THE pen is mightier than the sword.
This we know. But beware this wicked quill for it is the arch-enchanter’s wand too. There is as much sorcery and spell as is ink in the contraption.
We who hold the pen must not licence it to roam here, there and in between just to twist, slant and distort. For, in these crevices, lie bias and bile waiting to be mined.
What good is a story if it harms and hurts a compromise that we so favourably have reached?
Of late, Malaysia has been reduced to three tags: race, religion and transition tale. This is reductio most unfair. Surely, Malaysia is made of bigger and broader things. There is much more to report and analyse.
In a dozen more days, we will celebrate our 62nd Merdeka Day. The road to independence and the journey thereafter will surely make a better read than race, religion or transition tale.
Consider, the transition tale. It is a tiresome rerun: one man urging another to give up to yet another. Such replays are best left to political parties to resolve.
Scribes who have dark imaginings must hold them in check. Malaysia can do without such distress.
The media must be a space for ideas and forum to debate issues of public concern.
Yes, the media must keep the government and commerce in check. But this must be done for the public good.
Doing this for anything less will mean the pen has not been put to good use.
Young Malaysia has many promises to keep. And every penman — no matter what his medium — must help the nation keep them. Nay, rally round them. For in the promises lie our forefathers’ dream.
They dreamt the dream of a united nation. The three shouts of “Merdeka” that rang out the throaty voice of the Malaysians gathered at Selangor Club Padang on Aug 31, 1957, were our dream summarised.
It will be similarly summarised in a dozen days from now. Let not our pen disturb this.
This caution is not the New Straits Times’ alone. A similar caution comes from an old hand at governance, former international trade and industries minister and Economic Action Council member Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz: “People should understand what’s right and what’s wrong, what’s good for them and the country.”
We cannot agree with her more. We repeat her words: “To just focus on negativities, to be destructive, to spew malice, to talk without facts and having no care for the consequences of what they write is to forget that united we stand and divided we fall.”
And to the young among the scribes who do the same, Rafidah has this to say: “You are simply working to spoil your own future.” We could not have put the caution any better.
Malaysia is a many-splendoured thing. Diversity abounds. We are all of elsewhere, with different histories. This land that we have named many names as time clothed it has kept us as one. So we must remain. Let no prejudice get near the pen.