I refer to the malaysiakini report Abdullah defends legal action against bloggers .

Firstly, let me state that I am not a supporter of The News Straits Times ; in fact since the events of 1998, I switched over to a rival paper, which is not any more credible either. Only recently have I returned to the NST occasionally depending on the issue being covered.

In fact I don't think any of the mainstream newspapers are credible as they have not grown up to accept the fact that we Malaysians today are a lot more intelligent than they presume us to be.

Whilst the world of blogging has opened up an entirely new frontier to enable more matured and open discourse, it is nevertheless disappointing to note that this media has also been hijacked by some people to pursue their own agenda.

They assume that the Internet is god-given to them to impose their view of the world - at times with impunity - regardless of the fact that some of their arguments and claims are outright slander, intruding into the personal space of others.

Many a time, certain bloggers are clearly mercenary in the way they scoop and pursue an issue. Under such circumstances, these bloggers should not cry foul when the people and entities they have taken on pull the rug from under their feet and take them to court.

They should have not been naive in not expecting this to come. It just goes to show that their claim to fame as leading bloggers has bred a sense of arrogance and perhaps immortality.

I, however, commiserate with the misfortune of two bloggers who have been sued by the NST. I hope that this will be a turning point that will induce greater responsibility amongst the blogging community.

Surely we do not want the government to exercise some of its draconian laws to stifle discourse on the Internet like what is done in that other 'little' country ...