HOW a disgraced former lecturer like Murray Hunter got elevated to the status of human rights defender beats me. But that was the title bestowed on the Australian living in Hatyai by a motley group led by Aliran to try and help Hunter out of a legal mess he had brought upon himself.
Fortunately, Siamese law does not give a hoot about whether you’re called an HRD or you’re white. If you’re based in Thailand and you think it is safe to defame someone or something in Malaysia, you’re wrong.
Hunter knows this now (I had told him so in several postings on this blog but he was too cocky to listen). And so, after all his bravado about counter-suing the MCMC and challenging the system that neighbouring countries like Malaysia and Thailand have put in place to safeguard their interest and uphold their laws, Hunter wasted little time to get down on his knees (figuratively, of course) and go on record to say sorry to the MCMC, its chief commissioner Tan Sri Mohamed Salim Fatih Din, and a whole lot of people he had mentioned or slandered in the articles which he had to attach below.
Hunter has never had much good to write about Malaysia. Those he badmouthed in the four articles below included Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and the Malaysian media (something to note for the new Malaysian Media Council).
There are other articles on Malaysia, the government, the Bumi policies, and even the Royalty that he had written which convinced me he is not just obsessed with this country, he may have an axe to grind, too.
In any case, Hunter is yet another reminder that we who write on blogs, the Internet, social media do not exist in a vacuum. We are governed by laws and regulations, just like the journalists in the mainstream media are, and the onus is on us to ensure that we don’t cross the line.
Be humble, be fair.
Below is the public apology that Murray Hunter had to issue on Jan 13 to escape a total of 8 years in Thai prison and USD25k fine for defaming MCMC and Salim.
MCMC and I have discussed and reached an understanding via a Settlement Agreement. I acknowledge that my comments and articles about MCMC and its related persons can be read to be inaccurate, misleading and have led to misunderstandings. I therefore apologise and regret if such actions caused any damage to MCMC and/or related persons, and I hereby fully retract all such comments and articles in their entirety. The list of the said comments and articles in Schedule 2 and Schedule 3 of the Settlement Agreement with MCMC is attached herein. – January 17, 2026
This article was first published on Rocky Bru’s blog
Datuk Ahirudin Attan is the Executive Director of Big Boom Media that publishes Scoop.my