I know we have repeated this so many times that saying it until we are blue in the face is no longer a fashionable thing.

First were Nanyang Siang Pau and its ‘monkey business’.

I wonder what possessed them to even think about putting up such a cartoon, let alone actually put it up. Where have they been all these while and what have they been smoking? What in any other country will brushed aside as legitimate satire of figures holding public office, here it will be interpreted as an assault on the ‘maruah’ of the ruling class and insulting a religion.

We can argue to kingdom come but the answer will be the same, why on earth did they do this, nothing else to do trouble-maker, an excuse to divert the attention from the crucial problems facing this country.

I am surprised that the red-shirt head honcho did not turn up to protest, must be busy organising the next hearse or bed protest.

The object of the cartoon is neither an untouchable religious subject nor are the people portrayed some sort of private figures. One is a politician and the other holds a politician-appointed post. They should not be accorded any higher protection than a normal person. If defamed, just sue, that’s what Everyday Joe has to do. Don’t rely on the state apparatus to fight your battle.

Therefore criticism and ridicule is ts part of the perils of the job. Even the president of the United States and the prime minister of the United Kingdom are often caricatured unflatteringly. You don’t see people picketing in front of the offices of the ‘perpetrators’ or have the home office issue a show-cause letter within 24 hours. (By the way in these countries, they ruling parties don’t have any say on the running of the press, let alone be able to issue show-cause letters.)

Even more amazing is the fact is that the show-cause letter was issued within 24 hours. Those who deal with the government will know how difficult this is to achieve, even getting through a phone call will take days. I digress but ponder the points. In any case this was not the first time a newspaper has insulted a politician or made fun of others, but I suppose those don’t count as they were against opposition figures or parties or NGOs that are not pro-government.

Then we have the name-calling by the person who was the target of ridicule above as reported here. Even fate could not have shown up the double-standards prevalent in everything everywhere in Malaysia better than this. While his supporters were crying wolf about their ‘revered leader’ being insulted, he goes and fires some serious expletives about an opposition party.

Not only were the words rude, it was unbecoming of an elder when children are watching. If children were to do this, they would probably get a smack on their mouths from their parents and have their mouth washed out with soap. This is the ‘statesman’ his supporters want to make the next Malaysian PM.

If our ruling party has managed Malaysia like the party which spawned DAP has done in Singapore, I am pretty sure we would probably be the fourth ranked country in Asia, after China, Japan and South Korea; as compared to we are now being in a serious danger of being overtaken by even Vietnam.

In the meantime in Bolehland, we continue to seemingly ‘syok sendiri’.