By Tay Tian Yan | October 21, 2011
The Malaysian Insider

OCT 21 — Those who spread rumours across the Internet are villains while those who echo Internet rumours are fools.

Among the latest names on the list of fools is Khairy Jamaluddin, who should not be foolish.

Anyone with little understanding will curse “senseless and despicable” when they heard about the recent rumours accusing Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s teenage son of harassment.

Just like rubbish, similar accusations have been piling up on the Internet and, generally, people do not even border to read them as they are so disgusting.

However, Khairy actually treated them as treasure. He tweeted immediately and even “embellished” it with sexual innuendos.

Should it be the words and deeds of a well-educated politician who graduated from Oxford University?

As the BN Youth chief, should he slander a 16-year-old boy?

Spreading rumours and launching personal attacks on the Internet are flaws in the Internet age, as well as a cheap political weapon.

Khairy used to be a victim himself. He was involved in a sex scandal spread online after he got married to Nori Abdullah.

The attacks were obviously meant to destroy Khalid’s political future. Khairy, Nori and the famous actress involved in the scandal should have been distressed and harmed by the rumours.

As a former victim and the BN Youth leader, he should immediately come forward and condemn the act when he saw them on the Internet. He should also stop them immediately if they were “products” of a mercenary team.

As a father himself, I believe that he does not wish to see his sons being treated the same and regarded as members of “kampung buah dada” a few years later.

Sure it was a blow to Lim’s son but he should not be sad as the truth has now been revealed. Instead, he should take it as an early political lesson. As a member of a politician’s family, he has to get prepared and be strong to resist such attacks.

I think Khairy is the one who has suffered the greatest blow. As a Youth leader who has to build a healthy image while establishing credibility, the foolish and frivolous acts this time have undermined many of his efforts made over all these days.

As a father, he should be ashamed if he has a little empathy.

And he has to pay the price for making such a move to serve his political purposes.

The only way to make up is to apologise to Lim’s family, as well as society.

As for the mercenary team members behind the scene, would they learn a lesson and be watchful over their deeds and words?

The answer is of course negative. They will continue captivating instead.

The greatest difference between the online virtual world and the real world is, in reality, we can differentiate between gentlemen and villains, and between normal and abnormal persons. In the online virtual world, however, the true identities are always hidden or confused. Conspirators and losers could wear a mask and launch malicious attacks.

Anyone who believes them should as well be regarded as a fool. — mysinchew.com