Bridget said that BBC’s lawyers advised them not to proceed with the program as this would upset the Malaysian government and may even expose the BBC to legal action.
Bridget added that the questions they would delve into, which would be very sensitive in nature and critical of the government, would run foul of the Malaysian government.
The fact that the program would be accessible in Malaysia, said Bridget, makes this a problem for the BBC.
It looks like RPK is too hot even for HARDtalk and BBC said it is a rare occasion that they have had to drop a program.
HARDtalk is a BBC radio program that interviews newsmakers and personalities from across the globe on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0430 and 2330 on BBC World News and the BBC News channel. It is a flagship BBC television programme, consisting of in-depth half-hour one-on-one interviews.
HARDtalk, like what its name implies, asks the difficult questions and gets behind the stories that make the news - from international political leaders to entertainers; from corporate decision-makers to ordinary individuals facing huge challenges.
Launched in 1997, much of its worldwide fame is due to its global reach via BBC World. Until early 2005, the host was Tim Sebastian, whose famous, and sometimes controversial, style of tough questioning brought a huge world audience to the show.
The first episode of HARDtalk aired on the 31 March, 1997. The first ever guest on HARDtalk was the acclaimed British actor and film director, Richard Attenborough.
According to Wikipedia, "Since 2006, the show has been presented by Stephen Sackur, who was previously the BBC's correspondent in Washington and Brussels and who is an experienced interviewer who has grilled U.S. Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. He is occasionally replaced by several other well-known BBC presenters such as Zeinab Badawi, Jon Sopel, Lyse Doucet, Nisha Pillai and Noel Thompson.
Hardtalk has featured some of the best known personalities in the world, who have subjected themselves to Mr Sebastian's or Mr Sackur's grilling. Guests have included the Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, South African President Thabo Mbeki, and popular musician Boy George."
On 11th May, 2005 BBC, Hardtalk interviewed Anwar Ibrahim and you can read excerpts HERE. Nothing happened to BBC then and British-Malaysian ties were not jeopardized.
In a HardTalk programme first broadcast on Thursday 13 September 2007, Sarah Montague talked to Malaysian Foreign Minister Dato Seri Syed Hamid Albar.You can see excerpts over HERE.
On 22nd March 2008, BBC Hardtalk interviewed TDM over HERE. Again, nothing happened to BBC then and British-Malaysian ties were also not jeopardized.
Actually, it depends on how a skilled interviewer handles the whole interview but then again, we can see that other forces at work are truly powerful.
So does this mean that RPK is too hot for BBC to handle? Or does it mean that Britain cares more for other things than for freedom of speech?
1. rainstorm Obviously RPK has something to say that's detrimental to Najib's administration and BBC is too chicken shit to proceed with the program. Perhaps BBC should change their program to SOFTTALK !