Kingdom of Fear

I use this title which was the late American gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson's book on post-911 America, to describe the current atmosphere of fear in Malaysia.
Barely a week after the Human Rights Watch group released its report on Malaysia's dismal record of human rights, aptly describing the Malaysian standing on human rights as "More Rhetoric than Reality", than police moved in to arrest a blogger for insulting the late Sultan of Johor. Granted that Information Minister Rais Yatim says that blogger Aduka Taruna's apology should be accepted and the matter laid to rest, but the fact is that members of the public, and i mean ordinary folks much like you and me, have deemed fit to lodge over 25 (yes, 25!) police reports against Aduka Taruna for his alleged insults against the late Sultan. And why must Rais suggest a pardon, are malaysians incapable of holding their own opinions? There is currently an atmosphere of fear justified by slavish pronouncements of "asians don't normally insult a dead Sultan", "we don't do this, we're not supposed to do that". The fear-feeders/mongers have scored a penalty kick goal against the cause of freedom which is growing dimmer by the day. Dimmer and dimmer under the watchful, baleful eyes of this current administration. Without freedom there can be no innovation. Without innovation there can be no growth. Without growth there is only a slow lingering death. I ask myself why mere words against a public figure can be so powerful as to attract the penalty of losing one's freedom. Even if detention is for 24 hours, that is a big deal. You do not deprive someone of his liberty unless you have sound, solid reasons for doing so, such as to protect the public or to prevent harm. But what harm has Aduka Taruna done except to express his personal opinions against a public figure, insulting or crude notwithstanding? Protect the public from what? And why do the Sultan's rabidly ultra-loyal subjects insist on an apology? Why after apologising is there still such a cry for blood? Why apologise? Apologise to who? Aplogise to the unthinking, hate-crazed mob.
Words have the power to sway opinions and the powers-that-be are deathly afraid of it. They won't have it and they have the power of fear in their control. The organs of government can be used to horrific effect to deprive individuals of their freedom at the whim and fancy of the top dog (pun intended). But i am less surprised at the government's use of such coercive powers than i am disappointed that so many Malaysians are so intolerant and unable to embrace the idea of freedom for freedom's sake. Of course, freedom is not free, freedom comes at a price. And it seems now that many of my fellow Malaysians are unwilling to pay this price. They are content to trade freedom for the badge of slavery because that is all that they have known all their lives. And, so it seems they are content to stay this way. Are we too afraid to be free? Which begs the question: Are we worthy of freedom?