If the much-felt anxieties of two panelists on RTM1's Fenomena Seni live forum on April 23 are anything to go by, one cannot be faulted for thinking that there are sections of the Malay Muslim population who are adverse to compassion.

One might even be tempted to think that perhaps it is the Information Ministry - which runs RTM1 - that views with suspicion and as threatening any display on the silver screen of tolerance, kindness, affection, and support for marginalised groups. Hence, the framework for Fenomena Seni's discussion that night, that Yasmin Ahmad's movies, Sepet and Gubra, had somehow corrupted Malay Muslim culture.

Two of the panelists, namely film producer Raja Azmi Raja Sulaiman and Berita Harian assistant entertainment editor and film critic Akmal Abdullah, outdid themselves in charging that many scenes in both movies were unnecessary, unreal, and would confuse the religious and moral sensibilities of its audience, and by this they meant Malay Muslim viewers.

Akmal argued that Yasmin's movie reality was not typical, nor was it representative of the reality of most Malay Muslim lives.

Why, he argued vehemently, didn't the bilal (muezzin) in Gubra report the sex workers in his neighbourhood? They should be caught and punished by the religious authorities, not shown compassion and understanding. The bilal was not fit to be a bilal.

Raja Azmi, meanwhile, took exception to the display of affection between the bilal and his wife in a kitchen scene that showed the bilal cooking. A pious woman, according to Raja Azmi, would not allow her husband to cook.

Her closing remarks on the show added another dimension to her arguments: that Malaysia belonged to the Malays. That's why it was called Tanah Melayu before.

What is troubling about these statements is not that they have been effortlessly voiced on national TV as fact because freedom of expression should ensure a person's right to an opinion.

What's disconcerting is the underlying assumption. And that assumption is that there is only one reality - that of these two panellists and others who might aspire to the same - and that reality, including Raja Azmi's version of our country's history, must be everyone else's reality.

No other realities, even if they are compassionate realities are allowed. Even if it's a movie we are talking about. Other realities either lived or imagined or wished for contaminate and confuse.

Akmal even went as far as saying that Yasmin's "fantasies" promoted values which were "dangerous" and "manipulative".

In the light of such serious charges, on national TV no less, it really is worth asking, what exactly does Sepet and Gubra undermine? In my opinion, Yasmin's two movies are not brilliant but they are brave and important because they offer us possibilities other than retribution, intolerance, sexism, fascism and racism.

What kind of culture then are these two movies really corrupting?

SO, yesterday was World Press Freedom Day again.

And what does Malaysia have to show for it?

While many feel there is greater lattitude for the media under Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's administration, the fact is little has changed if events since November last year are anything to go by.

Since then, we've seen the resignation of two senior editors in China Press, the indefinite suspension of Sarawak Tribune, a two-week suspension of Guangming Daily, a four-month delayed permit renewal for Oriental Daily, a showcause letter to the New Straits Times, a blackout of news such as the oil price hike protests, and at least eight writers being blacklisted due to political pressure.

Jacqueline Ann Surin believes that you cannot be neutral on a moving train. She is an assistant news editor at theSun.