Just when you think one saga is over and we have some respite, here comes another one. I am referring to the recent ICT saga and the upcoming episode 'Bruce Almighty'.

Bruce's fate now depends on the almighty and all righteous censors of Malaysia after Minister Abdul Hamid Zainal Abidin, who is responsible for religious affairs, said the film was "not appropriate".

I have not watched this movie and I don't plan to (unless the evil pasar malam VCD vendor tricks me into buying a copy. But no worries, they are not around anymore). But I felt sick when I read the news.

The minister suggested a ban because the movie is deemed insensitive to Islamic teachings. But surely his sensitivity is obviously insensitive to non-Muslims (and I hope to some Muslims too).

Look here, we are people too and we form a significant portion of the population of Malaysia, and we are proud to be Malaysian too. Please don't pretend that we are not here.

We already have the following rating for our movies: U, 18SX, 18SG, 18PA, 18PL. Since Malaysians like the 'win-win situation' so much, why don't we have two new categories in the rating system which will allow some Malaysians to watch movies they like:

H for 'Haram'. All-out ban for Muslims only. Please insert the warning according to whatever the moral guardian has interpreted from the Quran. If temples and churches share the same notion, please run campaigns telling your supporters/believers not to watch the movie.

4LM stands for 'For Liberal Muslims and others'. For films that the moral guardian cannot find any concrete reason to ban, in other words, they simply don't like it and don't want other Muslims to watch it. But Muslims who do not share that view can still watch it, but must be prepared to face harassment.

Wouldn't this be a 'win-win' solution for all? It is sad that I live in a country with so many restrictions in expression that I have to make a joke out of it to console myself.

These restrictions retard the thinking of the population, creating problems in achieving the 'knowledge' society dream that depends so much on intellectualism and creativity.

If one party is not happy with something, discuss it in the public. But oops! That would require a free press and that is not one of our available 'luxuries' at the moment. Luckily we still have the Internet.