Abdullah's Islam Hadhari down to the drain

New Straits Times journalist Melissa Darlyne Chow, 23, was on duty covering the council meeting at the Penang Municipal Council when the CCTV operator in the control room had outraged her modesty by focussing the camera on her thighs.

The incident came to light after a fellow journalist spotted the images on the CCTV monitor in the control room. The camera had been focusing on the women’s thighs for more than 15 minutes, which later caused one of them to break down in tears after seeing her picture on the monitor.

Instead of ordering a full investigation on the matter, Penang Municipal Council's president Datuk Abu Bakar Hassan has said, "the CCTV incident would not have happened if the journalist’s attire was not sexy". The president blamed the sexual harassment on the victim.

Journalist Melissa Darlyne Chow, wearing the same clothes she had on during the council meeting, of which Abu Bakar had labelled as sexy

Abu Bakar had blamed the sexy attire of the female journalists as the cause of the cameras zooming in on their thighs instead of focusing on the council's proceedings.

So much for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's Islam Hadhari administration.