In times like these, when the government is hard put to provide answers and cannot back out, the bearers of bad tidings are quickly labeled "enemies of the state", to be harassed, threatened, publicly criticised and worse.

So, when the government accuses foreign newspapers and Internet sites, including malaysiakini , it gave government supporters a chance to wreck metaphorical havoc on the targets of ire, who often continued doing what they had to do, and hoped it would be no more than that.

I should know. Ever since I started out as a freelance journalist in Kuala Lumpur, after Singapore banned me with the closure of the Singapore Herald in 1971, I have been castigated for what I wrote which annoyed those in power.

Self-serving handmaidens to authority fan the flames which then, on occasion, take a life of its own. There is nothing one can do except shrug one's shoulders and muddle through. As when businessmen close to political power sue me for a total of, so far, RM102 million - one should not be in the kitchen if one is afraid of fire.

Those who attack you for what you write do so deliberately, often to curry favour, and most would not have read what you wrote that caused offence. It does not matter if it is justified or not. The man needs to survive and would do anything for that.

Word-of-mouth campaign

There is this political presumption that the opposition should not be allowed to have its say in national affairs, and anyone who writes about it or with a contrary view deserves being fried in oil and worse. The official media often jumps into the fray, and a sinister word-of-mouth campaign begins.

One such is on now. A month ago, I was passed a message that I should behave myself in my writings, honour the prime minister and his indefensible positions, and "advised" to mend my ways - or worse would result.

The person who sent the message is a former journalist who lost heavily in the stock market, now on the board of two listed companies on the KLSE, and firmly anchored in the entourage of the deputy prime minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

A good journalist who lost his way and did not make it, he looks for anchors to latch on to. He was in the consortium to reclaim land in Kedah, with an airport built on an artificial island, hoping his friendship with the then Mentri Besar, Sanusi Junid, would see it through. It did not. The project is abandoned.

Now with Abdullah, who is also home minister, his sinister references to "enemies of the state" and its 11 supporters, amongst whom are malaysiakini , foreign news agencies and I, who should be rooted out.

I heard this from an ambassador, another journalist in this list, and people removed from journalism. This time, it is insidious. He is close to the deputy prime minister and home minister, his business partner is the father-in-law of one son of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed. And all and sundry assume there is more to this than loose talk.

Bearer of bad tidings

But who is the enemy of the state? Is it the bearer of bad tidings, or those who destroy the fabric of the nation with their irrelevant development schemes, like the land reclamation in Kedah, and undermining democracy by refusing to allow the other side to have a say?

If indeed there are enemies of the state in our midst, who are they? And why has Abdullah, as home minister, kept quiet? Because there are none, and opponents of the government are not by definition enemies of the state. They would have been contained by now if they were.

That this insidious campaign is part of a pattern is in no doubt. Look at the reaction when Lycos pulled the plug on Malaysian reformasi sites it hosted. The opposition immediately assumed it was at the government's behest, and Umno Youth was glad that the webhoster had seen the light.

Both, it turned out, are wrong. Lycos has internal problems far removed from censoring sites it does not like. Malaysians from either political spectrum behaved as expected, suggesting that the two sides are as wide apart as ever.

So far, the government moves ineptly to curb dissent. It sees what happens in the Philippines and Indonesia, and bottles dissent with threats. But explosions, as we saw in Old Klang Road, act as a safety valve, a sort of letting of steam.

Malaysians cannot let out their frustrations without the government wagging a finger at them like a sadistic schoolmaster with his cane. If this continues, one day it would burst. This seeking of enemies of state under the blanket would make it easy.