy it sells. I don't get a dime for each pageview my server presents ;-)

Thanks for the consoling words.

Another SMS-ed me, saying:

QUOTE: "Star is a listed company, with 32 years history. Jeff Ooi is a on-man-show, with barely one year history." END QUOTE.

Also true lah...

"Mistakes happens all the time..." thus we will let it happen ALL THE TIME. What kind of bleeding logic is that? Typical Star reader's logic? Mind boggles!

The Star will never improve its English. If you continue to buy it, stomach the mistakes.

The Star was NEVER noted for the dissemination of the English language. Even after taking a beating at the hands of The Star, The New Straits Times leads in that department.
As I have observed, it is only a matter of time before the advertising market get to know what is going on in the world of English language print journalism.
The pity is that The NST has been so prostituted - The Star is very close behind though! - that there is room for the shine of The Sun.
If only the guys running The Sun know how to capitalise on the situation, they would prove to be the winners of what to them is a welcome situation.
No, I will not advertise in The Star because ia tadak standard lah! Semua ia mahu ialah duit saja. Servis tadak! Tak percaya kah? Tengok macam mana ia ambek duit dari orang yang sudah ada kematian di keluarga dan mahu bagi orang tahu kematian itu!!! Sudah lah, The Star bukan lah surat khabar kita. Ia itu surat layang saja!!

What do you guys expect when The Star, despite making nearly a million ringgit a day pays some of its staff peanuts. Of course, these guys will behave like monkeys.
TOP GUYS PAY THEMSELVES WELL THOUGH

Maybe the clowns @ Star thought that Pak Lah was speaking like YODA?

Dr Strange Love ...
You're right. But who are the clowns at The Star? Not those who work hard at their job, but those who go around thinking that they are God.
These people at the top kill whatever talent there is to be found in The Star.
If you don't believe me, just ask around and confirm for yourself how many talents they have claimed in their ambition to climb to the top of the heap.
Audentes Fortuna Juvat ...
You are also right. The pay scale in The Star is terrible. The guys at the top make sure they pay themselves very well and those at the bottom are paid terribly.
They have a general manager who does not know what's going on half the time. But he is prepared to make unpopular decisions to make sure that peanuts are paid. Of course, The Star produce monkeys now.
Right now, they have to make "own" their decision.

Jeff yours are just fast typo mistakes in a fast blog, but the STAR was an UNforgiveable one - a bad and confusing example for readers trying to learn inkglish!

My malacca star is fine. it writes "LET CONTRIBUTORS MAKE OWN DECISION" maybe a typo.

We are bound to get typos when we write to blogs but for the Star there's no excuse to have typos appearing in the paper so often. A newspaper will
have a number of people to check on copy and proofs. If things slip through, then they must be:

1 Sleeping......2 Careless.......3 Plain lazy to check....4 monkeys pretending they are journalists

The Star's rank and file are not very well paid and most are young and still lack experience. The senior executives hardly get into the nitty gritty of things and they get fat salaries and other perks. They attend more meetings than they do actual work.

As you can see, the 'real work' is to attend meetings and plan for the future prosperity of the Star while the rank and file do the 'dirty
work'.

What do you expect when you have deadwood in their ranks. while Chun Wai and gang can go around buttering...., the reporters and subs are practising (M)english.

That type of blunder in the days of editors of the 70s would have been a naked public flogging.

But in this case, it is probably a "make don't know" attitude by those Datuks of Star.

Shame on You!!

Mr Sayur,

A "silly mistake" is grammatical error or misspelling on page 3 of the lifestyle section.

This frontpage headline error cannot be described as a silly mistake.

Do you think Malaysians have better english profeciency then Indons or Thais?
We may, but their main english daily most surely does not make elementary grammatical errors on front page headlines.

More mistakes in today's Star. From the article about the Noritta Samsudin murder:

“We cannot reveal anything about the DNA report or any other reports accept in court,” he added.

Don't know the difference between 'accept' and 'except'? Duh....

This is not a "silly mistake" to be forgiven. Haedline writing in a newspaper goes through "several hands" such as sub-editor, chief-subeditor, maybe Production or other senior editor. It is often a case of tidak-apa or lackadaisical attitude of the people involved.

In the more demanding newsrooms, commission of silly mistakes calls for a show-cause letter, especially owhere mistakes are of the grammatical or comprehension kind as a journalist's reason for being in this profession is his writing skills. But alas, many subs are just not up to the mark.

I spotted this in Sunday Star "Are there two halls too many?" of 14 Dec 2003. At issue are just two bodies -- SCAH (Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall) and KLCAH (Kuala Lumpur Chinese Assembly Hall"-- so the subs and chief-sub should be called up by the reporter to "show cause" for causing him'her grief for spoling the story with a wrong heading, through ignorance of English or "unthinking" on the job!

PAUSE ... Figure this one out if you can why ...Dear Watson, the answer is, here goes: the headline should be "Is there one (a) hall too many?" instead.

Chow! (as a parting greeting as well as Chewing on food for thought...)

Roger Dodger;

May be what he was trying to say that what ever not accepted by the courts such as rumors are not covered under OSA. So when the court throw out the DNA report then it would not be under OSA anymore and the media can publish the report verbatim. Hemmm..... I am waiting for this. Let see.... I see lines are forming for a copy of DNA report (-;

My copy of the Star carries the correct version of the headline: "...make their own decisions". How come??? Are there different editions of the Star? Anyone can enlighten me on this?

wow. how fun. let's play 'spot the mistake in the paper.

Why are we Malaysians so obsessed with flawless perfect English? We should not be enslaved by the language but shouild instead,try our best to use it as a tool to better ourselves in the fields of science and technology. Having worked with the Aussies for so many years, I have come to a conclusion that it quite impossible to get an average Aussie to write a paragraph without any mistakes. In fact some of the mistakes have become accepted uses in everyday life and if you have the time, why not read some of the on-line newspapes of Australia and you'll understand what I mean. Atan

atan

jolly good comment, old chap! have a g'day!