“When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over the course of time they create for themselves a legal system that authorises it and a moral code that glorifies it.”

- Frédéric Bastiat

The Malaysiakini Team (whoever they are) did a quaint job of explaining the Fourth Estate (‘Journalism is not an act against parliamentary democracy’).

It was a pleasant stroll down memory lane about the whys and hows of Malaysiakini and rejoinders that journalism is something more than just reporting the news and regurgitating what the political buffoon class spew on a daily basis.

Me, all I can say is - are we really doing this bull crap again? Four years ago, it was about another organisation - NED (National Endowment for Democracy) - that was funding amongst others, Malaysiakini and attempting to destabilise the government. The mainstream media’s fingerprints were all over that one, too.

Previously on ‘Law & Order: 1Malaysia’: “Under the vomit-inducing headline of 'Plot to destabilise the gov’t', the New Straits Times (who I believe are propagators of a plot to destabilise rational thinking) outlined a chilling scenario of a motley group of new media types (which includes Malaysiakini) and social activist organisations who are apparently being funded by a nebulous American entity to destabilise the government and the implication being, to create chaos ... CHAOS, I tell you, in Malaysia.”

I was just surprised that the Umno propaganda organs did not slip in something about homosexuality in this latest assault on the rebel press. And make no mistake, whatever you may think of the alternative press, social media, the lawless terrain of Malaysian online punditry and political agitation, we are rebelling against the narratives imposed on us by Umno.

The issue of funding in my opinion is irrelevant to the charges of “activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy”. As I said when I acknowledged that we were traitors to the principles of democracy - “But even if NED is one of those, what the government needs to do, is prove that an organisation like Malaysiakini is attempting through propaganda to destabilise the government. They could do this by pointing out where Malaysiakini has lied or invented stories that would create mischief and chaos in this country.”

However, this whole idea that Malaysiakini is a threat to parliamentary democracy is the kind of Goebbelsian manoeuvre that is prime evidence that this country is becoming a failed state propped up by regional powers only interested in our utility as a proxy.

Let us say for one moment you could actually justify the use of this most noxious of law. Let us say that an organisation that lies, spins and fabricates was a threat to parliamentary democracy. Let us say that you did not believe in free speech or expression and supported such a law because its utility outweighed any fancy idea one has about free speech and independent journalism.

By these criteria, the news organisations that were a threat to parliamentary democracy would be news organs like the New Straits Times and Utusan Malaysia. The latter has even admitted to spinning the facts for a political party and publicly bemoaned that the lack of funds were affecting its efficacy.

In fact, I would argue that any news organisations that are owned by political parties are a threat to parliamentary democracy. I would argue that any organisation that threatens the independence of democratic institutions are a threat to parliamentary democracy...