and Disappointed should read news reports carefully if they're going to rush to judgment. The journalists whooping with joy at US envoy Paul Bremer's press conference following Saddam Hussein's capture were not just 'Arabs', they were Iraqis.

At least one journalist who was subsequently interviewed had been a prisoner under Saddam, albeit he wasn't just shouting, he was weeping with emotion.

Malaysia is thankfully a peaceful country, peaceful enough to allow a certain smugness to develop. Those smug individuals have the luxury of criticising those who lived and suffered under Saddam for more than a generation.

I wasn't at the press conference but it was clear from the reports that those cheers were for Saddam's capture, not his captors. Many in Malaysia seem painfully slow to grasp the fact that many Iraqis, if not the vast majority, were pleased to be rid of Saddam, even if many or quite probably most want the coalition forces out of their country as soon as practicable.

As for the quality of the questions by the journalists, try listening to the Malaysian press corps in action: "Dato Seri Dr Mahathir, how do you manage to keep your youthful looks?" Makes you sick doesn't it?

I suspect that is why malaysiakini did not get invited to many government press conferences under Dr Mahathir Mohamad. Any question tougher than "Dato Seri, what's your favourite cookie recipe?" would be liable to be seen as aggressive, if not seditious.