I was surprised to know that in Selangor, any new application for new cybercafé has been frozen due to unknown reason. I presume the state government has their own rational to impose such restriction and I’m not going to argue about that. Whether it’s a good or bad decision, it’s up to the citizen of the state to think and to judge the state government, consciously using their conscience.

What I’m interested to know now is how we, as the citizen of Malaysia prioritize our needs. I was surprised when I first came back to Malaysia in March, to see the amount of ASTRO disk around Klang Valley. Even worse when I passed across few low cost apartments or flats around Klang Valley, the outlook of ASTRO satellite disk affix to the wall of the building resemble the outlook of mushrooms on a dead tree trunk. So far, every house that I went possesses at least one ASTRO decoder. Yes, I understand. ASTRO is ‘the place’ where people can go for ‘travelling’, for ‘studying’ and even to participate in ‘sports game’ (remember Euro 2008 when ASTRO ‘built’ ASTRO STADIUM with multiple screens). That’s how powerful ASTRO can be in Malaysian life.

However, when it comes to the discussion of internet connection at home many would come out with reasons such as “I don’t have a computer at home”, “It’s too expensive to have an internet at home”, “I prefer to use office internet. Free and faster than home connection”, and most of the time, the common one is “Internet is too dangerous for children. You know lah all this porno stuff that’s available on the net”. Well I guess what you see on the HBO, Cinemax or Animal Planet sometimes gives you more information about porno (anyway, according to Babylon-Concise Oxford English Dictionary, the meaning of porno is “television programmes, books, etc. regarded as catering for an obsessive interest in a particular subject”) than the internet. So, which one carry more weight when it comes to the accessibility of pornography material.

After all, what we crave from both is information. But don’t you think that television only provides one-way communication compare to the internet. It’s going to be interesting to know how people would like to spend their extra money for such facility.

p/s: I have a question to ask. A simple question and you don’t have to scratch your head to answer this question. The question goes like this: If you have extra $100 every month from you salary and you want to spend it badly, which one would you purchase:

1.    ASTRO (Family package + mini packages + Sports) = RM59.95; or

2.    STREAMYX (Streamyx 1.0Mbps with 1.0Mbps download speed and 384kbps upload speed with MODEM) = RM99

Happy answering!!!