yowkee essential

It come in a sudden. Oon Yeoh’s weblog, Transitions — the Malaysia’s first media weblog, closed today with his announcement

So, why am I quitting? No, it has nothing to do with the Special Branch breathing down my neck (they’ve got much bigger fish to fry). Nor have I been paid a million bucks to shut up (how I wish!). And no, I’ve not done a “Farish Noor” and quit writing because of criticisms from Malaysiakini readers (if I were that sensitive, I would’ve quit writing in February).

I’m afraid the actual reason is a lot more down to earth: I’ve taken up an exciting (it is to me, anyway) new journalism job with another media company. I’m not at liberty to reveal details right now but suffice to say, you definitely haven’t heard the last from Oon Yeoh. To quote Arnold: “I’ll be back” (albeit on a different platform).

Why did joining the other media company has to do with the quit? I don’t quite get it. To me, a blog is a blog and it’s owned by you, you could stay with it no matter you’re moving to any where. If that’s because Malaysiakini did the hosting, switch to others. If it’s something to do with the new company’s policy, well, that’s the other story.

Anyhow, hope we could see Oon Yeah back to the blogland soon. We’d miss his valueable writing. To think of this, that isn’t many Malaysian journalists having a blog, did they?