Just moments after malaysiakini published a purportedly exclusive article at 10.18 this morning on the impending graft charges against three ministers and one chief minister, our office was inundated with telephone calls from both members of the public and politicians.

Many had eagerly wanted to know the identity of the four top politicians who were to be charged for corruption.

In their haste to get more details, they had failed to read a linked story to the main report which clearly stated that it was an April Fool's prank.

One of our journalists received an SMS message from a minister's aide asking about the four while another tried to speculate on the identity of the so-called 'Gang of Four'.

AG very upset

We also received a tip-off from journalists in other newspapers that Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail was furious when asked to comment on the 'exclusive story'.

He was reported to have said that the report was 'too much' and that he would be asking the police to investigate the matter.

We have been warned by the journalists concerned to expect another police raid.

We also heard that a tabloid had wanted to follow up on our April Fool's report without realising that it was a hoax.

On the other hand, some enjoyed the cynical humour of our April Fool's prank and expressed hope that the prime minister would actually keep his promise to clean out his administration of corruption.

"April Fool's aside, I am still hoping against hope that one day the PM will throw the book at them (the crooked politicians)," said Art Chan who wrote in to Jeff Ooi's Screenshots blog .

Who is Ralf Opilo?

Meanwhile, an 'Edmund' in another posting said: "After reading malaysiakini 's April Fool's joke, I was hoping that the Star's front-page news about the bus and taxi fares going up was also a joke but it is not. Inflation is hitting us, no?"

A few readers were able to unmask the clues that were littered in our report, particularly the quote by a fictional political analyst and his think tank.

They were quick to discover that Ralf Opilo is an anagram for April Fool and that the acronym of the Societal Hegemony and Advancement Movement is actually (a) 'sham'.

Malaysiakini' s aim in running the report was to generate public discussion on the issue of corruption and to remind Malaysians that nothing much has happened since Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi made his election promise to combat corruption in last year's general elections.

We have been responsible in running today's report as those who read the full report would immediately know that it was an April Fool's joke.