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The arrest of the three editors and two top executives apparently over a story on the Conference of Rulers was quite shocking. As I am prone to believe, there are always differing views to any event and this was made apparent by the contrasting remarks by Nur Jazlan Mohamed and Nazri Aziz. While the former deemed the arrests “a mistake” , the latter said that although  he believed in freedom of the press, no one should have the “freedom to lie” .

Nazri is right. Journalists should not lie. However, to say that the journalists were lying is rather harsh. If you read the article, it is clearly mentioned that the report is based on information provided by ‘sources’.

Journalists rely on ‘sources’ all the time and I would think that it is extremely difficult to verify each and every source. In the case where the source is incorrect, it would mean that the source is lying rather than the journalist. This is simple logic to me. As the old adage goes, don’t shoot the messenger or to paraphrase, don’t arrest the reporter!

Imagine if Woodward and Bernstein had neglected to follow up on the information provided by Deep Throat. The Watergate scandal would never have been brought to light.

In my mind, journalists have a rather difficult time of it. They spend years building up ‘sources’ that they would generally trust. Sometimes the ‘sources’ may get it wrong and sometimes they don’t. Perhaps the ‘source’ was fed untrue information or perhaps the ‘source’ misunderstood something.  

It is the reporter’s job to try and verify the ‘source’ as well as he can but failing which, he would decide to trust his ‘source’ and write the article anyway. The fact that the said article in question is still available probably means that the journalists and the newspaper have faith in their source.

Further, as an individual and a concerned citizen, I take offence that journalists and editors need to be arrested over something they have published. Surely, if someone takes offence with their article, then that someone should sue the publication.

Why is everything that is questionable deemed seditious? Are we as a people so shallow and narrow-minded that everything questionable is deemed seditious? Surely that implies that we, as a people, have lost the capacity for rational thought.

Maybe I am getting old and my memory is failing me but I cannot recall so many people being arrested or questioned for sedition before. Have we as a nation suddenly become seditious? Or perhaps we as a nation have become so sensitive to everything that is said that anything and everything is deemed seditious.

The next question is the fairness of it all. Why is it that only opposition figures or those questioning the authorities seem to be arrested, especially in the wee hours of the morning? What about Perkasa questioning the decision to exempt Chinese independent high schools from the goods and services tax (GST). What about all the other statements that are racially charged made by certain individuals.

‘The less you question, the less you know’

To me, these arrests are just a form of intimidation. It appears that the powers that be want us, as citizens, to just accept what ever we are told and not to question anything. The less you question, the less you know. And that is why, we must not stop questioning. We must not stop speaking out for what we feel is right and similarly to speak out when something has gone wrong.

In this case, I think the arrests of these journalists was just heavy handed when resources can be used to focus on reducing crime and improving safety.  

That is what I think and that is why I am speaking out. I am thankful that the  journalists and executives have been released. Moving forward, let the journalists do their jobs without fear. All journalists. Who knows, there may just be a Malaysian Woodward or Bernstein lurking around the corner...

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