Props

I try to steer away from subjects related to politics and religion. They are touchy topics and should only be approached by talented and responsible writers. Two such bloggers on the local Indo scene, who I have mentioned before, are IndCoup and Jakartaas. Their articles are critical, smart, and opinionated. They also open the floor to alternate opinions in their comments and respond tactfully to counter criticism. Personally I do not like people fucking with me so I just keep my beliefs to myself.

Recently by way of the above mentioned blog’s I found the Indonesia Anonymus Blog. The authors describe themselves as “a group of Indonesians, ranting about our beloved country. We are not native english speakers (or writers, in this case), so please excuse our grammar. We call ourselves anonymus because we could not decide whose name should be put as a writer. This blog is a result of many people grumbling about many things in many ways.”

This group of educated professionals is critical of the country they love so much and more so of the people running it. They have only been online for a month now but have already churned out some very thought provoking entries. I am excited to see what else they come up with next and I hope in time they do attract enough attention to create some ripples and eventually waves. However, I ask myself, what if they did make waves. Would some political figurehead be able to pull strings and have them shut down? On numerous occasions IndCoup has pointed the finger and to my knowledge has not received any threats. I like to believe that Indonesians have more freedom of speech than their neighbors in Malaysia and Singapore, basically because Indonesians have strength in numbers.

A fellow Blogger in Malaysia is once again under the microscope. Sixth Seal is probably the first blog I ever read and was also a source of inspiration for me to start my own. Once again, due to the controversial nature of his blog, he has his back against the wall. He has been forced to apologize for his entries and no one should have to express regret for conveying their own thoughts and opinions, much less for exposing a flaw that exists within and obviously imperfect system. I amongst others have also found information on his site beneficial and the commentary has been therapeutic for numerous others. This is not a question of whether what he is doing is right or wrong, but rather if the government has a right to silence him. It would be an injustice if we were denied access to the writings of William Burroughs, Hunter Thompson, or Lewis Carroll, would it not? Power to the people!