Felicitous congratulations to malaysiakini on your fifth anniversary. Hopefully, the coming years will see an increase in your readership as Malaysians with a better education level embrace other sources of information other than mainstream newspapers and other government media organisations.

It is very important for news to travel freely. If we aim to live in a country with a first-class infrastructure and first-class service, the free flow of news - good or bad - has to promoted amongst our citizens.

News that is suppressed will only create uneasy rumours which can spread like wildfire and cause harm to the nation. The prime minister has told the public to tell him the truth and to work with him rather than for him.

To the above, he should add that we should talk with him rather than talk through him. This will help the nation to grow better and faster to be the modern civil society that its aspires to be.

How one wishes that our country can reach the levels of the developed countries where people and media are free to express their opinions openly without the threat of being hauled in by the secret police or gave licences suspended.

We cannot be living in fear of the government if we want to progress further. Dissenting voices need to be encouraged in order to stop the rot of our country which is manifesting itself in the high incidence of public infrastructure defects and rampant corruption.

To malaysiakini, keep up the good work in telling the other side of the story as our mainstream newspaper seem to be a mouthpiece for the present government with no room for dissenting voices and opposing views.

Hopefully, your news organisations will be a beacon for greater freedom of information for the public at large.