Umno Youth says

it believes in press freedom because the media should be allowed to "write anything that is of public interest unless it is based o­n lies or false information".

Think of that. What a wonderful system. The newspapers may publish anything that Umno Youth considers the truth. Otherwise their premises are raided, their editors are charged with sedition and their computers confiscated. The Malaysian press is free, except when it is not. The logic is unassailable.

And how will we the weak-minded, sensitive public, so in need of Umno information chief Azimi Daim's protection, know if something is "a lie, and based o­n false information"?

Umno Youth stands ready to inform us. They will duly lodge a police report against whoever it is who has dared to "lie and spread rumours in print." If need be, they will organise a raiding party themselves, as a group of people gathering to discuss East Timor discovered a few years ago.

That is the job of these no longer so youthful guardians of the Malaysian public. It has not for a moment crossed their minds to write in with their own refutation of the view they find untrue. To do so would be to descend to the level of mere reason when they can have the police enforce their views.

Perhaps Mr Azimi does not get the idea. In a democracy, the truth is arrived at by debate and discussion. Debate and discussion occur when there is disagreement. The press plays a crucial role in this process by airing a wide array of often competing perspectives. A free press presents the available perspectives. Some of those will not be to your liking, some you may consider untrue. Good. That kind of thing tends to happen in discussions. He should try it some time.

Faced with real disagreement of views, people are ready to discuss, debate and draw their own conclusions about what is true and what is false. They may even be able to sniff out the "lies, and false information" for themselves.

Mature people, a mature public, sort through the stories, read Petrof's letter

without losing their virtue, read Azimi Daim without suffering a stroke, weigh the reasons each offers, and form their own opinion. Most people over the age of 16 know that nobody has a monopoly of the truth. Least of all politicians.

So spare us your righteous concern for the "sensitivities" in this country. If the public remains overly-sensitive, prone to irrational animosities and sensitivities at times, that is in large part thanks to your having made a tidy living all these years stoking up these animosities, suspicions and fears.

We all hear your choice phrase: "Malays are masters of this land." You imply that every non-Malay soul: Indian, Dayak, Chinese, Iban in this golden land is a (what corresponds to "masters"?) slave/servant/guest. Yet none of us needs our "sensitivities" protected from such talk.

Rather than dig deep in my "sensitivities" in search of an offence from your statement, I will, like most people, come to the obvious conclusion that you get off o­n racist master/slave discourse. We will interpret what you say accordingly.