I was born in early 1980s, and by the time I can read, it was in late 80s and early 90s. It may be hard for the youngsters nowadays to imagine, but that was the time when all you have is government owned TVs, newspapers and radios. No alternative media, no facebook, no twitter and certainly no Malaysiakini.com. When I got on to the TV, all I had was TV1, TV2 and TV3. When I saw the newspapers, they were all the same; Sin Chew, Nanyang, Berita Harian, Utusan Malaysia & News Straits Times. Old days were certainly boring.
But I really love reading, so as my reading horizon expanded, I started to grow wary about government propaganda. People are made of different kind, and you can’t get everyone to like you, so why is it that everyone was uniform in praise of the ruling party? Could it be that our mainstream media censoring out dissenting voices?
Then Internet came along and Malaysiakini.com was born. Finally a credible alternative news portal emerged, and we now had a second voice! Malaysiakini was often at odds with the government, and it often painted a different picture from what the mainstream media painted. Suddenly, there is a competition of ideas, and the ruling party can never control the hearts of minds of the people. We now know better!
Supporting Malaysiakini is also supporting the freedom of speech. I support Malaysiakini for the same reason that I support freedom of speech, democracy and human rights.
So, when Malaysiakini announced that it needs a new home, we at kindlemalaysia.com quickly jumped in at this opportunity by sponsoring Malaysiakini a brick worth of RM 1000. We hope that we can make our country a better, and freer place. I also invite you to do the same, by buying a brick here.
