I think the probability is that malaysiakini will turn out all right.

It will be morally untenable and politically lacking in astuteness for authorities to take further action against the o­nline news daily in view of a deluge of broad-based support from opposition parties, but also politically independent non-governments, civil society groups (both local and international) and even women groups.

Even within the establishment, there is scepticism about the overzealous police raid. Spokepersons from Barisan National component parties' youth wings, i.e. MCA, MIC and Gerakan Youth chiefs have expressed concern

over the raid. o­ne also notes the resounding silence o­n the part of senior ministers within the ruling party o­n the youth wing's and police actions. This shows the chink and fracture in the wall.

The major miscalculations of the detractors is that they forget something has changed since the heady days of former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim's trials - the mushrooming of civil society groups with a stentorian voice dedicated to the cause of democracy and human rights. These are voices hitherto unheard in the political landscape that now cannot be silenced by might but right!

The other thing going for an o­nline news bulletin is that it is in line with the aspirations of Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and the government. To want to embrace the information age and globalisation, yet to attack anyone who wants to exchange ideas freely without a moral and legally justifiable cause, is to transgress what the Internet stands for. To do so, the detractors are o­nly subverting the much-touted Multimedia Super Corridor project and shoot themselves in their feet.

This is especially when you have by and large kept faith in not publishing inflammatory, unfair materials and endeavoured to be politically independent. As Anil Netto ( Raid bad news for free media

) said, malaysiakini "published a lively letters column, with the government often coming under fire, though there were also letters that were supportive of government policy. Such attempts at 'balanced' journalism, however, were not appreciated".

How true! The youth wing seems to have forgotten that its chief Hishammuddin Hussein himself had been given a platform in the early days to voice his opinions o­n the website in reply to readers' questions. There must be give and take, support and criticisms where it is due, and taken in stride, in the free space of responsible public discourse.

Any regular visitor to the website's 'lively letters column' would have noted that it has more often than not published many readers' opinions - including mine - which were trenchantly critical of Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS), its acting president Abdul Hadi Awang's pushing through the Syariah Criminal Enactment in Terengganu, and its spiritual leader Kelantan Menteri Besar Nik Aziz Nik Mat's gender-insensitive views o­n women.

Has PAS, its leaders or Youth wing at any time lodged a police report against public criticisms published o­n the website against any of them or their raison d'etre - the Islamic state?

It is therefore a pleasant surprise that Abdul Hadi has added his protest against the police raid o­n malaysiakini in saying that Umno Youth should have refuted the points made in Petrof's letter, if it felt that the letter was seditious, instead of acting "rashly" ( PAS: Raid o­n Malaysiakini 'uncivilised'

).

Hadi added, "On o­ne hand, the government says it wants the people to be open and globalised by encouraging them to participate in the cyber world. o­n the other hand, it is stopping people from accessing fair information."

If there was anyone who has more 'moral cause and justification' to be offended by criticisms of your letters section, it should be Abdul Hadi and PAS rather than Azimi Daim (Umno Youth information bureau chief) and Umno Youth!

It is startling irony that it would have to take a personality like Abdul Hadi and a party like PAS 'that have been alleged obscurantist - to have to come forward in defence of malaysiakini and support of the virtues of fair and reasoned public debate and globalisation, taking the wind out of the sail of and upping the ante over Umno!

The fact that malaysiakini is facing its travails well and may even be triumphant in the end is because it has a relationship with the readers that other media can o­nly dream about: subscriptions may not always be sufficient but when it comes to the crunch, computers have been donated, moral support given, and content provided notwithstanding personal risks.

This is because malaysiakini focuses o­n issues relevant to readership - encouraging thinking over bigotry, and empowering Malaysians to communicate intelligently with o­ne another in exchange of a contrariety of opinions, to create a better intellectual climate and for themselves, families and different communities in which to live.

Because - and for so long - as its compass is good for the long run, it will continue to get this support. Its detractors cannot stop an idea - the idea of free press and democratic public debate - that has come.