Screenshots

I am mulling hard reading in between the lines of what Wong Chun Wai wrote in his Sunday column today:

Journalists and bloggers believe they are committed to making Malaysia a better country. Journalists are certainly not the highest paid professionals in town while bloggers have committed their own money but both believe passionately in what they are doing.

The feuding parties need to stop at some point to re-evaluate what they are doing in order to bring down the political temperature.

"Bring down the political temperature"? Is he hinting that the defamation suits against bloggers -- which are essentially civil suits -- are indeed politically-motivated? He must be knowing something that we Joe Public don't normally know.

Nevetherless, I welcome what Chun Wai had courageously said, that the process of seeking justice and redress to grief work both ways for the mainstream journalists and bloggers.

There must be others who are equally observant. A week ago, Chun Wai's colleague at i-Star, A. Asohan, had said an interesting piece on the same issue:

Yes, the laws on defamation are there to also protect you, the individual. Given that some political leaders want to introduce new laws specifically for the Internet, that websites and their operators have been threatened with the Internal Security Act, that subtle intimidation has allegedly been tried, and that some media organisations have used their own platforms to unfairly vilify selected bloggers before, it's a welcome change to see existing legislature being used this time around.

Now, contrast Asohan's piece with Chun Wai's today. Quote:

But journalists must be ready to face the legal consequences of what they have written. If journalists talk about press freedom, they should also remember the rights of the subjects they write about.

I should know it better, as I have often become the target of vilification made by certain parties since 2004, and my archive of such malicious attacks and character assassination is fast piling up. But I am not in a rush to take action as the Defamation Act guarantees to keep my evidence valid for up to six years.

I became an easy target because I was truthful (but some say foolish) enough to host my server in the nerve centre of MSC, expose my name and picture, reveal my email and phone contacts right from Day One I started blogging in 2003. It was a statement of sorts, and what I am declaring is this: Just like many bloggers in Malaysia, I am not a penembak curi (hit-and-run sniper) that politicians and their servants have largely generalised to demonise the bloggers.

Making sense of Malaysian democracy

That said, I also took note of the advice Chun Wai had for all players in the opinion space, and I humbly have him in quotes:

Some like Jeff Ooi, Ahirudin Atan @ Rocky and Patrick Teoh put their names on their blogs but many others don’t. But that does not mean they cannot be traced.

Jeff Ooi and Rocky have made a name for themselves with their fearless comments and even breaking news. They have a huge following among Malaysians and, in the case of Screenshots, there are even advertisements, which is unprecedented in Malaysian blog journalism.

Their blogging has made Malaysian democracy more meaningful although not everyone agrees with their views. They should not be regarded as dissenters because democracy is about tolerance.

They have been bold enough to bring up issues that mainstream newspapers have not done.

It is unfortunate that many Malaysians only look at the political scene in black and white.

It would be meaningless if Malaysians were to agree to everything our political leaders say. We would be doing a great disservice to the country’s leadership if we do not speak up.

That probably could be the reason why The Star, though very much a politically-partisan newspaper owned by a non-Malay component party in Barisan Nasional, could maintain its stride as ( 1 ) the largest circulation English newspaper in Malaysia with ( 2 ) the largest multiracial readership ( 3 ) securing the largest advertising revenue; and ( 4 ) making it the most profit-making media organisation for, not years, but decades.

God is fair. Advertisers are ROI-smart, And most importantly, news consumers are discerning. They all decide which paper becomes champ, and which ones are fit to feed the dogs.