COMMENT Very often, controversial events or the actions of national leaders and personalities evoke much passionate response best measured by the numerous comments arising from the respective news items.

 

Examples of such issues would be the prime minister's meeting with United States President Barack Obama in Hawaii, 1MDB, the purchase of the new official jet, the Nothing2Hide dialogue that was called off, and last week's Sabah tragedy.

These subjects intensely stir the interests of Malaysiakini subscribers and it is not unusual for comments to reach a few hundred within an hour or so. 

 

And this is how it should be. Malaysiakini offers the public, or at least the subscription-paying ones, the opportunity and forum to express their views, whichever side they choose to support. They have the chance to make known their stand, share their opinion, and learn from the interpretations of others that which may not have occurred to them.

 

Along the way, lines are drawn, swords are unsheathed, and the 'enemy' is savaged. This, again, is how it should be, as long as certain decorum and tone are maintained, and offence to race, religion, and basic decency is avoided.

 

Considering the frequent number of "legal letters" that result, there have been urgings on Malaysiakini that certain commentators or groups need to be banned, calls which the portal management have rightly chosen to disregard. 

 

The truth? What indeed is the truth? Who should be banned?  Swipenter, Abasir, Anti Sarkis, Odin Tajue? Analyser. Siti_Izza, Vijay47, CQ Muar, Vking? Who are the good guys and the bad, and must opposing views be prohibited? 

 

Two important principles are present here. On a higher plane, Malaysiakini must be the last place where censorship is enforced, it has a duty to air viewpoints, however unintelligent, unpalatable or against the grain they may be.

 

Secondly, subscribers by virtue of having paid their dues, have a right to express themselves in any manner they prefer. One could say that their liberty cannot be fettered or interfered with.

 

That said, must matters be allowed to continue as they are? To rely on that old cliché, freedom is not absolute. Just as the freedom to write in this website is generously available, others equally expect some protection from annoyance through repetition ad infinitum.

 

Ours may be the right to play heavy-metal music to our heart's content at full volume in the privacy of our home, but both our neighbours and the authorities may take a different stand should we pursue our music inclinations in the middle of the night.

 

Even now, there are rules regarding ‘Comments’ and the management would have the obvious right to alter such regulations to cope with evolving circumstances, as long as the terms and conditions do not discriminate against any group.

 

Three suggestions

 

Yesterday, the ‘Comments’ section was suspended to allow "urgent maintenance work". Perhaps this ‘time-out’ is a godsend for all of us to consider some revision to the ground rules. Suggested changes for improving this section could include the following:

 

1. Each subscriber should be allowed only a given number of 'comments', perhaps three, for each item published. This cannot be circumvented by utilising a different pen-name, since Malaysiakini would be able to identify the "source subscription".

 

However, this restriction need not apply where the 'comment' exceeds, say, 600 characters.  Accordingly, where a subscriber submits a comment of more than 600 characters, the serious ones would still be able to submit three more 'comments'.

 

This rule would not infringe on anyone's desire to freely contribute; he can still submit as many as he wants as long as he exceeds 600 characters. Again, the restriction would have no bearing on those who wish to make only short statements.

 

2. The Malaysiakini portal comes in four languages and comments should generally be guided by this language compartmentalisation. As such, ‘comments’ should follow the 'parent' language; for example, one cannot write in Bahasa Malaysia in the Tamil section nor in Chinese in the English section.

 

Nevertheless, to lend a local flavour to ‘Comments’, a certain number of ‘different language’ words or phrases should be permissible - Malaysiakini would be able to devise an appropriate mechanism to monitor this.

 

3. Malaysiakini already has an end-of-year recognition of its subscribers who made the most number of comments . To encourage more comments, Malaysiakini can also consider rewarding, say, the top three winners, with free extensions to their subscriptions.

 

In the same way, there could be a year-end poll for the most popular commenter or comment, again with the winners getting free subscription extensions.

 

In the final analysis, the means to make ‘Comments’ as interesting, diverse, and stimulating as they want lie with the subscribers themselves.

 

 

RANDOLPH HEARSE is a pseudonym of an avid reader of Malaysiakini’s comment section.