“…//…What is very disturbing…the latest government directive to expand the blackout of the Opposition from government television and radio stations to private stations….//..” – YB Kit

On page 1 of today’s The Sun July 4th is the report that Dr Lim Keng Yaik retracted and blamed it on “misconception” (that he “was out of the country and was not familiar with the issue”), and that his “Energy, Water and Communications Ministry had withdrawn the letter Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission sent to a private television station asking it not to screen speeches of Opposition leaders”.

..//..“Abdullah had given a solemn undertaking to the Malaysian journalists that he would give their memorandum serious consideration..//..” – but to give “serious consideration” is a nice way of saying “no promises” on that score.

Eight years later after he became PM and Home Affairs Minister the repressive laws – Printing Presses and Publications Act, the Official Secrets Act, the Sedition Act, the Internal Security Act or the Police Act – are still there because, according to PM, “whether we use them depends on the situation. Even if we don’t use them, we leave it there. When we discipline our children we don’t throw away the cane even if we don’t use it but hang it up as a reminder to them.”

His justification is the same hackneyed one of the media being expected to be responsible to maintain harmony in a nation that had seen terrible incidents in past when racial sensitivities had been incited by irresponsible speech.

So far it appears that he is still true to his word that the “cane” is still hung up as a reminder but not really used. For it is generally accepted as a fact by BN’s apologist and detractors alike that the mainstream papers, especially the Sun (not shackled by ownership control by political parties) and to an extent NST, have given reportage and commentary more critical than, on comparative basis, during Dr Mahathir’s tenure. No one has so far been charged for disseminating false news under Pak Lah’s administration. In the Internet domain, we have the irrepressible RPK who is still free to spin his truth with no official clampdown.

For so long as “ketuanan Melayu” and its concomitant policy of NEP as an ideology prevail and constitute the cornerstone of the ruling party’s perpetuation of political power in this country, there is always the cane, hung up and ready to be used against overt challenges thereof.

That’s the reality. I suppose we’re supposed to be grateful that there is improvement by a notch in the cane not being readily used with alacrity so far.