Road to where? You decide.

Sigh.

Hiatus kononnya. It still stands, by the way. Right after I respond to this ball in my court – last one, I promise. I’ll try to make this as clear as possible, then potter back to wherever I please.

Please read this if you haven’t.

Set? Go.

Firstly, in Susan’s rebuttal to me, there was no mention of Ijok in anywhere. This is strange because I was referring to her proposal of passing up a referendum in Ijok at the first place. And to view all the arguments in this context and temporal dimension is crucial, on two accounts: 1. Ijok’s ultra-sensitive political position. 2. All-Blogs is in its infancy, it is less than 1 month-old and has not even been registered. Its constitution is not ready; membership issues are still being thrashed out. To an extent, it is still but a figment of our imaginations, each person imagining his/her own version of what All-Blogs should be. Like a friend was telling me - blind men and the elephant.

Secondly, it is apparent that we have different targets in mind when we talk about the blogosphere. This I have to set right, because arguing with two different sets of assumptions is just wasting everybody’s time. To me, the Malaysian blogosphere composes of EVERY single blogger. Those who blog about their cats, their cars, what they had for lunch, how Phuket is the best place on earth and etc. Private, public. Real name, pseudonym. 80yearolds, 10yearolds. EVERYBODY. Sociopolitical bloggers should not be so presumptuous as to believe that they are the only segment of the blogosphere who matter.

I had been observing other segments of the blogosphere when the Bloggers United movement broke out. Based on my observations, many other bloggers simply do not share the indignant feelings of this part of the blogosphere. They don’t care. *gasps from the audience* They don’t. So from that point of view, I’d say that basing All-Blogs on the Bloggers United framework would limit it to precisely the 300 people who put up the badge. But All-Blogs could be so much more!

Thirdly, I am not proposing that bloggers under All-Blogs tone down to appease the government. We have to be clear here, that All-Blogs is an entity separate from its members. Its members can do whatever they like, but NOT under the name of All-Blogs. For example, Rocky can go to Ijok and blog about it, but he may not blog that “All-Blogs went to Ijok today”, unless it was passed by an All-Blogs meeting. The members can have all kinds of ideologies and inclinations, but the umbrella of All-Blogs must be neutral. Also, All-Blogs should not impose any rules on its bloggers except some general non-binding pledge, like I had previously mentioned here.

You mentioned that All-Blogs must take a stand to educate and engage the government. Well, my stand is that we should keep our eyes on the macro objectives of freedom of expression and freedom of information (elaborated here), and I don’t believe that going to Ijok, demanding for freedom for bloggers is a strategic move to lead us towards that direction. I beg to differ about the government not needing education on blogging, and I don’t think they need any more persuasion that bloggers are serious about their freedom to blog. How do you intend to educate and engage the government when you push it further to confirm its suspicions of ALL bloggers being anti-establishment and hence must be exterminated at all costs? And how is that fair to other bloggers who don’t share your cause?

You flatter me when saying that my thoughts represent the future generation of Malaysia, Susan. However it would be utterly insolent if I were to accept that as I can see many other youths from diverse backgrounds working together towards a better Malaysia, which would hopefully be brighter than the somber projection that you painted.

And this is my last word on the subject. I’ll be enjoying my hiatus avoiding leeches in FRIM, and you guys can have fun in my comment box while I’m away.

p/s. My other musings of All-Blogs can be found here, here and the infamous here.
p/p/s. It is Jun-E, J-U-N with a dash, E. *slaps forehead*