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By Ronnie Klassen (Putt for Change) Coffee in my mouth almost burst out on that morning when I read the unsubstantiated, sweeping statement by our learned Tan Sri Joseph Kurup, the Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment and President of Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS), calling the bloggers of Malaysia “an ungrateful lot” and of subversive element.
I felt outraged and insulted by his statement not so much because of the fact that I’m now a blogger myself but, rather due to the fact that such a statement came from one of the ‘greatest icons of ungratefulness’ himself, with all due respect. I may sound harsh towards Kurup but for those who know him well enough, including his constituents and his ex wife and children (with the ex wife) could probably concur with me on this. I shall save the details of his “past track records”, both personal and official ones, for another occasion. It was outrageous and unbecoming of such a senior politician and leader like him to label the bloggers in this country as “the ungrateful lot” and simply accused them of instilling hatred against the Government, just simply because some bloggers in the Interior of Sabah had criticized the government for failing to bring much development to the Interior area, which till to-date remains a fact. I dare him to substantiate his statement with proofs, failing which he should publicly apologise to bloggers in the country. His statement was not only an insult to the bloggers but also Malaysians at large. Such a statement shows his sheer ignorant and failure to understand the rationale behind the emergence of the bloggers and, his reluctance to accept their criticism of the government especially when it has done something wrong or made policies that were dubious or not in the best interest of the nation and the people. The role of the bloggers in the present day’s Malaysia was probably best described by none other than our former PM Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammed recently, when he said "The internet, particularly blogs could be useful for making the truth known, and for individuals to air their views and feelings freely". This was especially significant when it came from the longest-serving PM of this country who was no fan to “press freedom” when he was in office. Although he himself has now turned to the blogsphere to air his views and even criticism against the government of the day, he still can’t change the fact that he was the ‘engineer’ behind the series of the infamous “Ops Lalang” clamping down on political dissents. The other significant statement indirectly supporting the blogsphere was made by the former Home Minister, Syed Hamid Albar himself where during his ‘departure interview’ by Bernama two months ago, he called for the liberation of the media in this country. He even said due to the tight control and manipulation of the mainstream media, his own children don’t even bother to read the mainstream papers nowadays but opted to log on to the Internet to find out what’s happening in the country. I strongly believe if the government do not unnecessarily impose a tight control of the mainstream media in this country, and are always acting in the best interest of the country and the people, there will be nothing for the bloggers to criticize. They certainly just can’t simply fabricate or pluck something out of the thin air. Even if they did, it just won’t hold water. Our people today are much wiser than before. Therefore, it was absolutely unfair and outrageous for Kurup to make such an unbecoming remark on bloggers of this country who were in fact playing a crucial and critical role as the ‘watchmen’ or ‘whistleblowers’ over the conduct of the government. I believe Minister in the PM’s Department Tan Sri Koh Tsu Khoon will be very thankful to us for helping him to keep an eye or a close watch of his colleagues in the Federal Cabinet, making it easier for him to evaluate them under the Key Performance Index (KPI). And my humble advice to Kurup is that he should learn to accept, if not appreciate, the criticism made by bloggers in the Interior of Sabah and to take immediate measures to better improve the livelihood of his constituents, if he is really grateful of their support. Read more at: http://advocateviews.blogspot.com/2009/06/coffee-in-my-mouth-almost-burst-out-on.html
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The Blogs 
It depends from where you are standing. From the people (like you) of the tyrant regime's point of view we are “an ungrateful lot†and of subversive element! From the point of view of our children and future generation we are "liberator and patriots".
And so Mr. Kulup Foreskin, our children's and future generation point of view is far more important than yours!