It never should have happened. But it did, and the tragic death of fireman Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim will forever stain our conscience. Today, some nine months after he succumbed to injuries sustained at the Seafield Sri Maha Mariamman Temple riot, we will get the verdict from the inquest into his cause of death.
 
The coroner will determine if the 25-year-old was beaten by the mob outside the Subang Jaya temple last November, or if he was accidentally hit by an emergency response vehicle trying to escape said mob.

This case was emotionally charged right from the beginning, with concerns of a government cover-up, lawyer exits due to conflicts of interest, and conflicting theories put forth by forensic experts. One thing's for sure: we have a less than sneaky suspicion that whatever the coroner says, folks won't be happy. 
 
There’s the understandable anger that a young man, just a few months away from tying the knot, died in such a sad manner when he was just trying to do his job. But there are also those who've tried to turn this case into a racial issue and been baying for blood. No points for correctly guessing how they'd react if the coroner rules Adib's death was an accident.
 
Oh and Ummah, the NGO of anti-Icerd protest fame, is organising yet another rally outside the Shah Alam Court Complex today, where the findings will be announced.
 
Let's not forget - an inquest isn't a trial. It’s merely to determine the most likely cause of death. There is also the chance the coroner may deliver an open verdict if she cannot come to a conclusive decision; like what happened in the 2011 Teoh Beng Hock inquest. It’s up to the Attorney-General to determine if criminal charges should be filed.
 
Speaking of AGs, our Bilbo Baggins Tommy Thomas (the first AG in the world with an echo for a surname), is facing contempt proceedings over the inquest. This was filed by Adib’s dad in response to an affidavit filed by the AG's Chambers in April that seemed to imply Adib’s death wasn’t caused by injuries from the riot.
 
Whatever the outcome today, let’s not forget a family is still grieving. We can only hope Adib’s loved ones get some sense of closure.

If something is fake, it can’t be news. And it's news, it isn't fake. Call it a rumour, call it lies, call it propaganda, whatever. But calling it "fake news" is dangerous, because it discredits the news media industry on the whole and increase the trust deficit in the fourth estate - something we can't afford in today's world of cunning, strongman politicians. 

Had it not been for that election loss, Malaysians would have been victims of a draconian law taken straight out of the pages of an Orwellian nightmare. The Anti-Fake News Act, passed last year and due to be repealed soon, came with horrifying implications. In a nutshell, anything not verified by the government of the day would have been classified as "fake news" and been punishable with jail. Imagine that, in a nation ruled by a scandal plagued Najib Razak. Lim Kit Siang, for one, says the first person to be charged would have been Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

But here’s the problem – the AFN Act may be coming to the uncelebrated end of its short and nasty life, but the fact remains that "fake news" (yeah, we’ll use that term. Damn you, Donald) IS a problem. This is why Multimedia and Communications Minister Gobind Deo is trying to use October’s upcoming Parliamentary meeting to push for the formation of his mooted parliamentary select committee to stop the misuse of social media.

It’s great he wants to look at and adopt successful models from around the world. Europe is leading the charge, and even our neighbours like Thailand are moving to tackle this. But here are a few things this Pakatan government needs to also think about:

• News media outlets aren’t the biggest purveyors of fake news: Considering the volume of content they generate, the amount of false information they distribute is negligible in comparison. And when they do, it’s often in error rather than intentional. It’s people like this who are the malicious players that create fake news (go ahead and Google her name. You’d be amazed at where she is now).

• Fake news is an iceberg: We react to the publicly visible stuff on Facebook, Twitter and whatnot. But like an iceberg, 90% of this nonsense goes on outside the public eye, on social messaging apps like WhatsApp. And the biggest distributors are regular, innocent folk who just can’t tell the difference between what’s fake and what’s not. Which brings us to our next point.
   
• It’s about education, not just legislation: Laws and jail terms are all well and good, but it doesn’t help if people really don’t know how to tell if something is fake or not. What we need is public engagement and education – a better-informed public is the best defence against malicious players.
   
• Platforms need to take ownership: The Facebooks and Googles of the world need to be more accountable for what happens on their platforms – and it's up to our government to hold them accountable. Hiding behind the “we’re just a platform” excuse is just that – an excuse. From the Cambridge Analytica scandal to fake news on YouTube and Instagram to the weaponisation of Twitter in the wake of the Hong Kong protests, it's clear platforms aren't doing enough to police their own sites, despite what claim to do. Governments are the only ones who can make them do so - if the political will is there. 

