Happy (Gregorian) New Year to all! In commemorating the new year ( 1.1.11 ) - which many have speculated to be an election year for Malaysia - I'd like to republish my opinion-article which was first published at Klik4Malaysia many moons ago. As widely anticipated, David Cameron, 43, has just been named as the new British Prime Minister with Nick Clegg (pic above) as the Deputy Prime Minister. If the English Premier League is the most-watched football event in Malaysia aside from the quadrennial football World Cup, then the UK General Elections could be one of the most closely watched elections. Dubbed as one of the most exciting and hotly-contested elections, the UK elections have inspired and captured the interest of many Malaysians, including myself. What made the 2010 contest even more interesting than previous elections was the advent of strong "third force" in the shape of Nick Clegg's Liberal Democrats (also known as the Lib Dems) in British politics. The pheno...

'People's wishes and needs for democracy and freedom are irresistible,' Wen Jiabao says. ( full report ) Unbelievable! China for democracy?? The Chinese premier's statement has got to be one of the most, if not the most, revolutionary statements in the history of communism since the fall of the Soviet communist regime. Would we be witnessing Wen Jiabao to follow in the footsteps of former Soviet Russia's Mikhail Gorbachev's perestroika & glasnost policy of openness, transparency and economic reform (which subsequently resulted in the collapse of the Soviet regime)? This is certainly good news for the people in East Turkestan (Chinese Turkestan), Tibet and maybe Taiwan too. Though I do not foresee the secession of the conflicting provinces from the state of China, at the very least there will be a greater political autonomy ala Aceh in Indonesia in post-tsunami 2005 and better respect for human rights. Politicians of the world must realise and seriously tak...

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...

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...