Melayu mudah lupa

Raja Petra Kamarudin

How many of you remember KAL007. No, I am not talking about one of those James Bond movies if that is what you are thinking. Still don’t remember? I thought many of you would not.

KAL007 was the Korean Airlines flight 007 that took off from runaway 32, Merrill Field airport, in Anchorage, Alaska, at 4.30am on 31 August 1983. The Boeing 747 plane was bound for Seoul’s Kimpo airport. Aboard the flight were 240 passengers, a cabin crew of 20, a three-man flight crew, and six other Korean Airlines crew members.

Shortly after take off, the plane veered off-course into Soviet air space. At 18.62 GMT, the Russians shot the plane out of the sky and all 269 souls onboard were lost.

According to the Russians, the plane may have been a commercial flight, but it was on a clandestine military mission over Soviet territory, basically on a spying mission (maybe the ‘007’ gave it away). Nevertheless, the Russians refused to explain what really happened and, when asked by the media, they replied that the world has a memory of only 100 days. Within 100 days, something else will happen and everyone would be distracted and forget about KAL007. So why bother to explain? Just keep quiet for 100 days and soon enough the problem would solve itself — people would forget and stop talking about the issue.

The United States was understandably outraged over the incident, especially when it was suspected that Korean Airlines flight 007 was on a US spy mission. Anyway, after 100 days, the incident was totally forgotten and the ‘news’ no longer carried by the media.

So the Russians were right.

Then, on 3 July 1988, the Americans shot down Iran Air flight 655 over the Persian Gulf. This was of course a genuine mistake. The radar man aboard the US Navy cruiser, the USS Vincennes, mistook it for an Iranian F-14 Tomcat and sent two missiles to bring the plane down at a loss of 274 passengers and 16 crew members. At that time the Gulf was a ‘no fly zone’ so any non-commercial flights had to be shot down by the ‘policemen of the world’.

Now it was the Americans’ turn to face public outrage.

This just goes to prove one thing. Just keep quiet and the world will soon enough forget. Secondly, your ‘enemies’ eventually make the same mistake and they would have to stop criticising you when they are busy defending themselves and are trying to explain their own actions. And chances are, your enemies will not do what you did — that is, keep quiet — but will sing and dance in trying to wangle out of the sorry state they got themselves in.

Do I need to explain this further in relation to the present Umno crisis? If I must then you are not old enough to read this.

Malays say: Melayu mudah lupa (Malays easily forget). Well, the Russians say that the world also easily forgets, and it takes just 100 days for the world to forget. This is why, as some of you have charged, some of my articles, reports and exposes appear repetitive. I agree when you say that sometimes I repeat what I have said in the past, though maybe in a different language and against a new backdrop or scenario. But Melayu mudah lupa, so I am forced to repeat myself to constantly remind all and sundry that things are not settled yet. The issue may be old. But since the issue is still outstanding and yet to be resolved, then it stays current and I need to keep harping on the matter with no intention of trying to sound like a stuck record or giving the impression I am flogging a dead horse.

Back to Korean Airlines flight 007. If I had not related the incident above, would you have remembered it? Sad to say, only those who have lost family members aboard that flight would. And what about Iran Air flight 655? Some would remember Korean Airlines flight 007, but very few remember Iran Air flight 655. This is because the US is our friend and Russia our enemy. So we remember the wrongs our enemies did but those perpetuated by our friends are quickly forgotten.

Malaysia Today has no friends. All are enemies — so all are game as far as Malaysia Today is concerned. Malaysia Today, as the Malays would say, tidak pileh bulu (we do not discriminate or favour). We carry anything that is of interest to the public without fear or favour.

Malaysia Today believes in a free media and freedom of the media. Under such a concept we cannot choose what to carry based on what hurts our enemies and helps our friends. We carry anything that may hurt either, as long as it is in the public interest. And that is why we try not to have any friends as one normally becomes biased when it involves one’s friends.

Many cannot understand why Malaysia Today organised a talk for ex-Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad on Saturday, 24 June 2006. Mahathir is the ‘enemy’. It was he who signed the papers to detain me under the Internal Security Act. And my ‘crime’ warranting my detention was opposing the powers-that-be, the head of that power elite then being Mahathir himself.

Many find it even stranger that I would host Mahathir to a Malaysia Today event considering my background as the Director of the Free Anwar Campaign (FAC). The FAC was bitterly opposed to Mahathir and we fought tooth and nail for Anwar Ibrahim’s freedom. That should make Malaysia Today bitterly anti-Mahathir and fanatically pro-Anwar.

Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but that is not how a free media works. A free media means without fear or favour, and no two ways about it. And if anyone of you cannot grasp this then you are not ready yet for a free media.

Malaysia Today respects freedom of speech and will defend the right of anyone to say their piece. To quote an old cliché, we may not agree with what you say, but we will defend to the death your right to say it.

It is very easy to defend the rights of your friends as you love your friends. But it is very difficult to defend the rights of your enemies as you hate your enemies. Mahathir was named as the Top Ten Enemies of the Press when he was Prime Minister. Today, Malaysia Today offers Mahathir a place to voice out. Probably only Christians can understand this concept of love thy enemies. Malaysia Today would like to ‘teach’ Mahathir the concept of free speech, something he did not tolerate when he was in power. And, in the same process, we hope those presently in power can also understand what it means. This is more important actually.

In March 2001, I was arrested under the Sedition Act for upholding free speech. The police also raided my house and confiscated my computer. I was detained again in April 2001 under the Internal Security Act for the same ‘crime’. These were all under Mahathir’s watch.

One year ago, in June 2005, I was called in to Bukit Aman, also under the Sedition Act, for what I wrote on the Negeri Sembilan Royal Family. They again confiscated all the computers in my house. Earlier, in December 2004, the Deputy Prime Minister, Najib Tun Razak, made a statement on TV that I can be arrested under the Internal Security Act for my ‘crime’ of insulting Islam. Both these incidents were under Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s tenure as prime minister.

Yes, Abdullah is no different from all the other prime ministers before him, down to the First Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman. Dissent, free speech, criticism, opposing views, and anything at all not favourable to the government are not tolerated. And those upholding such ‘western’ values will suffer retaliation, persecution and probably prosecution as well. And if they can’t prosecute you then they will resort to detention without trial.

On Monday, all the chief editors of the mainstream media were summoned to Putrajaya to be told that there is to be a total media blackout on Mahathir. The media is to censor all statements by Mahathir criticising the government. Only statements criticising Mahathir can be featured. This makes Malaysia Today even more determined to feature Mahathir. The more they clamp down on Mahathir, the more Malaysia Today wants to cover him. And this has nothing to do with whether we support him or otherwise. It is all about a free media and freedom of the media.

Mahathir must be allowed to speak. Mahathir must be allowed to criticise the government. And those who criticise Mahathir in turn must also be given equal air time. Let it be a two-way street. However, since the mainstream media and TV stations already carry ample anti-Mahathir material, then Malaysia Today need not perform this job. But when they blackout Mahathir from the mainstream media, then Malaysia Today will have to take up the cause of that man who at one time was named Enemy of the Press.

Ironical isn’t it? Today, only your enemies want to take up your cause while your friends have become your worst critics. Yes, that is Malaysia Today. We practice a free media and freedom of the media to a fault. And will all those who do not understand or accept this concept please leave the room and go play in the corner with the small boys.