Email interview with  The Mole . Story by Amira Nutfah. KUALA LUMPUR – Feb 20, 2016: Netizens are urged to use the Internet responsibly, now that Facebook, Whatsapp and other social media avenues are playing an increasingly prominent role in communication. Media experts who talked to The Mole stressed that netizens must practice self-censorship to avoid the unsuspected repercussions that irresponsible posting and sharing would cost to the general populace. Earlier, Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak in a blog posting advised Internet users to authenticate news shared over social media news feeds. He wrote that careless postings can create unnecessary confusion, panic, and fear, while in some cases, would lead to online scams. “In conclusion, don’t blindly click, like and share things that you see on your newsfeed, without fully understanding the details behind the headlines or the truth about the story,” he wrote. Journalism and media ...

Like many political junkies of the world, I was intrigued and fascinated by the events in the Middle East in 2011-12. A series of revolutions (popularly referred to as the ArabSpring) swept across the Arab world from Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen to Bahrain and Syria. Looking back, I was naive for actually believing that real political change was really happening. So when I first read this book 4 years ago, I couldn't quite understand Dr Ramadan's pessimism or in his own words - "cautious optimism" over the events in the MidEast. I mean, come on, they have never tasted real democracy (Malaysia on the other hand have had 12 General Elections since 1955). Why not give them a chance instead of being overly pessimistic? But by now, it is evidently clear that Dr Ramadan's pessimism was fully justified. The so-called revolution was only meant to be temporary. While the revolution succeeded in bringing down Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, promises of a democratic elections...

The US presidential election is no doubt one of the most watched political events on earth and personally I have been an avid observer of American politics especially after the election of Barack Obama in 2008. Unless you have been away for the past year or more, then you would have read that on the Republican side, Donald Trump and Ted Cruz are currently leading the nomination charge while in the Democratic party, Hillary Clinton is battling out against Bernie Sanders to be the presidential nominee. Every presidential campaign is unique in its own sense. However, the 2016 elections is perhaps the most entertaining and most divisive ever in the history of modern American presidential elections. So what is new in 2016? As they say a week in politics is a long time. So imagine four to eight years. If there is something that is strikingly clear today in contrast to the previous two presidential elections that we should take note is: 1) the losing grip of the moderates which by a...