Fellow Malaysians, this is what we are up against, hired writers/apologists for a discredited regime

Fellow Malaysians, this is what we are up against, hired writers/apologists for a discredited regime

7 Oct, 2008

This sort of writing or writer/blogger should not surprise us. They litter the media landscape in our country. It reminds me of the heydays of the Cold War when the CIA used novelists, academics and journalists to spread the word. Stalin and Hitler too did the same thing when they temporarily held the reins of power. It is happening now in our country under a discredited UMNO-led Barisan Nasional Government.

The difference, as I see it, between these guys and their hired hands, and our propagandists or so-called psy-war specialists/experts is that the latter are less sophisticated and subtle. We can identify their motives the moment we finish reading just a few words since what they put out in the public domain comes through as clearly loud and blatantly insulting.

What surprises a naive guy like me, though, is that there are people who are willing to sell their integrity for money and promise of favors, like someone I know as an acquaintance who desperately harbours dreams of returning to a major newspapers as its chief group editor, if Najib Tun Razak becomes Prime Minister.

It is, therefore, important that we read views and reviews with a critical eye, use our ability to think and reason, and exchange information among ourselves, exercising utmost care. There is so much gubberish, like this one for example, out in cyberspace, print media and the air waves, that we need to be careful. —Din Merican

Unraveling the RPK Mystique

Much has been said about the ISA detention of Raja Petra Kamarudin. Over the past decade, the 58 year old has emerged from obscurity to become a sort of cult figure for some Malaysians, and his detention has become a cause célèbre for “the quest for justice and inequality.” RPK is also perceived by many to be some sort of figurehead and rallying point in their opposition to the UMNO-led Barisan Nasional coalition that has governed the country since Merdeka 51 years ago.

Who are these RPK supporters?

Do they truly represent the Malaysian social milieu? Well, they themselves certainly feel that way. A browse through RPK’s Malaysia Today portal would give that impression. The lively postings allude to a sense of inevitability in the socio-political evolution of this country, where some sort of People’s Power movement, indeed an alternative irresistible political force, would sweep through Putrajaya to obliterate and replace the current ruling oligarchs with an “enlightened” administration driven by the mantra of Ketuanan Rakyat.

READ MORE HERE: http://dinmerican.wordpress.com/