DR M ON SEX AT 80 AND INTERNET PORN

May 29, 2009, Most Malaysians expect former strongman Dr Mahathir Mohamad - still alert and sharp at 84 - to rise to the occasion in any speaking engagements.

The 200-strong crowd at the Bloggers Universe Malaysia 2009, packed inside a bar-cum-conference hall in Subang Jaya’s Lakeview Club on May 16, was not disappointed.

The former prime minister, a person who has little time for self-reflection, was however unusually candid in his one-hour speech.

Speaking off the cuff, he lamented his pledge not to censor the Internet. He believes certain parts of the cyberspace should be declared off limits, in particular pornography.

Mahathir confessed, with a mischievous glint in his eyes, that he had surf porn sites just “to see how easy it is for a child” to do so.

 

“My God, it was so easy,” he exclaimed. “All you’ve got to do is to put ‘SEX’ and you get everything, all the filth in the world would be shown to you - in motion.

“Now, I think this is very bad. I mean, adults like me who is 80 years old and quite incapable - that’s all right,” he said, leaving the floor in stitches.

“I’m not confessing anything,” he smiled. “Wait until you reach 80, then you will know.”

More laughter from the crowd.

“You know, we are born together, we grow up together, we play together, we enjoy life together, we grow old together,” he paused and then came the clincher.

“But why must that thing die before me,” he said, bringing down the house.

Mahathir, who obviously enjoyed telling the joke, was grinning from ear to ear.

“Anyway, for me it’s quite harmless (to view porn). Looking at these things, you really have nostalgia … nothing wakes up at all, everything is dead,” he said, referring to his inability to ‘rise to occasion’ in this case.

But he readily conceded that government censorship of the Internet is “impossible”.

“I wish we can control… When we started the Multimedia Super Corridor, we promise the people that we will not censor the Internet. But at times, I regretted this.”

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