Baronhawk's Nest

"Tiada senjata lebih tajam dari kata-kata, tiada racun lebih mustajab dari cinta." 

~ Hazlan Zakaria (July 15 2012)

Takkan ku kenang lagi, kisah mimpi semalam.
Tak perlu ku kembali, memori nan kelam.
Esok girang menanti, unggas menyanyi ria.
Menyinsing tirai pagi, diufuk fajar suria.
Namun hatiku sepi, ceria luput selama.
Kelmarin tiada lagi, parut pedih tanda luka.

You can cut our fibre to terminate our internet connection, we will string new cables or use wireless broadband.

You can DDOS our servers flood them to kingdom come, we will prepare new ones and move on into the clouds.

You can threaten us with law suits and harass our reporters, we will face you down and show you true grit, that even John Wayne would be proud.

We will not be silenced.

And we are not alone.

With every attack, every law suit and every harassment, every journalist threatened, punched, kicked or cajoled...

You swell our ranks of readers, broaden our reach to the rakyat and drum up new recruits for our fight.

We will not be silenced.

If needs be we shall tell our stories via word of mouth, strung-up strings and empty cans or bootleg pages and smuggled art.

Enlightenment is not new-tech. It is old-school democra-tech.

It is truth, it is knowledge, it is the full-fledged right of the governed.

The LIBERATION of the rakyat.

Hazlan Zakaria
June 30 2012

 















THE JOURNALIST'S CREED
by Walter Williams 1906

I believe in the profession of Journalism.

I believe that the public journal is a public trust; that all connected with it are, to the full measure of responsibility, trustees for the public; that all acceptance of lesser service than the public service is a betrayal of this trust.

I believe that clear thinking, clear statement, accuracy and fairness are fundamental to good journalism.

I believe that a journalist should write only what he holds in his heart to be true.

I believe that suppression of the news, for any consideration other than the welfare of society, is indefensible.

I believe that no one should write as a journalist what he would not say as a gentleman; that bribery by one's own pocket book is as much to be avoided as bribery by the pocketbook of another; that individual responsibility may not be escaped by pleading another's instructions or another's dividends.

I believe that advertising, news and editorial columns should alike serve the best interests of readers; that a single standard of helpful truth and cleanness should prevail for all; that supreme test of good journalism is the measure of its public service.

I believe that the journalism which succeeds the best-and best deserves success-fears God and honors man; is stoutly independent; unmoved by pride of opinion or greed of power; constructive, tolerant but never careless, self-controlled, patient, always respectful of its readers but always unafraid, is quickly indignant at injustice; is unswayed by the appeal of the privilege or the clamor of the mob; seeks to give every man a chance, and as far as law, an honest wage and recognition of human brotherhood can make it so, an equal chance; is profoundly patriotic while sincerely promoting international good will and cementing world-comradeship, is a journalism of humanity, of and for today's world.