By Professor Dr. Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi

A few days ago, Malaysians sent the strongest message yet to the ruling party in the Malaysiakini court case. Just barely four hours, RM500,000 was collected in a time frame that shames the flash floods of Kuala Lumpur.

Even I, who have witnessed how fast the Lim Guan Eng solidarity collection was reached for his bail in the 'corruption' case immediately after the Sheraton Move, was taken by surprise at the intensity and speed of the Malaysiakini Citizen Aid.

If the PPBM government wants to declare an election anytime soon, their result of zero votes among Malaysians of all multiethnic groups is clear.

In my score board, PN versus rakyat, it is 0 -2, zero for PN and score two points for the rakyat.

Bring it on…says Malaysians!

However, in the midst of this euphoria of a citizen's backlash against the sitting government, I need to caution Malaysians what the court case of Malaysiakini means in a deeper analysis of nation-building.

While many civil society groups hail their idealism of total and absolute 'freedom of speech', I would like to tamper this freedom with a condition of wisdom and 'adab'.

Wisdom is the ability to see beyond the first reactions and into a deeper understanding and appreciation of a situation and thus is able to make a better response than a knee-jerk reaction.

Adab, in Malay and Islamic culture, is the manner of communicating an issue to those who hold a 'higher' position in society. The language used must be proper and with strong courtesy.

In the Malay tradition, the word 'sindiran' or 'kiasan' is always used in the construction of actions, words and gestures to a sitting 'authority'.

I personally have never liked nor agreed to the total and unencumbered freedom given to netizens to exercise their democratic right to criticize the authorities in the commentary section of each news.

After reading many of these comments, although the internet allows democratic freedom in an unshackled cyberspace, to me these comments serve as a dividing force in nation-building.

Many of my personal civil society friends disagree with me on this point, as they say freedom of speech should only be tampered with facts and not fake statements.

I take a different stand in that even though we citizens can comment and criticize the authorities with facts, the manner of using words, phrases and tone is absolutely necessary to ensure a positive response, especially so in a country divided on the Tinder-like fuel of race and religious matters.

I would recommend that news portals such as Malaysiakini monitor all comments before they appear in the comments section. Better yet, all comments section must be terminated completely. Those who have things to say should say it in the Letters section with their names and IC numbers or else don't say anything at all.

Freedom must come with responsibility. It was the irresponsible acts of netizens and some rakyat that use improper tone, expressions and mannerisms in their words and sentences that landed Malaysiakini in the dock.

Malaysiakini has already advised netizens to use the proper decorum but I have never thought that the advice will be followed for the simple reason most Malaysians DO NOT know what proper decorum is!

Encouraging anonymity is the culprit because as the Malays say, 'baling batu sembunyi tangan' or hiding the hand that threw the stone, and 'lidah tak bertulang' or the tongue is boneless.

The Malays also have a saying that 'terlajak perahu boleh diundur, terlajak kata buruk padahnya'.

In my relationship with my wife and children, I always try the hardest to exercise wisdom before speaking.

Although I am the unchallenged authority in my house, I have found that throughout the years, using my 'freedom' to speak spells 99% disaster in our family relationship.

I practice a similar way with my students and young academics. If a student keeps using his handphone in class, I would simply announce that anyone who has matters to attend to via the handphone should take a break and leave the classroom and come back after his business is completed.

If the student still persist, I would announce that the lecture will not continue until those who are using handphones have decided to respect their classmates and pay attention together with them.

We are a sad country with a huge baggage of mistrust, racially charged narratives of history and now with a religious issue completing the powder keg of explosion.

If our economy suffers from corruption and the pandemic, we will just eat less and survive on the little food we have. But if our social and religious relationship breaks, no amount of food and shelter will compensate for the lost peace and harmonious living that will agitate our loved ones and us in the longest of time crossing generations after generations without any end in sight.

I would therefore reiterate that we Malaysians must practice wisdom and adab in giving advice and making comments to the offices of authority.

Let us not practice Western-style freedom simply because it is an ideology that looks sound on paper but it must be tampered with culturally accepted norms and values in order for democracy to live up to its promises of dignity for all mankind and citizenry.

I would be happier still if all the comments sections be terminated in any news portal. If not, then all comments must be filtered by a responsible editor.

All news portals must take the Malaysiakini issue as an important lesson of nation-building in the important art of communication.

Democracy is no more than a well maintained and fueled up vehicle but it is our conscience, values and manners, or in other words our wisdom, that will dictate the destination for our nation.

(Professor Dr. Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi is Professor at a local university.)