Jaya Prakash misses the whole point of veteran DAP MP Sim Kwang Yang's commentary and instead is beguiled by the recent celebration of malaysiakini's fifth anniversary .

In my humble opinion, Sim's opinions are closer to the truth than many would like to believe.

Let's not forget - the very fact that malaysiakini can operate so freely here is due to the fact that the Barisan Nasional government under former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad pledged not to censor the Internet.

That pledge is one of 10 points of the Bill of Guarantee printed on every certificate issued to Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) status companies. That commitment was not made for Malaysian people but mainly for foreign investors to encourage them to invest in the MSC.

So long as the present government believes the MSC project still has a future, it will most probably continue to honour that pledge.

However, once it feels the MSC project has outlived its purpose or is not living up to its original purpose, that pledge will fall by the wayside and the government can do anything it wants.

Without that pledge of freedom for the Internet - albeit for the government's own self-serving purposes - would malaysiakini be able to operate as freely, as openly and as above-board as it does today with a registered office, journalists and workers on the ground?

The reality of the situation is that malaysiakini's and the freedom of others to operate via the Internet is by the grace of the Barsian Nasional government and its self-serving policies.

All this could change once the government decides to and I'm afraid no amount of 'people's collective decision' on media freedom will matter to the government, which is in power due to the majority of the people's collective mandate.

Like it or not, the majority of the people voted for them and there's very little you or me can do about that - that is, until and unless the majority of the people vote them out.