The Malaysian Insider :: Breaking Views
The Malaysian Insider :: Breaking Views |
| Posted: 12 Mar 2013 04:31 PM PDT
MARCH 13 — Malaysians seem to have a knack for self-censorship. The last couple of weeks have seen plenty of that in both the mainstream news and social media. A chorus of self-appointed Twitter watchdogs have been saying things like the following: "You do not know anything about (insert subject here) so you should just shut up!" "Why are you criticising the government now? You are disrespecting our troops!" The current Sabah situation is certainly drawing both the armchair activists and the anti-armchair activists, resulting in a whole lot of noise. Here is the thing about Twitter noise: You can choose to ignore most of it. At the same time, just because someone is saying something, you can choose whether or not to believe it. You do not get to gag people just because you do not agree with nor want to listen to them. I admit I got really annoyed when people made the silliest statements about our defence tactics, saying things like we should send our submarines to engage the Sulu militants. That is like saying we should use BB guns to ward off mosquitoes. Here is the thing, though. I respect your right to an opinion. But you also need to respect other people's rights to tell you when you get your facts wrong or offer a counter-opinion. But you are also within your rights to stick your fingers in your ears and yodel very loudly in response. Some things like hate speech have no place in the public sphere. Yet trying to clamp down on social media, as suggested by a deputy minister, is a violation of freedom of expression. My own approach is that I support your right to say whatever you want so long as it does not harm others. "Others", of course, does not apply to the government. Too many Malaysians still cling to the feudal mentality that we should meekly obey and never question or criticise our leaders. We are citizens. It is right to call our politicians out for their mistakes or lack of judgement. They are servants, not our masters. Though you would not know that from the way people bow and scrape in front of our politicians. So when those same politicians try to muzzle us "for our own good", I do not call them leaders. I call them tyrants. Tyranny comes in many forms but it is a tragic thing when we defend it by defending its perpetrators... or show ourselves to be tyrants at heart as well. * This is the personal opinion of the columnist | |
| Stunning Altintop goal helps Galatasaray through Posted: 12 Mar 2013 04:30 PM PDT
The Turkish side went through 4-3 on aggregate after handing Schalke their first defeat of the competition. "We definitely deserved it. We made a lot of mistakes in the second half and dropped back and they made it difficult," Galatasaray's Wesley Sneijder told reporters. "We wanted to go for the third, but we didn't do it and they kept pushing (until we scored a third late on). I think Schalke played well but with all our team spirit, it's a deserved victory." Roman Neustaedter gave Schalke an early lead but former Schalke man Altintop pulled the Turkish side level in the 37th minute when he collected a free kick and scored with a shot which swerved away from Timo Hildebrand and went in off the post. Burak Yilmaz stunned the hosts by putting Galatasaray ahead with a breakaway goal five minutes later, his eighth of the competition. Michel Bastos levelled for Schalke 04 just after the hour but the Germans could not find the winner despite dominating the closing stages, with Umut Bulut snatching a win for Galatasaray in injury time. Galatasaray started well with forward Didier Drogba shooting wide from outside the area in the fifth minute and he then saw a fierce left-foot effort palmed away by Hildebrand one minute later after Sneijder slipped the ball to him on the left. Hildebrand also did well to stop Selcuk Inan's shot from a narrow angle after Drogba played him through. Schalke's opener came completely against the run of play when Neustaedter fired home from six metres after the Turks failed to clear a corner in the 17th minute.
Altintop levelled with his first goal for the club and soon afterwards a Schalke attack broke down, Albert Riera slid in and his long clearance found Yilmaz, who outmuscled Benedikt Hoewedes and flicked the ball past Hildebrand. Galatasaray chose to sit on their lead after halftime but the tactic backfired as they were penned into their half. Teemu Pukki had a shot saved by Fernando Muslera at the foot of the post, Julian Draxler nearly scored after beating four defenders in a weaving run and Marco Hoeger smashed a shot against the crossbar as Schalke took control. Michel Bastos finally levelled in the 64th minute following another scramble in the Galatasaray area. Muslera denied Draxler with a stunning reflex save as Schalke poured forward without further success and the Turks made their progression safe late on after a breakaway. — Reuters |
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