4/20/2008

The awakening

Like it or not, believe it or not, the Malaysian GE has brought new light into Cyberspace. Hsien Loong had talked about it, and has hinted that new regulations will be put in place to match the developments of internet news and gossips. Then TOC is taking the initiative to think ahead and has came out with a list of proposals to preempt what the bright guys and gals would come up with to fix the cyberspace challenge. And Loh Chee Kong also wrote an article questioning the relevance and the role that the msm should play before it becomes irrelevant. Actually all the professional journalists have been very uneasy with what they were doing and wanted a change. But they are just too smart to talk about it. Many would want to express themselves differently, write about issues they feel passionately about, the way they really see them. Poor buggers, trying to earn a decent living and constantly bug by their conscience, and having sleepless night. Then having to put up a brave front in cocktail parties explaining why and what they did are the tooth. And having to bear with the cynical smiles around them.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Professional journalists in paradise must have a nightmarish life. With the invisible markers that should never be crossed, having to self-censor on all the reported issues, having to be vetted and have to check with superiors what can and cannot be published, must be a very daunting way to earn a living. Conscience is a very potent force, maybe only to some.

I sincerely doubt any of them have sleepless nights??

Anonymous said...

If they come up with too radical a change in terms of fixing the cyberspace challange, that will dent their credibility about wanting to keep up with others, say Hong Kong or South Korea, bearing in mind their intention to pump a billion dollars into broadband upgrading. But I think they realise that it is not possible to have their cake and eat it. If not why do they not do something about, for example, the unofficial 'Yeo Cheow Tong' website which existed for so long.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

This is a red herring. It is an excuse for the govt to interfere with the citizens and their internet habits.

Badawi lost because he and his team did a fucked up job. It doesn't matter if people were communicating with each other online or in kopitiams, beer gardens and wet markets. if the govt is fucking up, people will discuss it with each other.

Intellectuals from cross the political spectrum have written white paper after white paper theorizing on the "effect of the internet" on Malaysian polls. And most of the commentary is pure bullshit.

Don't lose your common sense or be "intimidated" by some fucker with a string of worthless degrees, guaranteed unemployable except by a tax-funded educational institution, where he is free to come up with lunatic theories, at tax payer expense of course.

Common sense: Govts who do a bad job get thrown out of office. The People Get The Government They Deserve. (regardless of whether there is an internet or not)

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

actually it is simply a matter of control. controlling of media, agenda and people's thought.

anyway all the msm around the world is doing the same. even we are doing it to some extend. what we discuss becomes our agenda. we bring an issue to life, to be current, to refresh people's memory.