The Sun controversy highlights the glaring problem of press freedom in Malaysia and the plight of journalists in carrying out their duties. When will journalists be allowed to do what they are trained and paid to do? Why are they being dictated what they can and cannot do by others?

In the West, newspapers may be laws unto themselves and that is the other extreme of an unbridled press, but it is a long way to the West for Malaysian newspapers which are controlled so stringently.

Though I am glad I am not a journalist, I take my hat off to those who are and who have to work under such enormous pressures, not only from the nature of the job itself - the deadlines and production restraints - but censorship and interference from so many quarters.

Journalists are like participants in a three-legged race shackled to their controllers, and forced to run backwards. It is an impossible feat as they will trip and fall on their face as we have seen in The Sun's debacle.

In a democratic country, the role of a free press is an integral part of the political process. Without the media's unbiased reports on the various institutions, the public will not know what exactly is happening or if the public servants, politicians and others with social obligations to society are accountable?

The more unaccountable the powerful make themselves, the more suspicious we should get because they tell us they have something to hide or have become so arrogant that they think they are untouchable. The guiltless has nothing to fear from a free and independent, even critical, press.

Newspapers have a duty to report the truth. How they gather information and report on the news is what professional journalism is all about. But too often, the poor journos who try to write only 'the news that matters' are twisted into robots by powerful manipulators.

Few have the will or power or resource to resist. As a result, the truth is never told and the people are fed half-truths, blatant lies, and tall stories that purport to be the news. This is an insult to the intelligence of every Malaysian.

Dishonesty has no place in a society that aspires to be a first class nation. Third class morals and values will get us nowhere. Let truth prevail and leave journalists to do a decent job of their profession.

I, therefore, admire and respect those journalists (and the rare media owner) who make the noble sacrifice of upholding their moral principles and resist the temptation to be party to lies and deception.

If a country leader has no scruples and is a dictator, the people will suffer as there can be no check and balance when the media cannot function without interference.

Journalists are agents of change when they can report the truth without fear or favour. The Sun's Dec 25 front-page story, and its sequence, is proof that journalism is a risky profession and that truth is stranger than fiction. Let us hope the truth will eventually surface and the innocent vindicated.

Press censorship is a double-edged sword. Editorial control comes at a cost. If the owners of newspapers control the editorial independence of their professional staff they will sooner or later make their newspapers unreadable and unbelievable because it is full of propaganda.

Gandhi once said that one loses nothing by not reading newspapers. He was right. When newspapers become untrustworthy, why read them? But because newspapers are an integral part of modern life, and many of us have become addicted and dependent on newspapers for information, we need to make them better.

Boycotting a newspaper or writing to its owners are ways we can get our message across to those who should listen. Newspapers have a moral responsibility and public duty to report the truth. Journalists who have reported the truth should not be gratuitously punished.

We should free our journalists from interference and persecution. They should be protected from unfair dismissal and unreasonable political pressure. But this is a 'mission impossible' in a country where the press is subject to control and licensing.

We need to work on the press freedom ideal to make it a reality tomorrow. All honest, diligent and intrepid journalists deserve our support because they are fast becoming an endangered species.