RE: ARE YOU A WEATHERCOCK, PETE?‏

Dear Yang Mulia Raja Petra Kamarudin,

I know I do not have the right, neither the privilege to ask you to post this reply as the website belongs to you, and it is entirely at your own discretion whether you want to oblige, or just conveniently turn a deaf ear.

What I want to say now is, there appears to be a gross misunderstanding here between you me the gutless, choontoiless Jeffrey Ong.

I was not complaining about the RM20 registration fee, which as you said is no big deal. I can miss a meal or two to be among my fellow Malaysians and you, that is not the problem. The problem is FEAR, you are right. The Rakyat fear the long arms of the Government and the occasional warnings from the mouth of Rais Yatim that they would do this or that, and Hishamuddin Tun Hussein has yet to announce the contents of the Act to replace the ISA. What more, even the IGP could be involved with nefarious activities, as revealed by you. What is there to prevent him from sending some thugs to bash us up, or finish us altogether?

Yang Mulia, you are blessed with good fortune and hailed from Royalty, but not every Malaysian enjoys that status, so FEAR sticks in their mind that once put behind bars, they cannot, like you upon release, take flight with their family members in tow to join you in Manchester, UK, reside there till the tide turns. They are not "freedom fighters", only mere wage-earners, and if they are imprisoned or in prison, who is going to feed those hungry mouths at home?

Having seen the amounts, hundreds of thousands you had to pay to set up this website, and some more to pay to switch blog from Joomla to Wordpress, etc., etc., we are sure you do not depend on the registration fees to keep and maintain it, and operate it for that many years already.

May I venture to say that your past business sense and acumen should also tell you that the more popular your blog is, the more advertisements you will attract to augment your income and help defray administration costs. Therefore, in order to gain popularity and recognition of the reading public, more comments should be encouraged, though those frivolous and crude uncouth ones can be eliminated through screening process of your Admin. The Star newspaper would long have wound up had it not been for the heavy volumes of adverts to become the leading English daily.

Please do not take too hard on yourself and whack me like hell to kingdom come for asking you to just "open up the window and let the sunshine in". You are at full liberty to deny me or anybody that request for the site belongs to you and only you. I am just suffering from a dearth of home news and only hoping get to feel the pulse of Malaysia by reading the numerous comments by Malaysians. If the comments become scarce, because of registration requirement, people like Jocelyn Tan (pro-Govt) and Jaswant Kaur (pro-Opposition) will not be challenged for their remarks and opinions by both sides of the political divide. So the reports will be lop-sided.

You were right in saying that fear factor has even prevented many voters to exercise their rights, thinking that "the government may find out whom you vote for", but on the other hand, if you "open up your window" as I pleaded, the voters too could feel the changing groundswell and brave the challenge to vote according to their conscience with the clarion calls from those who comment over the last few days before the GE13. Then, let's say, because of this move by MT, the Opposition wins the next GE, and who then will try to find out whom you vote for. If any, they will thank the brave voters for making their dream to Putrajaya come true.

The Malaysians have "choontois", big ones too, I believe, but they cannot afford to risk losing the choontois when the odds are stacked steeply against them.

Finally, spare some thoughts for the senior citizens who possess vast experience and knowledge about our country, but they do not own credit cards to facilitate the payment of registration fee, or they find the registration process too tedious, so we leave them out in the cold, with their mouths full of things they want to share, but unable to do so.

Today, I am happy to note that the number of comments to your bashing me in this exchange have swelled to a respectable high of nearly 30. That's the way, aha aha, I like it.

Since I got bashed by you and some who commented, I hope you will post this letter after which, I will shut my gap, and forever hold my peace!

"THOSE WHO BRING SUNSHINE INTO THE LIVES OF OTHERS CANNOT KEEP IT FROM THEMSELVES!"

Salam, Minta Ampun, Yang Mulia.

Jeffrey Ong