Many Malaysians have expressed outrage over the reproduction of the controversial caricatures of Prophet Muhammad in our local dailies. Two newspapers have since been penalised. But cool heads must prevail.

However, this doesn't appear to be the case. With the fate of New Straits Times - one of the country's oldest newspaper - now hanging in the balance, the whole saga begins to reek of a political witch-hunt.

For the first time in its 160-year history, the NST is facing possible suspension for publishing a syndicated cartoon which made a pun of the violent protests ignited by the caricatures that Muslims considered blasphemous.

We have said this before, we'll say it again. The government was wrong to ban The Sarawak Tribune for reproducing a photo of a reader with a newspaper depicting the caricatures. It was wrong to suspend Guangming Daily for doing likewise.

But having heavy-handedly punished the two dailies, it is now caught in a bind. If it doesn't take action against the NST - a newspaper linked to ruling party Umno - it will be accused by its detractors of double standards.

Needless to say, some of those who are demanding punitive action against the newspaper have an agenda other than defending Islam.

There is clearly no love lost between the newspaper and certain influential parties. Newly-minted Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin - who sought the axing of top NST editors even before this issue emerged - is one. PAS, which has lodged a police report against NST, is another.

Those of Zainuddin's ilk have clearly been watching, with growing alarm, the NST's new found boldness. On the other side of the political fence, opposition party PAS felt it had also been unfairly targeted by the newspaper over the years.

For them, it's payback time.

One cartoonist strikes fear

We too have been wronged by the NST. Malicious reports on malaysiakini were published by the newspaper in the past. Despite this, we do not believe the government should take action against this Umno mouthpiece.

Newspapers do make mistakes. However, it is up to readers, not the government, to decide whether the newspapers pay for their lapses in judgement.

The NST's cartoon strip, Wiley Miller's 'Non Sequitur', shows a sidewalk artist next to a sign reading: 'Caricatures of Muhammad While You Wait'. A caption accompanying the cartoon reads: "Kevin finally achieves his goal to be the most feared man in the world."

Let this be clear. The cartoon was not meant to mock the Prophet. It instead took a sarcastic swipe at the violent reaction to the caricatures. Put simply, Miller prodded us to ponder: 'Why should we be afraid of one cartoonist?'

Even Zainuddin conceded that the cartoon, unlike the caricatures of the Prophet, was not offensive. Nonetheless, he was quick to add that it "hurts the feelings" of Muslims.

We stand by NST in defending its decision to publish the cartoon. If we start banning images and reports which some people are unhappy with, where then do we draw the line?

This is not to say that editors are free to publish whatever they like. There is no freedom without responsibility. However, if we don't stand our ground on this issue, we may well be on our way down a slippery slope where no Malaysian can tell where self-censorship begins and ends.

Caesar's Rome

This episode reminds me of an incident when I was an editor in another daily, The Sun. One of the quirky requirements of working in the mainstream media is having to meet with Home Ministry officials every now and then. These were really lecture sessions - they talked, we listened.

At one meeting, an official walked into the conference room where top editors from The Sun had been summoned.

He slammed a thick ring file on the table and began leafing through the press cuttings form The Sun which the ministry found unpalatable. He berated the editors for printing such 'anti-government' reports.

Then he came to a cartoon strip. It was a weekly series about the convoluted politics in Caesar's Rome. At one point, the story alluded to a homosexual relationship between an ambitious politician and his nephew.

The official was visibly incensed by it. "In Malaysia, there are no homosexuals," he thundered.

That was two years before former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim was charged for sodomy. The rest - like Caesar's Rome - is history.