Dunia Berputar

I stayed up until about 2 am, glued to AlJazeera, to watch the analysis on the release of the 15 British sailors ‘seized’ by Iran.

I waited and waited for the statement from Britain and EU, but no, they ‘didn’t know' how to react to the news.

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did an excellent PR stunt in addition to good 'gesture' based on what he said “following the model of the Prophet”.

When the Western world and western media expected ‘confrontation’ from the Muslim world, President Ahmadinejad gave them a shocking treatment – ‘let us play victim, pardon them and win’ and Britain will look bad if it says thank you or if it continues with its arrogant old ways.

As a wartawan-pencen and PR consultant, I salute Iran for grabbing the opportunity to shine and executing the PR plan in such an excellent manner.

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Moving on, bloggers using locally hosted websites may soon have to register, according to Energy, Water and Communications Deputy Minister.

What do I think of this?

Honestly, when we embrace new technology and move into unchartered territories, there are things that we are ‘afraid’ of and would want to ‘control’.

I’m not saying it’s bad or good. What I’m saying is, instead of channeling energy into looking at potentially negative things blogs can do, why not engage the ‘new media’ and see how it can help in good governance.

Sometimes these ‘writers’ have more knowledge than some of the consultants yang charge berjota-jota ringgit and try so hard to look important and intelligent but isi-tarak.

When there are two million bloggers, how would one department with 10 staff do the monitoring?

Jangan marah yer... sekadar memberi pendapat. Saya comel jer, tak der lah pandai mana...