Scrutiny

We live in a time and age where we need to be extra vigilante about the choice of words and expressions we use. I believe that there is nothing wrong with having an opinion but... it pays to be mindful of just how one expresses that opinion. Vague, sweeping statements of frustration and angst gets nobody anywhere... except a trip to the neighborhood police post. Its so easy to just dislike something for the sake of disliking it... but sometimes that isn't enough. If you can't substantiate or clarify what you mean online... don't even attempt to start anything. Its just going to backfire and blow up in your face as poor Abdul Malak has now realized. His choice of words, which went somewhere along the lines of "It's time to burn the minister and the PAP for this incident" was taken way out of context and became a cause of concern for the authorities. I empathize with Mr Malak. It wasn't too long ago when I found myself in a similar predicament as Mr Malak.

Having lost my temper with a fellow team-mate in Junior College over some ridiculously mundane issue, I stomped over to her lecture and gave her a piece of my mind. Somewhere in between that exchange, I told her in a menacing tone that, "if she continued to play with fire, she was going to get burnt". She went back and told her mum that I was going to set her alight or something and the next day, I found myself sitting in the principal's office with her mum, her and MY mum having tea with both the principal and the discipline master. At that juncture, I felt really pissed off with everyone involved for blowing up what I felt was a ridiculously childish issue. On hindsight, I now understand what Mr Hodge and my mum were trying to get at. That ancient chinese saying... about how its ok to "any-how" eat rice but it isn't right to "any-how" say stuff... certainly carries a helluva lot more weight than previously thought. So to Mr Malak... I say just take it as a lesson well learnt and be more careful with your opinions henceforth.

To the relevant authorities who made the arrest... I don't think arresting Mr Malak has helped much in the quest to clam down on those seeking to "incite public disorder and violence". Have a bit more faith in online community. Just as Mr Malak was able to find support for his anger and angst against the YOG organizing committee, I am pretty sure that giving those who felt contrary to how Mr Malak felt a chance to have their say against him on the internet, instead of throwing weight of judiciary against him, might have made a more positive impact on the public.