At first I was ignorant about the foreign minister being upset with the remarks by New Straits Times journalist Shamsul Akmar in his weekly column. I never take the time to listen to whatever Syed Hamid Albar says unless I am in the need of some amusement. After all, Syed Hamid is well known for his shallow remarks o­n the Singapore water issue and also the shameful Palm Court incident.

It was o­nly upon reading Tai Lo Chin's letter that I decided to read Shamsul's column.

Firstly, I have to take my hats off for people like Shamsul who have the courage to be in the middle of a chaotic and dangerous situation just to give us the real news in Iraq. Well done, Shamsul and the rest of our journalists there.

I must say that even though Tai has been very balanced in his views, I tend to look at things from the reporters' point of view. o­nly the person who has been there will understand what it takes to be in the frontline. And when an unfortunate situation such as the kidnaping occurred, they would at least expect the government to pass o­n the correct information to the public.

When I read Shamsul's column, I see his frustration with how our foreign minister was quick to make statements while it is people like Shamsul who are taking the heat in Iraq.

From Shamsul's column, I can o­nly conclude that the journalists were not consulted before Syed Hamid made his statement. So it the journalist's right to say what he feels. Since none of the foreign ministry staff were in Iraq, it would have been proper for Syed Hamid to get his facts right before jumping the gun.

At the end of the day, Shamsul, my advice is that you should not take Syed Hamid seriously. He is just another 'loose-mouthed' minister, sadly in the political frontline representing Malaysia which, at the end of the day as you mentioned, should at best be humoured.

Even though it took guts for Shamsul to publish something like this, the dark rope of the Internal Security Act may not be too far away from him since that is the o­nly way the government puts the 'straying minds' in order.