Wikileaks: Open & Transparent -v- 'Official Secrets'?

First, let us look at what really has been disclosed by Wikileaks - they are communications between persons in the US State Department. Some are opinions & some maybe facts especially when it is reporting what some said. It has been exposing the hypocrisy of the US,....and maybe also some other heads of States who say one thing to the people and another thing to their 'close circle', which may no longer include US Diplomats after this leak.

On the whole, the revelations have been good - but sadly the powerful are getting together and reacting to those responsible in disclosing all these information to us.
 
Any advocate for freedom of information, open transparent government will be for an era that governments should not be keeping 'secrets' from the people. And, so they would be in support of revelations of Wikileaks...

But, the 'super powers' (and maybe even other people in power [or those who hoped to be someday]) are really not at all happy about all these disclosures...

Of course, the best strategy is to discredit the source -- and thus the portraying of the main person of wiki leaks as a sex offender... People have forgotten the legal principle that all persons are innocent until proven guilty. Is Julian guilty? Well, for now he must be seen as innocent - until he has had his trial and have been proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. At the same time, just because he is a 'celebrity' does not mean  that he is above the law. The victims too, in this case, is suffering because beyond the normal pressure  they are facing additional pressure as a result of this Wikileaks issue. {Charging an opponent with a sex crime is really not new for Malaysians. It was done in the Anwar Ibrahim case....)

The number of persons...countries that are getting 'hit' by these exposures is great...and of late even Anwar Ibrahim and PKR has been hit - but that should not affect of position - i.e. is it a good thing or is it a bad thing.

Well, these documents in UK, US, etc...normally also will be available to the public once it has been declassified many decades later. We learned a lot about Malaysia's early days and the communist party from the recent declassified documents of the UK government, did we not. I believe Dr Kua also wrote a book about this focusing very much on the May 13 1969 incident. What Wikileaks have done is just bring it all out early when the real good guys (or culprits) are still around and active... 

UMNO-led BN government has indoctrinated our minds in believing that there is a real need to keep 'secrets' from the ordinary people   - hence the Official Secrets Act, and we are still slaves  to this culture. Even after Pakatan Rakyat came into power, they have continued to keep 'secrets' from the people. Will they change? Will they learn to be totally open and transparent - will they disclose the detailed income expenditure accounts for their Local Councils?


What do we want? Open, Transparent and Accountable Government ....OR 'a little bit' Open, Transparent and Accountable Government? 

I wait to see how Pakatan Rakyat, PKR and Anwar will react to the recent Wikileaks exposure. I wait to see how you, my fellow Malaysians, will react...