The Freedom of Having Your Own Mind

The letter pasted below in italics is part of a write-up by reporters of the famed Malaysiakini online portal. The letter is from Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to the blogger Din Merican. Din Merican is of course one of my favourite blogs.

There is some undesirable elements here

Mum, is this politically correct for me?

To me, a favourite blog is something that I like to read. I open that blog everyday. I read the articles that I like. A lot of the times, there are something good, something worth knowing, something worth pondering about, something intriguing, or even something funny. That does not mean I like or I agree with everything that is written in that blog. Far from it, there are things I detest too. I am an adult, I have a good brain, I have a rational mind, I can think for myself and I can decide what is good or bad or what is in between. I am not that gullible, that I would swallow everything up without having the benefit of a doubt here and there. Malaysia Today, for example, is a very popular online news portal. However, personally, I find Raja Petra's writing to be rather arrogant, somewhat bile and vitriolic at times. But I still read that news portal because there are also things that Raja Petra or the other writers write that I very much agree upon. We are all adults here, we have a choice, we can choose, we can be selective. Like on TV " viewer discretion is advised".

Let's say that someone (who else if not MCMC) decides to block access to Malaysia Today or some other news portals or blogs because it thinks that the news portal is corrupting the minds of its readers. Seems to be happening too often nowadays anyway. What's my reaction to it? I will be very irritated. Truth of the matter is I am already irritated because I read Asia Sentinel all the time and it is blocked now. The person who blocks the portal think I am a moron because I will believe whatever things I read or whatever people tell me. I have no discerning power, I have no mind of my own. I am so feeble-minded, can very easily be swayed and I can so easily be corrupted too. This notion is also supposed to be very true for Muslims in Malaysia according to, of course, our "respected Muslim  clergies". Many bloggers and writers have written about this attitude that is so prevalent in Malaysia nowadays, that Muslims here are so very very weak in their aqidah that they have to be protected, at all cost, from all "undesirable" elements all the time, even to the point of ridiculing the general public.

At the end of the day, the power that be, can of course be capable of limiting or depriving whatever resources or freedom available to us. One thing for sure is that they cannot control our minds. They can preach or block whatever they want, but it is still diligence, dedication, sincerity, responsibility, honesty and trustworthiness that will endear them to us.

🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭

2016-01-20 9:00 GMT+08:00 MCMC New Media Unit <newmedia.unit@cmc.gov.my>:
Ruj. Kami : SKMM(T)09-NMSMD/960/2016 (14)
Tarikh : 20 Januari 2016

En. Din Merican (dmerican2@gmail.com)

Tuan,

BERITA PALSU BERKENAAN LAPORAN PORTAL SARAWAK REPORT BAHAWA SPRM MEMASUKKAN 37 SYOR DAKWAAN TERHADAP YAB PERDANA MENTERI DATO’ SRI NAJIB RAZAK

Dengan segala hormatnya perkara di atas adalah dirujuk.

2. Adalah dimaklumkan bahawa Suruhanjaya Komunikasi dan Multimedia Malaysia (MCMC) mendapati bahawa pihak tuan telah menerbitkan sebuah artikel yang mempunyai maklumat yang tidak benar di bawah tajuk “Malaysia: Prime Minister Najib Razak on the way out?” melalui pautan berikut:

https://dinmerican.wordpress.com/2016/01/18/malaysia-prime-minister-najib-razak-on-the-way-out

3. Untuk makluman tuan, pihak Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia (SPRM) telah mengeluarkan satu kenyataan rasmi pada 18 Januari 2016 yang menjelaskan bahawa laporan portal berita Sarawak Report yang mengatakan kononnya terdapat 37 syor dakwaan berasingan telah dikemukakan oleh SPRM terhadap YAB Perdana Menteri Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Razak melibatkan kes SRC International, adalah tidak benar.

4. Oleh yang demikian, pihak MCMC dengan ini menyarankan pihak tuan untuk menurunkan dan menghentikan penyebaran kandungan berita palsu tersebut bagi mengelakkan daripada melakukan kesalahan di bawah Akta Komunikasi dan Multimedia 1998 (AKM98).

Sekian, untuk tindakan segera pihak tuan. Terima kasih.

Yang Benar,
Jabatan Rangkaian Media dan Pengurusan Keselamatan
Bahagian Pengawasan Digital
Suruhanjaya Komunikasi dan Multimedia Malaysia (MCMC)
Off Persiaran Multimedia
63000 Cyberjaya
Selangor Darul Ehsan
Malaysia
Tel : +60 3 8688 8000
Fax : +60 3 8688 1000