In what is probably the biggest censure of the free press, not seen since, well the last time someone was held under the ISA for opening his trap, Sarawak Tribune (local 25,000 copies daily circulation newspaper) was banned indefinitely yesterday. Click here and here.

On Saturday, the little paper that could published the controversial (what isn't these days) Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) caricatures in a little corner to accompany news on some embassy or other being burnt down. And they didn't actually publish the pictures like how the Western Media (in the spirit of solidarity and free speech) reprinted them; they just printed, again in the little bottom left corner, a blurry miniaturized picture of the Danish paper's page that carried the caricatures.

It was really to give its readers the opportunity to judge whether these caricatures are worth killing innocents over. Don't get me wrong, I protest against the publication of the caricatures, and tribune reprinting them was probably not the smartest move, eventhough it was done with good intentions, but really, to ban a whole paper over it? Isn't that a bit severe? I'm sorry, but I read the article, and saw the accompanying pictures, and in all the squinting, and trying to decipher the illegible danish punchlines (and giving up soon after), i actually lost all my desire to burn any danish pastries.

You could easily get those pictures from the net. I won't link them here, 'cause I hear the Government's gonna clamp down on the bloggers next! Shudder! I won't even tell you that you could easily google those pictures. Nope. I will not participate in disrespecting the muslim sensibilities of the country. not me, baby.

For those of us who subscribe to the paper (me!) we received the Utusan Sarawak (sister malay language paper) instead. And no, those guys didn't reprint the caricatures. Not even a picture of of tribune's picture. But even if they did, I doubt they'd get in trouble 'cause nobody friggin' reads their paper!

What does this mean for the two million or so inhabitants of Sarawak? From an intellectual standpoint, with only every 80th sarawakian reading it, not so much, really.

While in the spirit of patriotisme (but Sarawak is not a nation in its own right! not yet ...) and nostalgia, I do definitely hold a soft spot for the paper, and to be honest, its a pretty decent paper, but since when has the banning of a government mouthpiece been such a bad thing? Besides, they have a lousy cartoons page (the peanuts and garfield variety, except they have none of these. just really cheap unfunny ones); humanities and varieties articles that seem to have been bought from other newspapers; and the laziest bunch of editors ever! They love typos so much that they would purposely put one or two in if they think the article's too perfektly written! Just ask wid.

I only feel for the editorial staff and all those who owe their livelihood to the paper. The "junior" editor in charge has already resigned! And the editor-in-chief resigned as well for good measure. What more do you want?!