Well may the writer of [#1]We reap what we sow[/#] (April 4) wonder why we at [#2]Seachange Malaysia[/#], and many other pro-reformasi sites, have nothing good to say about Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad. Well may he deplore the fact that we reserve our sharpest barbs for him and his government while refusing to acknowledge the good that he has done for the country. The simple reason is this: We are the voices of backlash.

Rising from the deepest frustrations of Malaysians, we are the backlash against the supine mainstream media with their blind praise of Mahathir and their propensity to cloak in goodness, even the most inane things that he says.

We show that there are enough persons whose critical thinking faculties have not been addled by decades of propaganda by these same media, who would never in their wildest dreams, print a letter critical of the prime minister. Given the all-pervasive reach of the mainstream media, no one should imagine that our pitiful resources are more than a drop against the torrential output of those who inundate us daily with disinformation and the much varnished truth. To expect us to be balanced in this most unequal of contests is to demand that a billionaire and a pauper be both taxed exactly the same amount.

We are one-sided because we do not praise him. We believe that the country has made great advances in spite of Mahathir, not because of him, and that we would all be on a much higher plane had he vacated his seat long ago.

We do not need to dig for dirt when the prime minister supplies us with examples of his contempt for the public intelligence nearly every day: his vapid statements about Suqiu and the opposition's role in the Kg Medan riots, his inane attacks against foreigners, his accusations in the face of jailed ex-deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim's medical problems, etc. Just take this statement of his:

"They (Keadilan) saw what happened in a neighbouring country and appeared to be happy to see chaos, the killings of Muslims and Christians, Dayaks and Madurese; they are disappointed because there were no killings in Malaysia."

Can any prime minister be taken seriously after making such a statement? In a truly free country, any leader who makes a single wild claim of this nature would be forced to issue an abject apology at best, and thrown out by a vote of no-confidence at worst.

But Mahathir disgraces his office by such monstrosities time and again and again.

Where are the voices of outrage?

Where is the public anger, the boiling blood?

Do not expect to find them in your daily papers but on tiny little set-ups like Seachange Malaysia.