Burning the bridges of friendship

It is hard to believe that the cartoons published by the New Straits Times insulting Thailand and Indonesia would come from Malaysia, a country which has taken a moral high ground in its war of words with its southern neighbor.

When Malaysia responded to Singapore Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew's derogatory remark on the high crime rate in the Malaysian state of Johor, it was as if the country was smeared with the greatest of insults.

We would have thought that this saga had been put to rest after the leaders from both countries worked out an understanding. But Malaysia, it seems, is still continuing the war of words with a vengeance.

The underlying message in the cartoons published in the New Straits Times on two consecutive days is that Thailand will benefit from this squabbling as more and more Singaporean tourists will be holidaying in Thailand instead of Malaysia.

What we find offensive about the cartoons, however, are not so much the depiction of Thailand as a land of AIDS or prostitutes, but rather that the cartoons are dragging Thailand into the quarrels between Singapore and Malaysia, in which we have never been a party to.

The Malaysians have criticized Singapore for being insensitive, but the images depicted by the cartoons go to show that they are no different from their southern neighbors.

The New Straits Times, which is closely linked with the ruling United Malays National Organization, is clearly not practicing the type of journalism that is internationally acceptable -- the kind that is practiced in good faith.

-- The Nation, Bangkok