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The questioning, rumblings you refrred to, Jeff, clearly show this NST episode has fallout that extends beyond the bondary of Press Freedom and Religious Sensitivity -- the original CORE issues that led to secondary and even tertiary issues/problems. It's now a proxy fight mainly between two factions within UMNO -- do I need to spell out the 2?

I do not wish to become a "pawn" in this spreading MEDUSA -- as a fellow Blogger, based in lundun? based it-- but reading about the key players involved, the country will play a high price for it -- the PPPA1984 not only will NOT be reviewede/ablished, it would be "more diligently" used to supress the much weakened mass media, esp the print -m in Malaysia.

I hope fellow Bloggers dont become victims like the poor kancil caught between the fight between the Elephant and the Lembu? (Maybe wrong animals named, but what the H... can I spell this out? Hell? You smart readers get the drift, yes?
I agree we should focus on Suspending, the Abolishing, the ISA, OSA, yes, even the MoI -- call it the Ministry of ICT-Informed Citizenry, but that would cause some ministers and GEICS their jobs eh...I heard some at that level don't even know how to use a Komputer properly ...oops wrong spelling, COMputer! Maybe I'll think about getting a secretary to prrofread my copies -- don't want to land up in hot soap!:( ...opera-lah!

Hello Jeff,

Adakah laporan kelab maya UMNO ini benar?

[Hello Mukhriz, I'm unhappy with your statement!

Bahang isu kebiadapan NST bertambah terasa di Jalan Riong. Dalam pertemuan dengan staf bilik berita NST petang tadi, Kalimullah dan Brendan Pariera masih mempertahankan penerbitan kartun tersebut sebagai tiada yang salah. Menyaksikan reaksi Pak Lah dalam Buletin Utama tadi mungkin mereka berdua akan selamat dari sebarang tindakan.

Kalimullah dilaporkan amat tidak berpuas hati dengan kenyataan EXCO Pemuda UMNO, Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir yang membuat kenyataan berikut, "Jika ia (penyiaran kartun) disengajakan, mereka patut mengaku dan memohon maaf. Kami terkejut kerana mereka (NST) menggunakan alasan kebebasan akhbar dan menafikan kartun itu menghina Rasulullah dan Islam."

Berikutan itu Kalimullah dilaporkan menghubungi Mukhriz untuk menyatakan ketidakpuasan hatinya mengenai kenyataan Mukhriz terhadap rencana muka dua NST semalam.

Sehingga berita ini ditulis, Datuk Mukhriz tidak dapat dihubungi oleh laman ini. Bagaimanapun beberapa orang yang rapat dengan Datuk Mukhriz mengesahkan bahawa Kalimullah ada menghubunginya mengenai kenyataan tersebut. ]

any information about that?

Yup, this has now become a political issue. I wrote on my blog this question "Will a cartoon be the cause of the Third World War?" The shooting of an archduke in Serbia started the first, the rise of Nazi Germany the second and...a cartoon the third?

As Desi said, politicians are jumping in left, right and centre. I don't know much about the internal UMNO struggle nor of all the factions and who supports who, but I DO know that PAS is getting loads and loads of mileage out of this. Good luck sorting this mess out. What was a quite funny cartoon in NST has now become a political fight.

As for Mahathir, he should keep his mouth very firmly shut.

The Government had no choice politically but to create a dangerous precedent when it suspended the Sarawak Tribune over some offending cartoons, but why indefinitely? Meanwhile, in a contradiction in terms, Guang Ming has been suspended for the same cartoons but only for two weeks.

It will be interesting to see what happens to the Nst over the controversial cartoons.

The question of the Nst getting away scott-free should not arise. At least a price must be seen to have been paid. The public expects it. The only question that remains is how high. However, since the Government is willing to shut down the ST without batting an eyelid, there's no reason why the same thing cannot happen to the Nst. This is unfortunate since the Nst, like the Sarawak Tribune, is a very old newspaper.

