Stephen Tan Ban Cheng
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Gold Forumer
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Tunku Abdul Aziz: Liars hiding behind the cyber curtain - 2008/07/14 15:32
This was the reply I received from Tunku Abdul Aziz, when I sent him my comments on his New Sunday piece headlines "Liars Hiding Behind The Cyber Curtain."
"Dear Stephen,
"I agree with you that the lack of confidence in the government is its own making because for decades its whole apparatus has been geared to manipulating the citizens of our country and the institutions that are intended to underpin our system of parliamentary democracy.
"Like you I welcome good responsible blogging, and like you I despair of those bloggers who see nothing wrong with damaging an individual's reputation as long as the uninformed will take it as the gospel truth.
"I agree with you entirely that the government should take the citizens into its confidence on matters that affect them directly, and not hide behind the official Secrets Act.
"You should send your comments to the NST for the Letters Page as what you have written deserves a wider audience.
"With kind regards,
Tunku"
I have since got his permission to post the reply in the Malaysian Bar Forum.
So long as we in Malaysia have upright and right-thinking leaders like him, so long will we be blessed. Admittedly, Tunku was never a politician. All the more, his disinterest means his views should be given the weight that they deserve.
I have since rehashed my earlier views contained in two posting which I have appended below and sent it to the Letters Page of the New Sunday Times.
(1) TIME FOR RIGHT STEP
Written by Stephen Tan Ban Cheng, 13 July, 2008 at 08:40 pm
This is a fair comment. The onus on the widening credibility gap between the government and the governed lies clearly on the side of the government leaders.
For far too long now, our government leaders have cherished the thought that news can be managed and manipulated, without realising that it is only up to a fine point.
It is because of the existing credibility gap that most of the bloggers enjoyed such a warm welcome from Malaysians. Not all bloggers are bad; most of them are pretty good and well-intentioned, but time will certainly expose what some of them are up to.
A step in the right direction is for the government leaders to take Malaysians into their confidence. And we can certainly begin by discussing the social contract that underpins our young nation.
(2) RIGHT SANS RESPONSIBILITY
Written by Stephen Tan Ban Cheng, 13 July, 2008 at 09:21 pm
And yes, I forgot.
In the Malaysia-Today website recently, some bloggers called my learned friend, senior Bar Councillor Roger Tan, names and even became very personal about the views he expressed on the scandal of the two statutory declarations made by a private investigator.
Roger was even wrongly identified as the lawyer-turned-corporate leader, Dato' Roger Tan Kim Hock, the youngest son of the late Senator Tan Sri Mohamed Tahir a.k.a. Tan Tong Hong or T.H. Tan.
The funny thing about the whole exercise is that these bloggers were having a field day while others just could not access the comment column at all.
Another funny thing is that this is not the first time that Roger has been wrongly identified as the other Roger Tan.
So, as you can see for yourselves, there are bloggers and bloggers.
These are what I term "fast and furious" bloggers. They seem to enjoy their empowerment as cyber activists; they enjoy this right without taking the attendant responsibility.
Mana boleh, macam ini?
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Circular No: 7/2008 - Palestine Humanitarian Fund
