The recent tirade from various sections of our society over the alleged endeavour of the Namibian Government to restrict the freedom of expression in our country has left me pondering one fundamental issue. Do we really care about our country and our society or is this just another attempt at giving the Government the proverbial ‘Black Eye’? At the onset, one must concur about the vitality of freedom of expression for the prevalence of a successful democracy. Freedom of expression is, no doubt, the basic essence of any democracy. However, the same ‘freedom of expression’ could become a destructive force under unregulated conditions. Take, for example Osama and his pack of goons, who use the same freedom of expression to exhort their fanatical followers to kill innocent men, women and children in the name of religion. An ancient Japanese proverb states: “The tongue is but three inches long, yet it can kill a man six feet high”. That is what freedom of expression can do in an unregulated democracy. Even the news media have their own editorial departments to scrutinize all content to be broadcast or printed. This clearly reflects a certain control over individual freedom of speech and expression. I mean, surely, nobody can just go and print or say anything in the media without adequate material to substantiate his or her statement and that is the essence of a responsible democracy. Coming to the issue of talk shows where the caller’s identity is covered by the telephone network, it basically gives any individual the freedom to use this liberty in order to denigrate the image or reputation of any other individual without having to go through all that fuss about substantiating any such allegation. Such acts, apart from being utterly despicable and cowardly, in my opinion, cannot, in any manner whatsoever, be healthy for any democracy. One can only conjecture that, with the ostensible exception of the show-business industry, no person, whether it’s our founding father or just the ordinary man on the street, would like to have his image slandered from an anonymous quarter. I, for one, certainly wouldn’t like to take any criticism from any anonymous person who is cowardly enough to insult me without having the backbone to look me in the eye. The same applies to any rational human being. Look, the way I see it, Namibia is a wonderful democracy where the legal rights of all the residents are respected. So, if any person wants to make a point about anybody or any issue, he can do so without hiding behind a telephone line. Even the print media respects the anonymity of the writer so long as he gets his facts right. So if you want to criticize any politician or leading personality, and if you have the justifications therefore to make such criticism, then do it the right way. You have the entire Namibian constitution supporting you. So why is such a cynical ruckus being made about our Governments’ endeavour to ‘gag up’ mischief mongers? This brings me to the primary point of my argument, which is, whether we really care about our country and our society or is this just another attempt at defaming the Government? Most of the protagonists, raking up this issue, admit to the potential misuse of such freedom of expression through such talk shows. Nevertheless, they still insist on continuing with the existing system in the name of ‘democracy.’ OK, admitted, it’s the right of every citizen to freely voice his or her opinion, in a democracy and, I guess, on these grounds, blindly criticizing the Government, regardless of the issue concerned, should be endured. However, I’d like to ask these critics and cynics whether they have any solution to this issue or are they just going to continue with their disparaging war against Government institutions. Look, as an individual in a democratic society, I’m all for freedom of speech and expression. However, it has to be under responsible conditions. So, rather than irresponsibly criticizing the Government, wouldn’t it be better for all concerned, if we came out with some constructive solutions to this problem? One has to concede that the axing of the talk show doesn’t augur well for our democracy but continuing with it in this current form is not healthy either. Nevertheless, just plain criticism of the existing state of affairs is not the solution because that doesn’t get us anywhere. What we need is concrete solutions that will go a long way towards building a democratic but responsible Namibia. The optimal solution to the problem lies between these two extremes. Perhaps we could continue with the talk show under the condition that potential callers should first register themselves with the service provider. Unregistered callers will not be entertained. In such case, the caller, being cognizant of the fact that he could be held liable for mischievous statements, will make sure that his comments are responsible and justified. This is, of course, just a wild example of what a potential constructive solution could be. I’m confident that Namibia, a nation with numerous intelligent individuals, will surely produce a practical solution to this problem or any such problem. Remember, we’re still a very young democracy. It took decades and sometimes even centuries for many countries around the world to achieve what we term as a satisfactory level of democratic functioning in their society. So, it just doesn’t make sense to blindly take Government institutions to the cleaners for every ostensible act of misdemeanour, without examining the problem in its entirety. For the perseverance of a healthy democracy, criticism of the existing systems is, no doubt, a prerequisite. However, it’s imperative that such criticism should be healthy and based on an endeavour to convert such inappropriate systems into utilitarian systems, which can form pillars of such a healthy democracy. Yours Sincerely, Ashok Iyer Ondangwa Phone: 0811290197, House No. 110, Hibiscus Street, Ondangwa.