The essences of democracy comprises of freedom of political expression, freedom of speech and freedom of the press. These attributes are essentially important elements for a democratic society to flourish. From the era of Napoleon Bonaparte, who famously stated, “Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets” (1804-14) in 19th century to the modern 21st century, the media have well been recognized as a strong political power, because of its strength and ability to influence the beliefs and perceptions of the populations. The capability for expression increases the participatory nature of democracy in cyberspace while significantly breaking old traditional media hierarchies. In the world of blogosphere today, many of the bloggers are their own writers, editors, publishers and bosses. They set their own rules and agenda on what to write, what to publish, what to censor and so on. The power of this new communication tool between citizens can result in the creatio...

May 2009 "We want to see a stop to settlement construction, additions, natural growth -- any kind of settlement activity" - Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State ( Washington Post ). Sept 2009 "US harshly rebukes Israel on settlement plans" ( AOL.com ) Nov 2009 "We do not accept the legitimacy of settlement activity. Ending all settlement activity current and future would be preferable," - Hillary Clinton ( msnbc ). I wonder when will all these diplomatic statements coming to an end? Especially when the outright violations of international law by Israel is so obvious.. And when can the international community, particularly the Palestinians can expect to see some tangible actions be done? It seems as if Israel who is the biggest superpower on earth, not America. Even the US can't tell them what to do.

Happy Ramadhan to all Muslims wherever you are..

Finally! I am taking leave from work for one week. It's been a pretty stressful six long months staying in Klang Valley commutting myself between Subang Jaya, Kuala Lumpur, Shah Alam and PJ only. So this is really a much needed break indeed. Inspired by the writings of Muhammad Ibrahim Munsyi in his " Kisah Pelayaran Muhammad Ibrahim Munsyi " and Ryszard Kapuscinski's " Travels with Herodotus ", I am off for a week-long historical cum photography road trip throughout Peninsular Malaysia. And am all set to snap thousands of pictures! Hopefully it'll be an exciting worthwhile adventure. I will also see how far DiGi's Yellow Man will follow me everywhere I go. heheh. Lastly, do pray for my safe journey.. :-) Til then, have a good week ahead folks!

Julia Klein's article, " The Myths of the Third Reich " (Third Reich refers to the era of the Nazi Germany) in the online version of The Wall Street Journal left me pondering over the question of freedom of speech and hate speech - 1. Where is the boundary between the two? 2. Where does one draw the limit? Interestingly, the article ends with the following sentence: "In Germany today, advocating Nazi ideology is illegal. But in the U.S. and elsewhere, balancing free speech with the desire to silence partisans of hate crimes and genocide remains a vital and troubling concern. The exhibition ends, appropriately, with this dilemma clarified but not entirely resolved. " - Julia Klein. Western nations, by and large have their own standard for freedom of speech - no freedom of speech for holocaust denial or anti-Zionist activism - to the extent that one could risk being persecuted simply by expressing doubts about the holocaust or risk being labelled as an anti-Semit...

This is an update from my previous blog post. Remembering Natrah (Part 1) Remembering Natrah (Part 2) Remembering Natrah (Part 3) Click on the links above to view the videos. Below are some excerpts from the interview. " ..keputusan mahkamah sebenarnya dihormati oleh semua orang Islam. Tapi yang menjadi rusuhan ialah kerana provokasi suratkhabar Straits Times (yang waktu itu di bawah British). Suratkhabar buat provokasi Natrah tu dengan gambar melutut pada patung virgin Mary..keluar (suratkhabar) berkali-kali, bukannya sekali. Ianya hanya caption story. Orang Melayu marahlah kan. Dah menang (kes mahkamah) fine , kenapa nak provoke . Suratkhabar Melayu seperti Melayu Raya marah. Persoal kebijaksaan pengarang Straits Times. Kisah ini meletakkan Malaya di peta dunia sampai ke Russia, Belanda dan UK. Sebabnya ada banyak pertembungan-pertembungan dalam kes ini. Pertembungan budaya Barat dan Timur, agama Islam dan Kristian. Tapi persoalan sebenarnya ialah soal hak asasi manusia. ..Seben...

In 1950, a custody battle over 13-year-old Dutch girl, Bertha Hertogh turns into a violent clash between East and West (source: Monsoon Pictures ). It was only this morning after reading a news report about Nadra (Bertha Hertogh)'s death that I thought to myself, why there is no film produced on this incident. So I decided to search the Net and could only found one documentary, currently in Singapore's national archive titled, ' My Name is Nadra, not Bertha '. Thanks to Facebook, I got to know from a friend that a movie on the Nadra tragedy is to be produced by Monsoon Pictures (poster above), scheduled to be screened next year. Below is an excerpt of my comment posted in Facebook, reproduced here. The issue of Natrah is not just about custody. But the bigger tragedies were the forced religious conversion and the insensitivity of the colonial British towards the local sentiment. First, Natrah was brought up as a Muslim and second, she was legally married to Mansor Adabi...