Just as I thought progress has been made in the areas of free speech and expression in Malaysia, the raid o­n malaysiakini proved my assumptions wrong. Despite the exhortations by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad for Malaysians to gain more knowledge to compete in the international political and economic arena, the Umno Youth action has shown o­nce again that many Malaysians are far from heeding this call.

Instead of verbal or written counter arguments and rebuttals, they choose o­nce more to play the power card to silence dissenting opinions and thoughts.

Having been a student of psychology for the past five years, I o­nce heard a professor who said, "It is not what we say that will destroy a group, it is what we do not say that will break us."

Likewise in the development of a nation, it is often not the differences of opinion and emotions that will tear a nation apart, rather, it is the stifling and repression of these feelings that will eventually break the nation.

Granted, Petrof's letter may not have gone down well with some quarters but to launch a 10-member police raid o­n an entire organisation seems overly paranoid and excessive.

Ironically, it was not Petrof's letter which convinced me that Malaysia still has a long way to go in terms of being able to compete in the international community, it is the actions taken by the Umno Youth and the enforcement authority that reinforce this fact.