Free and footloose: Xi arriving at the Great Hall of the People on the eve of the Chinese National Day in Beijing, a few days after the many rumours and even some news reports of him being put under house arrest. – Reuters

MOST of us have become accustomed to reading fake news, especially on social media. These often have detrimental consequences when users accept such misinformation without verifying the content or lack the means to check if they are true.

Rumours have thrived on social media platforms for long, but last week, mainstream media resorted to the same despicable act when it reported the purported house arrest of Chinese president Xi Jinping.

It wasn’t news. It was a tale.

It was perhaps a case of wishful thinking by some anti-China media outlets, notably from Taiwan and India.

Western media like the CNN and BBC, which have been antagonistic towards China, were responsible enough to ignore this unverified claim.

Mainstream traditional media, especially old-fashioned newspapers, have always been the main source for verifying rumours that spread on social media. Journalists there are trained and have honed their skills to check and re-check the facts.

In this case, though, some mainstream media unashamedly joined in the frenzy to perpetuate the wild talk.

The rumour claimed that Xi had been arrested by the military, removed as the head of China’s People’s Liberation Army, and added that flights in Beijing airport had been cancelled and tanks were rolling on the streets.

A retired Malaysian journalist first alerted me about the rumour and asked me to check with my China contacts in the media and diplomatic circles.

I asked where he had read this, and he said: “Epoch Times.” That was an immediate red flag. The Epoch Times is a right-wing, anti-China media organisation based in Washington DC and funded by Falun Gong.

Falun Gong is a hugely followed religious movement but is banned by the Malaysian government. It’s also known for staging protests outside Chinese embassies worldwide.

Epoch Times’ matching opponent must be China’s Global Times, with its nationalistic pro-Communist views, using strong rhetorical language in its coverage.

According to veteran Hong Kong-based journalist Nury Vittachi, the red faces in the media included those in the Australian edition of The Spectator, a British magazine.

“Where there’s smoke there’s fire, as they say, and there is a column of smoke – the likes of which haven’t been seen since July 64 AD – pouring out of Beijing,” it reported.

July 64 AD was when Rome burned under Nero, and the magazine certainly would have hoped that Beijing was razed to the ground, too.

Vittachi wrote that “in India, it reached the list of top three biggest stories despite not containing a word of truth,” name checking Hindustan Times, Zee News, India Today, Daily News and Analysis. And this would surely include NDTV, a New-Delhi based television station.

Vittachi added “many versions included the information that there was no evidence for the story but omitted the fact that under the most basic rules of journalism, stories with zero evidence would normally not be considered printable.”

He traced the source of the tittle-tattle to a Falun Gong activist, Jennifer Zeng, and anti-China campaigners based in the US. There were even Twitter video postings depicting purported “big explosions”.

Strangely, no one bothered to check with Chinese state-owned broadcaster CCTV, as evidenced by a newsclip and video showing Xi Jinping at an exhibition on the milestones of the Communist Party of China at the Beijing Exhibition Hall.

He was at the venue on Sept 27 and the story in English was uploaded at 11.50pm by Xinhua news agency while CCTV put the news online, in Chinese, at about 7pm.

The frenzy about the alleged house arrest had been going on since Sept 24, yet most of these media outlets ignored his appearance at the exhibition, presumably to save their blushes. They pretended it didn’t happen.

The West, especially the US and UK, have long had a skew in their coverage of China, beginning with the Covid-19 virus, which was blamed on the Wuhan wet market, yet remains unproven. Some even said the virus was created in Chinese labs. That was followed by the “pro-democracy” protests in HK, which they claimed was “peaceful” despite the blatant attacks.

India, meanwhile, has a long acrimonious history with China, culminating in border clashes even. Although it prides itself as the world’s largest democracy, along with the US, the truth is it hasn’t competed with the economic progress and wealth of China.

Both sides are happy to run China down whenever opportunity knocks, and what better story than talk of Xi Jinping being arrested, never mind its veracity.

As the saying goes among some editors – never let the facts spoil the story.Even coverage of the Ukraine War by international news agencies has been lopsided. Unfortunately, though, the rest of the world’s media has no choice but to subscribe to these news agencies because they simply lack the means to send correspondents to war-torn areas.

So, what do most of us do? We refer to pro-Moscow news agency, Russia Today, but cautiously and objectively.

Luckily in Malaysia, we have access to RT, unlike in many European nations which only preach freedom of speech and the right to information.

THE US Federal Reserve has only one aim – to continue its jumbo interest hikes to curb inflation in that country even if it means the rest of the world suffers.

In short, we can all drop dead but it’s not their problem.

