The following letter was published in Malaysiakini.com on Oct 6 2004.

The recent controversy surrounding the anti-Islam Hadhari comment on Jeffrey Ooi’s blog is a stunning example of how inept our authorities can be in regards to understanding the Internet. The comment was no doubt offensive. But let’s keep things in perspective. Keep in mind that only 30% of Malaysian use the Internet and most do not do so regularly. This tiny comment on Jeffrey Ooi’s blog would probably have only been read by a few dozen people. It was not an article or a webpage, but a small posting in a discussion forum. Since Berita Harian and some of our ministers made a mountain out of a molehill over this thousands of people all over the world have now come to hear about this comment. Even foreign newspapers like the South China Morning Post have written about this. Top websites like Slashdot.org with a readership of several million have also picked up the story. This whole controversy stems from our authorities not understanding the difference between a website, a discussion forum and a blog. The mistake of picking this battle rather than letting the comment slide only drew more attention to the offensive comment. In this case – probably hundreds of thousands of times more. Threatening to get the ISA involved is another stupid move. The comment in question most likely got less readers initially than the average graffiti in a public bathroom stall. Will the ISA be monitoring our public bathroom habits as well? Malaysian have to realize that one of the prices of a free democratic society is that every now and then, you will be offended by something someone says. To function in such a society you need to be able to handle occasional criticism. Getting hysterical over it or suggesting that the Internet needs to be censored is not a mature response. The few thousand Malaysian’s who regularly use the Internet tend to be highly intelligent and educated. These people are most probably mature enough to handle the occasional slur. Finally, Jeffrey Ooi, the blog owner should be commended for giving Malaysian’s a platform to speak freely. His side of the story was not told and I encourage NST readers visit his blog to learn more. Jeffrey Ooi should not be blamed or held accountable for something someone writes on his site. It is logistically impossible for Ooi to read and moderate every comment made. If someone paints racially offensive graffiti over your car while you’re sleeping should you be held responsible and considered a racist? The answer is obviously no. If you understand the nature of internet blogs you will understand why Jeffrey Ooi should not be blamed.