Lagi isu kebebasan media dan kesannya terhadap pemikiran rakyat

Berikut, disiarkan beberapa perenggan petikan surat pembaca bernama CK Ng yang disiarkan di Malaysiakini.

"The sweeping media reports of the current issues as suggested by Mustapha are merely a reflection of the poor state of journalistic affairs in this country. It is the result of a highly constrained and controlled press that is merely the mouthpiece of the political parties in power.

How can the controlled media really put out detailed discussion of the issues when in fact they are not supposed to? In my view, the media in Malaysia is largely a social pacifier – its aim is not to raise important issues, but to ensure the social ‘stability’ and continued political hegemony exercised by Umno and its lesser political cohorts.

Seriously, without a free press, many thinking Malaysians simply do not have the means to express themselves in a reasonable manner, nor do they know the limits of reasonable civic debate on issues that matter.

Many of us simply do not have the opportunity to learn how to discuss issues constructively and with care. This inevitably results in rather poor and at times rough attempts to voice one's opinion; extreme or otherwise.

And to those who are following the issues, they have little to fall back on when it comes to adjudicating the severity of the opinions. As I see it, this is a learning curve we have all got to endure as a democratic society coming to grips with re-awakened civic consciousness".