Is alive and well and living in Malaysia. Its current name is PAS Youth and it is up in arms over the depiction, in a local Chinese newspaper, of its leader Hadi and the joke Speaker as monkeys.

No one actively believes that these two have been transmuted into simian form even if their behaviour and public utterances might lead to such a conclusion- Furthermore the newspaper concerned later apologised for the representation; not because it thought it inaccurate but in the interests of racial harmony in a nation deeply divided by misconceptions about entitlements.

There is a lesson to be learned here and one which PAS youth should ponder on deeply. It is that in a free society, which present day Malaysia clearly is not, different opinions can be held about persons and things by different people. Thus when persons prominent in current affairs or in important public employment (as with the two concerned) say or do things those who do not agree or accept such dicta have a right, within the law, to disagree publicly.

Better educated and less puffed up personalities than these two are aware of that and accept criticism as part of political activity. The basic issue can, and will, be settled at election time and, later, in the Courts. In the meantime, as the Americans say,”suck it up”