COMMENT It might seem like a small thing, but the protest by the Kuala Lumpur Hawkers and Petty Traders Association against the planned Falun Gong lantern procession illustrates just how dangerous it is that if we depend too much on China for their investments and largesse, we could lose ourselves in the effort to curry favour with the superpower.

It might be that one day all China has to say is "jump" and Malaysia will automatically ask "how high", or worse, involuntarily launch into the sky with a will that is neither our own, nor to our benefit.

We might suddenly forget that our compass should be on Malaysian issues and not to import China's concerns and make them our own.

After all, Falun Gong is a legally-registered society that operates within the bounds of Malaysian law.

Just because Falun Gong is outlawed in China, and that country is uneasy about its operation over here, it does not mean we can take away the rights of other Malaysians, and give away our sovereign right to activities on our own soil...