Bloomberg analyst Marcus Ashworth wrote a report which said the “cure may be worse than the ailment” in describing the interest hikes, the latest of which saw rates raised by another 0.75 percentage points, lifting the target range to 3%-3.25% – the highest level in almost 15 years.

It was aptly headlined “Jerome Powell to the rest of the world: Drop dead.” Powell is the chairman of the Federal Reserve. One thing is certain – the Fed is going to raise interest rates again. The US will do so because it wants Americans to cut spending and save more.

The US central bank is carrying out this action at what has been described as “a pace and magnitude unprecedented for nearly three decades.” The talk is that the rate will be raised further in autumn.

It means it will become costlier for Americans to take out a mortgage for a house, loan for a business or borrow money for a student loan. The hope is that consumers and businesses will borrow less and spend less.

With that, the Fed hopes the US economy will cool down and recover as US inflation hits a 40-year high.

With inflation hitting 9.1% in July and hovering at around 8.5% since, the American economy is in serious trouble.

By increasing interest rates, the Fed hopes for some respite but it also means the rest of the world has to suffer because the US dollar is tied with other currencies.

Malaysia is not spared. Like other economies, it will see more financial misery and more hardship as the cost of living shoots up.

The rate rises in the US will contribute to higher inflation and currency devaluation – in simple terms, a weaker ringgit, for us.

The ringgit has already depreciated by 7.5% against the US dollar since the start of the year. But what many doomsayers are not pointing out is that the Japanese yen has slid by 19.2%, the lowest in 24 years.

Even the pound sterling has taken a beating, dropping 14.4%, the lowest in 37 years while the euro has weakened by 11.7%, the lowest in 20 years.

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), other currencies which have deteriorated include the Chinese yuan, Thai baht, Norwegian krone, Danish krone and New Zealand dollar – all more than 9% YTD (year-to-date) against the dollar.

Those not familiar with the impact of the rates rise have blamed the Malaysian government, implying incompetence.

The critics include politicians who probably understand better and are well-versed with economics. However, the general election is coming up, the silly season is here and guns have been drawn. As the saying goes, all is fair in war and in love.

The nationalistic Chinese media, Global Times, described the US action as “a sharp blade to cut the world” and that the hike in interest rate again as “the beginning of another nightmare.’’

It claimed that ‘’36 currencies around the world have lost at least one-tenth of their value this year” citing the Sri Lankan rupee and Argentine peso, which fell by more than 20% since the US dollar strengthened.

The ringgit, meanwhile, has risen by 14.2% against the yen, 8.2% versus the pound and 4.5% vis-à-vis the euro.

So, with the drop in the value of the ringgit, has Malaysia done that badly? Well, we could do better but we are not really in the dumps.

Malaysia is not in a financial crisis. Our government leaders including Finance Minister Datuk Tengku Zafrul Aziz are saying it but some of us do not want to hear them out.

But according to former Treasury secretary-general Tan Sri Sheriff Kassim, a country is in crisis when the government defaults on its debts or when the banks and money changers don’t have enough foreign currency to meet the demand.

“When businesses can’t get bank loans, when people rush to banks to take all their money out before it’s too late (that’s when a nation is in crisis),’’ he said.

Sheriff, a co-founder of the highly respected Group of 25, which comprises influential Malays, said this has happened in Egypt, Greece, Lebanon and Sri Lanka – leading to the IMF coming in with a rescue package and imposing conditions such as reforms to cut inefficiencies, wastages and leakages in the government’s financial management.

“Malaysia does not need IMF or World Bank money, although we maintain the annual consultation process to benefit from their international experience on development and financial policies,’’ he said.

Without a doubt, Malaysia needs to improve on its revenue and cut down on populist spending. It’s not sustainable.

With the weakening of the ringgit, our imports will become more expensive, especially food. While we can blame the US for our weak ringgit, we cannot just sit still. Bank Negara has to put up a strong strategy to defend our ringgit.

On the plus side, Malaysia’s gross domestic product (GDP) has grown for three consecutive quarters. The GDP grew by 3.6% in the fourth quarter of 2021, 5% in the first quarter of 2022 and 8.9% in the second quarter.

Our inflation rate is around 2.8% which is among the lowest in Asean but that is because many of our essential items are subsidised, with a hefty RM80bil bill.

There are Malaysians who are cynical about the figure, but they should know that we have held on well, especially on fuel.

There is a trust and confidence deficit in Malaysia. Malaysians are the worst critics of our country. Not everything is hunky dory, and we have valid reasons to be angry about the level of corruption and the utter inadequacies of our politicians. But Malaysia hasn’t fared that badly.

