It is rather amazing (and amusing) to see the state of local journalism today. The way the papers and television stations report news today, they must be assuming that Malaysians are all easily hoodwinked.

It is annoying to note that Malaysians are increasingly being treated like school children. While the nation is pushing hard towards K-Economy and stressing on the importance of K-Workers, the authorities do not seem to be able to unshackle Old Economy beliefs of not giving the truth to its citizens.

I think I am a knowledgeable citizen in Malaysia. I love peace and can rationalise and think for myself. The last thing I want is Big Brother doing the thinking and deciding what I should read and what I shouldn't.

Having said that, I still submit to the government's authority, for that is what my faith tells me to do. All I ask is that the government treats us with more respect and dignity. Millions of Malaysians and I are not idiots who do not know what is happening. We are a mature lot, not given easily to emotions. Mostly, we love peace and harmony among races.

However, if we are really serious about development, we should be brave and confront difficult issues head on, and not just sweep them under the carpet.

"Those who don't know their history, are condemned to repeat it," said Milton. If the truth about the whole recent violence is not told, how then are we going to learn anything from it? How then are we going to appreciate harmony and the value of peace and tolerance?

The case in point here is the recent news reporting of the clashes that took place recently, involving both Malays and Indians. While, the local newspapers and politicians tried hard to downplay the event as being non-racial, it is an irony and a cruel joke to read and hear reports of increasing number of slash wound casualties in the local hospitals.

As if it is not enough to downplay the racial angle to the bloody clashes, the authorities further propagate the idea that people are simply passing around baseless rumours.

"All rumours" shouted the headline on The Star newspaper (March 13), after front-paging news report on the clashes only a couple of days earlier. The New Straits Times betrayed journalistic tenets and chose to ignore the whole incident. Instead, the NST placed pictures of Indians and Malays having a nice wedding celebration on the first page (March 12). Nothing can be more ludicrous than that! It must be the lowest ebb in local journalism.

However much the whole sad tragic event was downplayed, the fact cannot be denied. In the midst of the wedding smiles and "no racial tension" claims, the people of the affected area in Kampung Gandhi, Kampung Lindungan and the surrounding areas, the blood-stained roads and burnt motorcycles are evidence to the violence that erupted. In addition, to say that there are no racial clashes only adds insult to the pain and agony that the wounded are undergoing in the local hospitals.

According to the International Herald Tribune (March 12), one eyewitness said the murder of Muniratnem was allowed to continue under the watchful eyes of the police. Instead of running to the assistance of the victim, the police actually prevented neighbours from assisting the victim who cried for help before dying. How sick and tragic! Aren't the police, who are paid via taxpayers' salaries, supposed to protect the innocent and the weak?

The first incidents actually emerged on Thursday (March 8) in Kampung Lindungan. But it took the police a full two days before they placed over 400 personnel to monitor the affected area and bring calm. What took the police so long? Did they underestimate the real issue surrounding the initial incident?

At face value, one might be tempted to say that the police were already there from the beginning. But then why were the violence and the number of wounded increasing despite the presence of the police? Were the police really in control? Having visited the affected place, I don't think the police are doing much.

The most tragic thing is that, those who were affected were innocent victims, having nothing whatsoever to do with the initial skirmish. I was told that some of those wounded would be maimed for the rest of their lives. What a waste! And for what?

Funny, how the police act in times of emergency. A few days before the violence broke out, the local afternoon daily, Malay Mail (March 9), featured a cover story on a state chief minister who wanted to assist an accident victim by calling the police beat 2km away. But the police only turned up two hours later! Can anyone beat that? If the chief minister's call could only bring action after two hours, what then of citizens' emergency 911 calls?

The police force should wake up. It is high time they act without fear or favour. They should really be protecting the weak and the innocent.

The police and politicians continually exhort the people not to listen to so-called rumours. They even threaten to charge them in court for these 'offences'. But in this country of 22 million people, where the prime minister even denies having a rift with his ex-deputy, saying that they are all rumours, a few days before making that infamous sacking, I really don't know what is a rumour and what is not any more.

What then should a Malaysian believe? The local newspapers? The television stations? Oh, come on!

The lack of information from credible sources is making people turn to various sources for information. Some are reliable, while others are not. The biggest blow to the local media is that no one really believes what they say. People are tired of the media trying to do all the thinking. We are mature citizens in a high-profile developing nation. Treat us with more respect, please!

Sadly, people are more willing to follow some hot news on the Net that what the newspapers say. The police's version of the events is usually the same: "There is no racial tension here. Don't listen to rumours!" they say. But the tens of FRU and police trucks placed in the background make their call hollow.

As if the insult the police and the politicians give is not enough, some even had the cheek to insinuate that the Indians deserved it. The local state assembly representative of the affected area, Norkhaila Jamaluddin, was quoted as saying that "Every three or four months, we hear of incidents such as these. We (the Malays) have long been patient and many have been ' terkorban ' (ending up as victims)." ([#1] Taman Lindungan clash not racial [/#], March 9)

It is a stab in the back that the state assembly representative gave to the Indians. An elected official, the Indians too voted for her in the last elections in 1999.

The local media were irresponsible in publishing reports that Indians were attacking the Malays. One paper even showed a Malay man in a sling, saying he was wounded in the conflict. But no one even bothered to think why they were so many Indians being admitted to the hospitals if they were the only aggressors. No media published pictures of the wounded Indians, some of whom are in critical condition. Such one-sided coverage distorts facts and gives rise to wrong impressions on what actually transpired.

I know many Malays who are saddened and shocked with the recent events. Indians, too, are stunned.

While the country is championing the cause of affected millions in Bosnia, Chechnya, Iraq and Palestine, no one cared about the plight of the Indian Malaysians, who toiled and worked for this land. For many poor Indians, this is their motherland, having been born and raised here through many generations.

The government cannot ignore the dilemma of the Indians any longer. It is no longer an Indian problem. It has become a national problem. While corrupt Indian politicians are only interested in keeping the money for themselves and propagate nepotism, the Indians have no choice but to fend for themselves. Pushed to the bottom of the social ladder, it has become a matter of survival for them. At stake is their children's future in a country that is increasingly polarised and marginalising them.

Put the entire situation above in a pot and you have a dangerous mix, just waiting to flare up. The police view Indians as a group of gangsters. The politicians ignore the Indians, except during election campaigns. As a result, the Indians endure insults from all, either economically or socially. In a lot of sense, the Indians are a problem that the government wishes it didn't have to deal with. But when the situation arises, what does Big Brother do? Protect the weak? Forget it. "Just ignore them", seems to be the response.

In a lot of ways, the society is responsible for creating all this. We all need to take the blame for this. The saying that the "society prepares the crime and the criminal commits them" can't be truer in the case of the Indians.

It is now up to the police, the honourable prime minister, the honourable deputy prime minister and various leaders to sort out the mess.

Let us really sit down and discuss what really causes us to dislike one another and how we can grow to love one another. It is the only way towards development. It is the only way to civilisation.

The authorities hate to listen to its citizens telling them what to do. They prefer to do the talking and preaching. Muzzling the media and threatening so-called 'rumour mongers', the nation seems to resemble a Stalinist state. Perhaps it is high time the politicians had a change of mindset, as elected officials by the people.

Forget about elections and politicking. Why not just do the right thing?