When the issue of the Petrof letter first hit the roof, Umno Youth called for people to voice out their opinions in the open rather than hiding behind pseudonyms like cowards.

Instead they were told to rebut criticism in an intellectual manner. It appears that they have taken up that challenge. First it was Umno Youth committee member Mohd Khir Toyo's letter o­n the Internal Security Act published in The Star, then followed by Umno Youth chief Hishammuddin Hussein o­nn's letter to the New Straits Times. Congratulations to them for going about it in the correct manner.

But let us not be distracted, as both letters are as convincing as o­ne who try to sell sand to the Bedouins or ice to Eskimos.

You see, I am not sure how many people actually knew about the existence of this offending Economist article before the 'hoo haa' by Umno. Now, Umno have ensured that people from within and without Malaysia are aware of the special report and may actually read or talk about it. This is just a repeat of the same that happened when the 'seditious' letter was published o­n malaysiakini.

Old habits die hard, and some may even argue that the spate of letters to the newspapers are merely a sign of jockeying for influence in Umno Youth.