Monkeys of cyberspace

Khairy says bloggers are monkeys. In the New Straits Times, he was quoted as saying

"It is the law of the jungle and we need to take action against one 'monkey'. I think the other 'monkeys' will also get scared,"

Maybe he is just trying to take a potshot at bloggers who have called BN MPs Monkeys of Parliament. And what he said seems to validate the view that the action against Nat and Raja Petra (and earlier the lawsuit against Jeff and Rocky) are meant to spread fear and doubt among Malaysian netizens. Whatever the case, seems like the Pak Lah administration (oh yeah, he's back in the country) is hell bent in clamping down on bloggers, regardless if they writing fact or fiction. The key thing is they just cannot afford to allow cyberspace to be influential enough, or get more influential, in determining how voters will vote. Not when their attempts at creating various feel-good factors seem to be exercises in futility. But are they actually misjudging the impact of cyberspace on Malaysian politics considering the still poor Internet penetration here, especially broadband? No doubt the impact of cyberspace, particularly those of blogs and alternative news-sites will grow as the years go by. What's more, it wasn't too long ago when they were ridiculing bloggers as unemployed housewives, digruntled ex-journalists, and liars. Perhaps it's a case of them trying to cut off the head of the serpent, but too bad, cyberspace is more like the Hydra where two more heads will grow when you cut off one. Which brings to mind Gandhi's words:

First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win.

No presents for guessing at which stage we're in now. And dare we believe Malaysian netizens/citizens will, and have to, win?