The irony is that as the US economy becomes sick, it is the rest of the world that has to swallow the bitter medicine.

THERE must be consistency. When the Sultan of Selangor ordered state awards bestowed on former prime minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, to be revoked, Malaysians found out that they still had to address Najib by his title.

He may have lost his “Datuk” and “Datuk Seri” titles from Selangor, but he still has similar titles from many other states.

The same is true with Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor. Her title, too, was revoked by Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, but like Najib, she received awards elsewhere as well. In any case, if Najib keeps his title, Rosmah is also entitled to still use “Datin Seri” as his spouse.

Penang has also revoked Najib’s state award, which carries the title “Datuk Seri Utama”.

And before His Royal Highness issued the order last week, and before the Federal Court’s recent decision, Negri Sembilan had already revoked the Datuk Seri Utama title from Najib as far back as 2018. Najib was conferred the title of Datuk Seri Utama Negeri Sembilan or SPNS in 2005.

The palace also nullified the Darjah Seri Paduka Tuanku Ja’afar Yang Amat Terpuji (SPTJ) title it awarded Rosmah in 2006.

It remains to be seen if the other Rulers will follow Negri Sembilan and Selangor’s lead, but it’s not looking likely.

The Conference of Rulers or the respective Rulers need to standardise the practice concerning convicted recipients, to protect the sanctity and value of the awards they have conferred.

No one should be seen to receive preferential treatment or consideration because of his or her status, while those who have had their titles revoked may have committed lesser crimes.

It’s never easy to take away titles. There is great reluctance because no one wants to embarrass or hurt the other person, but the institution of the Rulers is far greater than face-saving exercises.

As it is, the perception of many ordinary Malaysians is that there are far too many titled people in this country.

It’s debatable if these recipients even contributed to some of the states from which they received their awards. Many are far too young to be called Datuk, seriously, and it makes a mockery of the entire awards system.

It has been reported a notorious gang of 60 hardened criminals had included four low-level politicians with the titles of Datuk and a Datuk Seri. They were reportedly from the Gang 360 Devan gang and then, there was also the leader of the notorious Gang 24 – a Datuk Seri – who was among 22 men held in other arrests. It’s a mystery whether these gang leaders had their titles withdrawn.

Selangor is an exception. For starters, Sultan Sharafuddin is known to be selective in conferring awards.

His annual honours list is short, and he doesn’t entertain any form of lobbying for such awards.

The Selangor state constitution states that only a maximum of 40 Datuk titles can be conferred each year. Most of the time, the Datuk titles awarded are far fewer than that.

HRH also imposed other strict conditions – including the minimum age of 45 – for a person to be conferred the state’s Datukship and to limit the number of recipients and protect the image and dignity of the awards.

There should also be no double standards in the revocation of awards to those convicted of crime even if it’s at the first level of the court.

If the appeals courts reverse their verdict, the awards can always be returned to the recipients.

A check with the records shows at least 11 personalities had their titles revoked and three others suspended by Selangor.

They include the late tycoon Tan Sri Eric Chia Eng Hock in 2006, following his conviction over the Perwaja Steel scandal.

Former Selangor mentri besar Dr Mohd Khir Toyo also had his Datuk Seri title, which came with the Keahlian Darjah Kebesaran Seri Paduka Mahkota Selangor (SPMS) First Class award, cancelled and revoked in 2015, after he was found guilty of corruption.

HRH also revoked PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s Seri Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah award in 2014.

The award, which carried the title Datuk Seri, was conferred upon Anwar in 1992 when he was deputy prime minister.

A media statement announcing the revocation said Anwar was stripped of the award for “repeatedly questioning the integrity of the Sultan in dealing with the Selangor mentri besar crisis, and also questioning other issues pertaining to Islam”.

The mentri besar crisis in question was the turn of events following the infamous Kajang Move, which saw then mentri besar, the late Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, ousted and replaced by Datuk Seri Muhamed Azmin Ali, who is currently the International Trade and Industry Minister.

The late Tan Sri Ting Pek Khiing, a prominent Sarawakian businessman, had his Datuk title revoked by the Sultan of Selangor in 2011 after the former was declared bankrupt.

Interestingly, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his wife, Toh Puan Dr Siti Hasmah Dr Ali, chose to return their titles on their own accord in 2017.

Many regarded it as a pre-emptive move as they expected their titles to be taken away.

Tuanku was incensed by derogatory remarks Dr Mahathir made against the Bugis community at the time.

The Royal Council of the Selangor Court had also called for a sedition probe on Dr Mahathir.

The biggest test of leadership – and that includes the royalty – is to make difficult but necessary and just decisions.