By KINIBIZ
Online business portal KiniBiz has been barred from attending the Prime Minister (PM) Mohd Najib Abdul Razak’s official opening of the Pengerang Independent Terminals this week in Johor.
“We have received last minute instructions from the PM’s office and apologise for the inconvenience,” a spokesman from public relations company Mint Media told KiniBiz in a phone conversation late yesterday, just three days before the event.
KiniBiz received a formal invitation about a week ago by the event organisers and had confirmed attendance for the event.
The Mint Media spokesman also explained that invitations to other online portals such as The Malaysian Insider, Malaysiakini, an unspecified Chinese blogger and Chinese language newspaper Oriental Daily have also been rescinded.
Today, KiniBiz received a phone call from Dialog Group explaining that the event organisers of the Pengerang terminal launch had decided to limit media invites at the last-minute due to logistical constraints.
When asked by KiniBiz, Dialog refused to deny or confirm that it had acted under instructions of the PM’s office but said that no online portals will be allowed to attend the event.
Subsequently, KiniBiz also received an email by Mint Media on the decision to revoke KiniBiz’s invitation.
“We represent Pengerang Independent Terminals Sdn Bhd (PITSB) – developer of the Pengerang Terminals, which will be officially opened by the PM on June 26 in Pengerang, Johor. We have been instructed by our client that due to acute space limitations on site and safety considerations, PITSB has now decided to cut back on media allowed to cover the event. Consequently, we regret to inform that only selected mainstream print and broadcast media will now be invited to cover the event. Under the circumstances, we will not be able to accommodate representatives of all other media, including KiniBiz,” said Mint Media in the email.
The PR company adds that it will extend the official press release and pictures of the Pengerang terminal launch to KiniBiz.
Pengerang Independent Terminals is a joint-venture between local oil & gas company Dialog Group, Royal Vopak of the Netherlands and the Johor state government.
The RM5 billion independent deep-water petroleum storage and terminal facility is being developed in phases over a 500-acre reclaimed coastal site in Tanjung Ayam and Tanjung Kapal in Pengerang. The PM is officiating the opening of Phase 1 of this development that has now been successfully commissioned.
Besides the PM, also scheduled to appear at the Pengerang terminal launch are Johor’s Menteri Besar (MB) Mohamed Khaled Nordin, executive chairman of PITSB and Dialog Ngau Boon Keat as well as Vopak chairman Eelco Hoekstra.
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