What is happening to this country? Have we not any morals any more? I am not talking about the sexual crimes or the corruption. That is a different matter which is equally serious.

I am referring to the media kind. How can the government allow Media Prima, which already owns TV3, 8TV and the New Straits Times Group, to take over Channel 9 and now, going by the latest news , probably NTV7 as well.

This is outrageous, immoral and wrong. If we are really serious about Wawasan 2020, this is definitely many steps backward. In developed countries, anti-trust laws will make sure this sort of thing does not happen. The people need to watch the news on different independent channels and then make up their own minds.

In the US, the people watch the news and current affairs on CBS, NBC, ABC and the new Murdoch-owned FOX. These major national channels are not allowed to own regional TV channels. The smaller independent TV companies can become affiliates of those big four to get a regular supply of syndicated TV shows.

In the UK, the publicly-funded BBC1 and BBC2 and its regional stations compete with several national independent channels. In London alone, different channels operate Monday to Friday while the weekends are done by different channels.

In both the US and Great Britain, national newspapers are not allowed to own terrestrial television. Rupert Murdoch who owns T he Times and The Sun can only operate SKY TV, the satellite channel. Although Murdoch is asking for change of rules to satisfy his voracious business appetite, the British government and the British Parliament refused to kowtow to him.

Thus, Media Prima's greedy move to take a big chunk of the country's advertising expenditure (Adex) should be stopped at all cost. Obviously Media Prima is run by clever people who are probably Oxbridge graduates.

These are the type of people who were extreme socialists while in college but became capitalists when they joined the corporate world. They may say that they would have a 'Chinese wall' to allow independence in news and current affairs programmes but I bet even a Standard 3 pupil would not buy this.

I feel sorry for Wan Kamaruddin, Dang Suria, Norazlina Awang Had, et al who thought they have pioneered something new in TV journalism. Looks like they are going to end up in the same stable with TV3. So-called 'synergy' is going to kill all their enthusiasm. Media Prima may guarantee to maintain independence, but its not going to be the same.

It is now urgent that we should be writing to all our MPs (Barisan Nasional and Opposition) to urge some of them to get together and work on a Private Members Bill to stop Media Prima from taking over not only NTV7.

In the meantime our MPs should table an Early Day motion (EDM) to express their concern about this unhealthy development. Hopefully, the media will play this up.

This is also the time for MP Shahrir Samad who is chairman of the Backbenchers Club to do something although Umno is the ultimate owner of Media Prima. How can we expect the rakyat to develop an independent mind when all the news providers are controlled by one company?

Incidentally, I wonder why Utusan Melayu Group, which is also ultimately owned by Umno, is left high and dry in this corporate episode. It should have its own TV channel and an English at that. It should also be allowed to publish an English daily to enjoy greater share of the industry's Adex.

Is it because Utusan people are not graduates of Harvard, Yale, Oxbridge, Princeton, etc? I will never know.