Deputy Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin or Zam has insulted the dignity and pride of all Malaysians and made a mockery of the country. This reinforces the impression in the eyes of the whole world that our political leaders are good for making senseless statements.

The world must now think that our country is worse off than former communist countries of Eastern Europe and some authoritarian African nations. Dare we call ourselves a free and democratic country when we ban a harmless Toyota car advertisement just because it features Brad Pitt, which is interpreted as an 'insult' to Asians?

To top it off, his outburst came after he has reassured everyone that by allowing the US to place "politically motivated" advertisements in the Malaysian print and electronic media, it proved that there was press freedom in the country.

What does the Toyota advertisement ban prove?

Will Zam next insist that Jin Shamsuddin play James Bond instead of Pierce Brosnan to appease Asians? And while we are at it, why did the government allow Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones to insult our dignity by prancing around in the prestigious Petronas Twin Towers in the movie Entrapment and that too with the Malaysian Information Ministry's support, mind you? Should the roles not be reserved for Malaysians in national costumes?

"Zam-thing" must be done to stop Americans like John R Malott to continue laughing at us. "Zam-one" should have the decency to resign for making a fool of all Malaysians.

Will we next hear that all Malaysian advertisements feature monkeys and coconut trees to honour our cultural heritage? When will the nightmare end?

Suppose for a moment that Brad Pitt volunteered to do a promotional advertisement for Proton or Perodua. What would Zam's response be? Tak boleh ?

Is it not racism when we ban Brad Pitt's Toyota advertisements just because he is white? Why should he be denied the role just because he is white? Even a European (such as United Plantations Bhd senior executive director B Bek-Nielsen) can be considered an 'Asian', although I know Brad Pitt is definitely not an Asian.

In most other nations the ban would have been thought to be an April Fool's joke. Let's not forget the Melaka chief minister has also recently suggested raising the speed limits on our highways to 'solve' the speeding problem on our highways.

Both these incidents made headline news all over the world and provided the international community with some good laughs.