It appears that malaysiakini has provided former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim a free and open forum to express his views and assessments on a number of international and national issues over the last few months.

Malaysians as well as international malaysiakini subscribers, who form a wide spectrum of online readers, are fortunate to have access to these views of public interest that are not available in the Malaysian mainstream media due to strict editorial control and policy.

Like many other readers, I have gone through Anwar's recent exclusive interview with malaysiakini in which he had reflected on a wide range of domestic, political and economic issues as well as his personal views and comments on regional and international problems that are of public interest.

As I have mentioned in my previous letter , Anwar has absolute freedom of expression, although he may not have the privilege of being an elected parliamentarian to express critical views within the Malaysian Parliament.

Having said that, I am quite perturbed to note that while Anwar has every right to comment on pertinent domestic and international issues, it may not be acceptable for him to express his views on certain critical and sensitive issues relating to Thailand or for that matter to countries within the Asean region.

Anwar's sudden outburst lacks diplomacy, especially when he is still being regarded as a controversial Malaysian political icon due to his position as former deputy prime minister.

Anwar's utilisation of his freedom of expression may directly or indirectly affect the bilateral relations between Malaysia and her neigbouring countries and the spirit of Asean solidarity.