- Proverb
COMMENT | It is often said that in the country of the blind, the one-eyed is king. But how disastrous it will be for that blighted country if the one-eyed who help the blind to “see” are themselves made blind. Not by accident, but by the wilful use and abuse of the law.
Woe to a nation that allows its journalists, writers, and artists to be thus blinded. Widely regarded as the literati, they are the fourth pillar of democracy.
They have the courage of their convictions, and through their work, the other three pillars are made accountable to us, the people. And without them, we are a chair with three legs fit only for the rubbish bin.
And woe to our country if the rich and the powerful succeed in removing this fourth pillar from our democracy for their own ends, as it would appear from a reading of the article published in Aliran by the Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) dated Aug 10.
The article expressed concern over the legal action taken by Malaysian Resources Corporation Berhad (MRCB) and its executive vice-chairperson against veteran journalist P Gunasegaram, who a decade ago did the nation a huge favour by investigating and writing about 1MDB at great personal risk. Surely we owe him a debt of honour, but that’s another story.
The plaintiffs are seeking RM100 million in damages over...