Is it too late to put this genie back in the bottle? Maybe. But it doesn't mean we shouldn't try.

Another by-election and another round of political infighting. This time, in the opposition corner, it’s MCA versus Umno for the Johor parliamentary seat of Tanjung Piai, which became vacant due to the untimely death of Bersatu’s Mohamed Farid Md Rafik last Saturday. 
 
While MCA's big papa Wee Ka Siong says his party will abide by any joint-BN decision on candidacy, not all are happy. The party's Kapar division has declared it will exit the party if Umno fields a candidate.
 
But why the inter-BN bust-up? Well, before the political tsunami that was GE14, the seat "belonged" to MCA - and they have a strong claim to it too. Wee Jeck Seng, whom Farid defeated last year, was the two-term Tanjung Piai MP. AND Jeck Seng lost by just 524 votes! That’s a majority even flimsier than a Pakatan Harapan election promise. 
 
By all accounts, Jeck Seng’s a popular guy. He won the seat in GE13 with a large 5,400-vote majority despite the anti-MCA wave back then. Before him, the seat was held by then-MCA president and cabinet minister Ong Ka Ting.
 
But now, there’s speculation Umno could want in. Tanjung Piai is a marginal seat, with no clear one race-majority, as 57% and 42% of the nearly 54,000 voters comprise Malays and Chinese. So a win here will most definitely require a delicate balancing act. Umno would look to capitalise on its recent "wedding" to PAS, while hoping non-Muslim BN supporters will vote for the dacing, regardless who runs. Let's not forget the PAS factor - Farid would’ve lost GE14 if all of PAS’ 2,962 votes had gone to BN.
 
Things seem a little smoother in the Pakatan Harapan corner, thankfully. DAP head honcho Lim Guan Eng has already indicated his party will not look to contest.

So while the Election Commission deliberates on a likely poll date, it’ll be interesting to see how the Umno-PAS BN candidacy decision plays out. Either way, it's bound to be an election to watch.

Now the smoke is out of our eyes, here's some music for our ears. The government - at long last - is working on medium- and long-term solutions to the haze problem. Hallelujah, glory be!

Haze Minister Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Minister Yeo Bee Yin has promised to issue a statement soon, listing out measures the government will take. But it looks like one of the big things will be greater collaboration with state governments to tackle the problem. 

It's important we don't let up on the pressure to find a sustained solution to the haze, even if we can all gratefully gulp down fresh air now the skies have cleared.

One group that doesn't need to be told about pressure is Greenpeace. The NGO held a protest outside Wisma Genting yesterday, accusing its Indonesian subsidiary of being one of the worst culprits of the burning that's causing the haze. Greenpeace claims the company burnt 8,100 hectares of oil palm plantation land in Indonesia between 2015 and 2018.

The Indonesian government had previously named and shamed four other Malaysian companies, saying they were among those to blame for the problem. The companies, most of whom are denying the accusations, read like a Who's Who of Malaysian business: Sime Darby, IOI Corp (whose scion is, coincidentally, married to Yeo), TDM Bhd and Kepong Group.

Indonesia and NGOs aside, it's important for us regular voters citizens to also push our government to sort this shit out. And the best way to do that is by being well-informed about the issue. If there's one piece you need to read in order to know this better, it should be this analysis written by Dr Helena Varkkey, one of the region's foremost experts on transboundary haze. You're welcome.

Yes, we know we've given you a thesis-length newsletter today. Sorry about that. Here are a few more stories, but we promise we'll keep these short.
 

• Remember how Maddey initially promised he'd be PM for two years before handing Anwar the keys to Seri Perdana? Well, that then became three years. Now, he's fiddling with the timeline again, saying it'll be before the next elections, which means he could have three MORE years on top of the two he's already had. The only problem is that Anwar Ibrahim not too long ago announced he's gonna be taking over next year. Let's just throw them in a boxing ring and have them duke it out lah.
• Actor AR Badul is pissed the armed forces has classified his commando son's death during a training exercise as an accident. He's demanding an inquest into the tragedy.
• Huge public uproar has forced banks to axe fees for certain over-the-counter and cash deposit machine transactions.
• Mere hours after the IGP warned people against spreading rumours about a shooting in Penang, an Umno leader went ahead and did exactly that. The IGP talked tough - but will he now follow through on his fighting words?