The Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Dr Rais Yatim, has been very much in the news this past month. Indeed, it would seem that he has been quoted more often than his superior in the mainstream media. It remains to be seen, however, whether he is being toasted by the media principally because he's the flavour of the month or because he is more media savvy than his boss and colleagues.

Be that as it may, Rais's recent comments about policing the Internet ( The Star , May 29), apart from causing some consternation among those who are against censorship, must surely have made many skeptics of the government smile. After all, the prime minister, has continuously reassured the cyber community that the Net will not be censored.

There are sound economic (and political) reasons for the policymakers to continue arguing against censorship. The success of the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) rests on foreign investments. Foreign companies, whether working in tandem with local partners or on their own, will provide much-needed support for the growth of the MSC.

It is for this reason principally - and not due to some grand democratic plan - that the Mahathir administration continues to assert a "no censorship" policy for the Internet.

But attracting foreign capital through constantly asserting the freedom of the Net is one thing. Having to contend with annoying critics, locally and globally, who have learnt to deliver their criticisms on the "free and uncensored" Net is quite another thing altogether.

Faced with this dilemma, the administration, like any other administration needing to maintain its hegemony, has to come up with arguments that will help legitimise future attempts to curb the Net.

And, of course, one of the best ways to do this is to appeal to tried and tested emotional stuff, such as Malay unity, the need to "protect" our children and that perennial favourite, the need to preserve our ever-so-fragile "budaya".

When Net censorship was recently suggested by Rais, he expressed his fear that "society, especially the Malays, would lose their identity due to unlimited exposure to the Internet".

Unlimited exposure? Lose their identity? Perhaps the minister should at least conduct a national survey to find out who has access to computers and really logs on to the Net.

And as for this "identity" business, it would be helpful if those who keep harping on this concept could be a little bit more precise as to what they mean. Throwing a loose concept like this up in the air often smacks not only of blind paranoia, but also of pure desperation.

But Rais is not alone in his beliefs. Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Abdullah Badawi, recently joined the fray.

Speaking at the 14th Asia-Pacific Roundtable organised by ISIS, Abdullah alluded to the "I love you" virus and painted a doom-laden picture of a cyber future filled with cyber terrorists who would spit in the face of those wishy-washy liberals who cherish the freedom of the Internet ( The Star , June 5).

Basically, what is being argued is that, no, the Net will not be censored. But (and it is a big BUT) this freedom will be accompanied by threats to everything we hold on to dearly - our culture, our race, our children, our Malaysia.

Just look at the pornography, the filth found on the Net is corrupting us and our children. Look at the viruses which penetrate the most secure portals and cause whole economies to lose billions of dollars. Look at those damnable foreign reports of our country on the Net, prepared by jealous individuals and organisations to influence young Net surfers, especially impressionable Malays.

And so they go on and on, preaching the same message that they have always preached about the ills of foreign television programmes and foreign movies, bringing alien cultures to our living rooms.

You would think that Malaysians - especially us poor, impressionable Malays with fragile values and beliefs who will so-quickly succumb to temptation - are a bunch of unthinking idiots.

It is highly likely that Rais, Abdullah and other ministers are intelligent men (and women). This being the case, would it be too much to ask that there be moments when they will convey intelligent ideas?