vox populi small thumbnail 'What you censor, you drive underground and generate more interest as a result of the negativity and curiosity you arouse.'

 

Wiki founder: M'sia should ditch press censorship

DOC: All these prominent personalities - Richard Branson, Jimmy Wales - seem to be telling our ruling government, aka Umno, that their style of governance is not friendly or attractive to foreign investors. In view of this revelation, I sincerely hope Umno will take heed the international community's view on foreign investments.

Just a thought for Perkasa chief Ibrahim Ali to ponder - no foreign investment, no money to finance ‘ketuanan Melayu'.

RubyStar: PM Najib Abdul Razak and Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, we are now in the new age of a borderless world where information is exchanged through the Internet. What you censor, you drive them underground and generate more interest as a result of the negativity and curiosity you arouse.

Look at the ‘May 13' book. Or the book on Dr Mahathir Mohamad by Barry Wain, or the songs by rapper Namewee and now the books by cartoonist Zunar. You are giving them unnecessary publicity as well as irking the public with your censorship.

Albert: Censorship is counter-productive for Malaysia. All right-thinking and sane Malaysians know this. Let's be frank. There is simply too much at stake for the Umno Malays and their cronies if censorship were to be lifted.

Rampant corruption, abuse of power, murder are only the tip of the iceberg. Do you honestly think the Umno-led government will ever agree with your suggestion, Jimmy Wales?

'PKR not yet an agent of change'

Lucas: Is it just me or is Zaid Ibrahim starting to be very irritating? He may have the right ‘principles' but his manner and attitude is just off-putting. He behaves like he is the only true progressive democrat in Malaysia. Too arrogant.

Ronin: So, Zaid, what is your actual motive in highlighting PKR's problems to the public? Are you perhaps:

1. An Umno's Trojan horse, and you are there to destabilise PKR?

2. Know that you will lose in the deputy president's contest, and hence you can't become the deputy prime minister then later the prime minister (if Pakatan Rakyat wins the next general election)?

Why can't you wait and be patient and try to improve PKR gradually? Why can't you wait for your turn? Why can't you show your true loyalty first? After all, this is politics.

What did you get by highlighting all the problems? Is BN much better than PKR and Pakatan? If yes, why did you leave them? If no, just what the rubbish are you trying to do? Don't you think BN will get the benefits from what you have highlighted?

Personally, I think you are frustrated because the other leaders don't listen to you. You want to become the boss as if this is your company. Pakatan is going to lose because of you.

Proarte: That fraud Anwar Ibrahim has to grab the bull by the horns and address the issue of freedom of worship and equality of all Malaysian citizens.

He is still playing to the Malay gallery weaned on 'ketuanan Melayu' and ‘ketuanan Islam'. Anwar, Mohd Azmin Ali, Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad and the rest of Malay PKR crew cannot 'run with hares and hunt with the hounds' and pretend to be diehard Islamists and Malay supremacists on the one hand and then play the 'Western liberal' in the mould of Thomas Jefferson when overseas.

This joke has to end because PKR will be destroyed in the process. Why not leave the real ‘McCoy' Umno to run things rather than to paying lip service to ideals which you have no real understanding of?

The idea of equality is fundamental and has to be addressed. All citizens born in Malaysia have to be regarded as bumiputera, otherwise this is blatant discrimination. This is unIslamic and evil but frauds like Anwar continue to have a political philosophy which is based on Malay and Muslim hegemony.

Habib RAK: Zaid, what you need to understand is that the approach that you are taking to bring your message and how you infuse them into PKR is even more important at this juncture. You are coming across as a very brash, self-righteous, your-way-only, and only you realise the importance of things, etc.

There are many things that Anwar and Azmin do that we do not agree with as well. But, we are mindful that we have bigger issues to solve. The house of Malaysia is on fire. We need to put out the fire first and then do the other necessary things.

We must remember that PKR is part of a coalition with PAS and DAP. PKR alone cannot dictate everything. There is popular support for Anwar to be PM, but even then Anwar must toe the line, unlike PM Najib's coalition.

Zaid, you have talents that we need in PKR, but please do consider taking a step-by-step approach. Don't rush it please. You cannot put three mothers together to make a baby in three months.

Ghkok: Just this morning, as I was buying my nasi lemak from a warung , the radio at the stall was blaring some Malay-language programme and the person on the radio was spewing irrational racist venom on Lim Guan Eng. There wasn't any substance, no talk about disagreement over policies, etc. Just straightforward unadulterated racist poison. Well, another ordinary day in Malaysia.

And Zaid is talking about "we cannot be perpetual enemies ... cannot be in that state of warfare" and "bipartisan support"? Dream on, Zaid.

The reality is that the Umno is not changing. In fact, they have become even more radical. The country is in a state of "perpetual warfare" because Umno is determined to kill the opposition by whatever means and forcing Pakatan to dig trenches and launch counterattacks.

This is the current situation. This will not change until Umno backs off and actually start to respect the federal constitution and the rakyat.

 

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