Rewcastle Brown to launch book on Sept 8

KUALA LUMPUR: The key figure behind investigative website Sarawak Report, Clare Rewcastle Brown (pic), will launch the book on her experiences in exposing corruption in Malaysia on Sept 8.

The book, also called Sarawak Report, will be officially unveiled in Malaysia and Britain.

The Sarawak-born Rewcastle Brown, 58, will be in Malaysia for the event at the Sheraton Hotel, Petaling Jaya, at 4pm on Saturday.

There is another book signing session in George Town, at the Penang Institute, on Sept 13 at 8pm.

The website, known for ground-breaking stories of corruption in Malaysia involving some of the country’s most powerful leaders, including its hard-hitting pieces on 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), was blocked by the Malaysian government in 2015.

It was not until the Pakatan Harapan wrested power from Barisan Nasional in the 14th General Election that the new government lifted the ban.

“I would say that this is the story behind the investigation into 1MDB told through my eyes. It has been a very exciting and significant few years for me with much to discover, and much of that, sadly, was shocking.

"I hope to communicate some of the adventures I went through to readers,” she said in a recent interview.

Rewcastle Brown, who lived in Malaysia for eight years before going to Britain to attend boarding school, worked for the BBC before becoming an independent investigative journalist.

She is the sister-in-law of former British prime minister Gordon Brown who wrote the foreword to her book.

“This is not just a story about Malaysia or failures by Malaysians. It is about global failure, corruption and many Malaysians were the victims of that, and the same thing is happening to other countries.

“So this is a message to people across the world that we need to bring law and order to globalisation to protect us from criminals with connections to power.

"That is why 1MDB is not just a story about Malaysia,” she said.