Kuala Lampur, Nov. 3 -- In a recent government press conference held to launch the Visit Malaysia 2026 campaign, a question about national language use quickly transformed into a national conversation about leadership, media rights, and cultural identity. When a journalist inquired about the absence of Bahasa Melayu in the campaign's official slogan "I LITE U", the Minister of Housing and Local Government responded not with thoughtful clarification, but with apparent irritation, even remarking that he would contact the reporter's editor.

The core of this incident may appear minor to some, a heated moment during a press event. But within it lies a larger, more troubling pattern: when those in power resort to dismissiveness, defensiveness,...