If the worse comes to the worst, the demise of the Nst may turn out to be a blessing in disguise after all. The paper has virtually been a "failed state" since 1989 and seems to be hanging on only after going compact and moving into the Malay Mail turf. The old Nst is actually dead with the advent of the compact. What we see as the Nst today is actually the old Malay Mail re-packaged as the Nst of today. This has left the MM with no place in the stable except to look for new masters.

Still, there's no getting away from the debts the Nst is saddled with. The rot actually began when the political masters, in recent years, allowed ex-stringers and reporters to occupy top editorial positions in the newspaper for reasons of political expediency. From there, and several bruising battles with the vendors later, it was downhill all the way.

hann,
Mahathir can't keep mouth shut. His name is Muhammad.
:)

eMalaysian,
SHHHHHHHHHHH! You nak kena tembak ke??? You have mentioned the word that cannot be mentioned. Be careful, in these days of witchhunts and vendettas one cannot be too careful...

no, hann, I have to disagree with you on advice to Mahathir to shudup. Without this Mohamad opening up Pandora's boxes, how would the AP issue, and Proton's woes, and ecstatsies, be made public knowledge.

Sometimes, Desi also likes to use Somebody's dagger to kill another, NO?
PS: I hope next he will do the nation the biggest nation of all -- OPEN up PETronas's books and let Citizen Joe&Jane know where OUR (it belongs also to the Rakyat, YES?) USDbillions go?

When it's Hello-in time, we also can play Da Witches, sandy one also can.

Desi,
Yeah I have to agree there. But the hypocrisy of the man gets me. Complaining corruption when he was the biggest taiko around last time, arghh!

indeed we must learn to be sensitive to one another. Please, learn from the Keris-weilding idiot!

Hann,

also, for non-related issue:

he should also keep his mouth shut about Proton issue, because his Proton "has no understanding of Malaysian's feeling" too!

Some posters think that the former Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir, should keep his mouth shut.

Such remarks are uncalled for and downright rude. Dr Mahathir has as much right as anyone else to comment on issues of public and national interest.

The question is where does one draw the line. This is for Dr Mahathir himself to decide, bearing in mind that he is a former Prime Minister. Stepping beyond a certain line may of course do him more harm than good and might even undermine whatever little credibility he still has in the eyes of the general public. But, knowing the man, does he care at all?

For example, he should not be seen as continuing to be too simplistic in his comments, crusading for anything or against anybody, taking a consistently anti-government line, setting himself up as a one-man political opposition, or harbouring a hidden agenda. After all, time is not on his side and it will be a different ball game altogether where he will be going sooner or later.

Life is not all black and white. It is mostly various shades of grey.

Taking a consistently black and white approach, most of the time, has seen the Mahathir administration carrying on as the sole fountain of wisdom in the country while embarking on various blunders like trying to do a number on the forex market or otherwise re-work the rules of economics in an unsustainable and even fraudulent manner, throwing good money after bad, pouring public funds into bottomless pits for no rhyme or reason, finger-pointing, indulging in the blame game, and generally harbouring a persecution complex and in the process making the nation cringe in shame and embarrassment from time-to-time for well over two decades.

History will be the ultimate judge. Perhaps history will be kinder to Dr Mahathir if Malaysia ultimately prevails and succeeds despite and inspite his administration. His quickly dwindling band of apologists can then claim that that there was a certain method in madness.

However, the prognosis is not that good.

Mahathir was, well Mahathir a.k.a the bulldozer.

Badawi, dubbed Mr Clean by the cliche-ridden media, came in on a wave of public expectations that his administration will be consensus-driven. Instead, what we are witnessing is inconsistency, unpredictability and a sense of national drift marked by weak and poor leadership.

At least with Dr Mahathir, we knew where he stood and where we stood, even if he was given to changing the rules in mid-stream. He talked as if he knew what he was doing although he was, often, equally in the dark as the rest of the nation. At least, he was bold and decisive, even when dead wrong.

With Badawi, nothing is certain, even the rules of the game. None one knows whether we are coming or going and in what direction.