The Price Of Overdoing It

The lovely Miss Zara Salim Davidson, soon to be Raja Puan Besar Perak. This picture was officially released by the palace. Have to tell you, this is definitely a much, much better picture than the one published by Utusan and Kosmo yesterday.

Why am I not suprised? I guess everyone especially those in the media fraternity saw it coming. I bet even Utusan Malaysia and Kosmo! newspaper saw it coming, them being the culprit of this mess. Aku dah agak dah. I'm talking about Utusan Malaysia's and Kosmo!'s bold move to jump the gun and reveal the identity of Raja Dr. Nazrin Shah's bride-to-be, Miss Zara Salim Davidson, complete with an undated photo on the front pages of both paper's edition yesterday. This, despite the request from the Sultan of Perak's office for all media to wait for official statements from the palace which would be released in stages. And of course, the palace is very upset now with Utusan and Kosmo. Isk, isk, shame on you Utusan and Kosmo for sidelining protocol.

I know the real intention of Utusan and Kosmo actually. It's all because of circulation and readership. In their quest to beat their rivals - Berita Harian and Harian Metro respectively, they over did it. All newspapers, including the English ones - New Straits Times, The Star and The Sun, respected the palace's request by not mentioning Zara's name and not publishing any picture. In the first place, I wonder where on earth Utusan and Kosmo obtained Zara's picture which was obviously taken in the 1980s or early 1990s. You can tell by the Julia Rais hairstyle and make-up.

Anyway, I doubt it if Utusan and Kosmo would be penalised for this. They usually get away with it. Besides, the palace knows that they need Utusan's and Kosmo's support for future publicity of the Perak royal family. In a way, I guess Utusan's and Kosmo's gamble will pay off. To the editors there, to get a shelling from the palace is such a small price to pay for the highest circulation and readership yesterday. Obviously, Utusan and Kosmo were selling like hotcakes at the newstands nationwide yesterday because of Zara's front page picture. I totally understand the move made by the papers' editors because I was also a former journalist. Sensationalization of news definitely sells. Now that is something palace officials will never, never understand.

Oh by the way, I have some minor corrections to make regarding Raja Dr. Nazrin Shah's and Zara Davidson's profile. Raja Nazrin was actually born in Penang. Thanks to my friend Realnews for pointing that out. And Zara is not a lawyer, she's a chemical engineer. Hehe. Ampuan tuanku beribu-ribu ampun, sembah patik harap diampun. And I guess I was also wrong when I said that both of them knew each other during their PETRONAS days. That is highly unlikely because Raja Nazrin was in PETRONAS during the early 80s while Zara only joined the national oil company in 1995. Again, apologies to Tuanku and Miss Zara.

Whatever it is, Zara also has an impressive CV. Top of her class at Nottingham University, former Perak state swimmer and top-notch executive at PETRONAS who was part of the team responsible for setting up the national oil company's Kertih and Kuantan integrated petrochemical complexes. She left PETRONAS in 2001 to join Formis before seting up her own oil and gas exploration consultancy company.

To my friends at Utusan Malaysia and Kosmo, please be more careful and tactful in your subsequent stories about Raja Nazrin's and Zara's wedding. The Perak royal family deserves some form of respect from all of us, okay? No point in trying to scoop one another. There's plenty of meat to chew for everyone in the Malaysian media fraternity.

Daulat Tuanku!