Common Sense and Common Courtesy: Ground Rule for Blogging
You write crap, you lose your credibility and people just stop visiting. And Rais said the same thing. Pity our blogger friend, Raja Petra. Malaysia Today suffered in readership since his Statutory Declaration. However, he is still in the million readership league.
Another Brick in the Wall
The iceberg hides a bigger proportion of its mass under water. The visible part is only a smaller part of the iceberg.
BUM 2009 is coming, the new Minister of Information, Dato Dr Rais Yatim has stretched his hand to bloggers, former Minister for Internal Security, Dato Syed Hamid call for a Code of Ethics for Bloggers, and recent skirmiches amongst bloggers (not war, Bujai).
Just like the iceberg, what is visible on the blogs is a small part of a bigger undercurrent of blogosphere.
When Syed Hamid expressed the need for Code of Ethics, I thought it was not a smart idea. In fact, I expressed the same comment nationally in a RTM Radio interview. It is simply because inch by inch, it will lead towards curtailing freedom of speech and expression. What we have achieved in this last few years will be reversed?
To move forward as a nation, we should elevate more discussion, debate, and expression. We have been too long suppressed by feudalistic mindset of the leaders knows best and the rest of us stay setia membabi buta.
Those at the helm of national leadership must be one with the ability to articulate their thoughts, take charge of the national debate and convince us, and not through curtailing of expression. Unless we speak, the Government and Opposition do not know the wishes of the people and take the necessary action for our betterment.
Thus, such cliche expressed by Shabery Chik for Tun M to quite down and speak through "proper channel" are out-of-date and regressive. Let the man or anyone speak, lest one wants to be called a coward.
