An Open Letter To TMJ....

This posting is an Open Letter to the Crown Prince of the state of Johor (simply because I might get arrested for stalking and trespassing if I suddenly knocked on his door.)

Assalamualaikum Tunku Ismail Idris, Tengku Mahkota Johor.

As you probably already know, my name is Farah Harith. I'm a Perakian by birth, I pledge allegiance to Sultan Azlan Shah, as well as Yang Dipertuan Agong Tuanku Abdul Halim Mu'azzam Shah. I have been to Johor a few times and found it to be a pleasant state. I also have a few close friends from Johor and I cherish them dearly.

I reckon that would suffice as the opening in my open letter to you. Before I proceed, allow me to point out that this is not a letter of apology. If anything, it is more of an attempt to make you understand why I wrote what I wrote.

A couple of weeks ago, I choose to highlight the Twitter war you had going on with Caprice. Judging from some of your tweets after my first posting, I understand you read what I had to say. It is probably easy to misunderstand my posting. I have been told that I have a strong command of the English language. And then a few nights ago, I chanced upon your tweets about Neelofa. And here we are.

I just have one thing to ask you, Tunku Ismail. You keep tweeting saying that your haters are always saying s*** but we're afraid to come near. I'm confused by that statement. Particularly because during your war with Caprice, I tweeted you a couple of times, but you never responded. And you kept harping on how we're afraid to come near. What is your definition of 'coming near', may I ask? In this case, I think tweeting you directly from my own account on Twitter is pretty much as near as it can get. Unless you expect me to approach you? Call your handphone? Appear at the field where you practice your sports? Knock on the door of your house? Request for a formal audience with you at your palace? In the words of Spock, I think that's just illogical.

If those who wish to compliment you can do so via your Twitter account and will be met with a reply, how come us 'haters' must 'come near' in order to say something?

That brings me to another point, I do not know you personally, Tunku Ismail. Which means it would be quite difficult for me to hate you. If anything I am indifferent. However, when I decided to highlight your inappropriate tweets, my intention was merely to make you see that no matter how hard you insist on hiding behind the reason of being a normal human being just like everyone else, the fact remains that your station demands a higher code of conduct. Of course you are a normal human being, your blood is red like everyone else's, you will feel pain if someone hits you, cry when you're sad, laugh when you're happy, etc etc. However, being of royal blood, and being a public figure, you are subjected to public scrutiny. Unless you choose to lead a very private life, whatever you do outside will be met with adoration as well as critiques.

You choose to have a Twitter account and you choose to make it public in order for you to interact with your followers. When you open yourself up to the public, you must understand that it is very important for you to watch what you say. And also, you must be prepared to take whatever comes with it. You keep insisting that those who criticize you are stupid and that you don't care about what people say. My dear, unless you're a common man, you can't do that. More often than not, criticisms can make you a better person. It keeps you balanced, and grounded. Of course some would just say mean things simply to spite you, but not all criticisms should be brushed aside and be labeled stupid. Take the time to go through my postings again. There is truth in what I say. All I'm trying to do is to make you see that you are idolized by many and with that comes an enormous weight of responsibility. You have young adults following you, retweeting what you say, hanging on to your every word, believing in everything that you tweet about, wanting to emulate you, praising you, in short, idolizing you. Why don't you inspire them in a more positive manner? What are you hoping to achieve by bashing other people on Twitter?

I noticed that you mentioned in one of your tweets, “Don't judge me unless you know me.” Allow me to point out something, you are a public figure, we the public will only know as much as you want us to know. We do not all have the privilege to befriend you in real life and get to know the real you. Therefore what we have is what you give us. Which means, whatever you give, we shall judge you based on that. If you give us a good impression, then we won't have any grounds to say anything bad about you. But the problem is, you keep contradicting yourself. So how are we supposed to not judge you?

Perhaps to you, it looks like I hate you so much and all I'm doing is picking on your negative points. Trust me, I have enough people in my personal life I hate that I just could not be bothered to hate someone I only know from the media and from his Twitter account. The only reason I decided to blog about you is because I want you to realize that you should start using your Twitter account for good instead of inciting unnecessary ill-feelings amongst your followers and other public figures.

I have no personal allegiance to Caprice or Neelofa. Neither am I defending them because I'm their fan. I'm just frustrated that someone with a position as high as yours would resort to making child-like remarks on a public platform.

It's 2012, Tunku. The world is a much different place than it was 30-40 years ago. We have so much crisis in the world today, so much rage, so many cases of moral decline amongst our youths, poverty, economic problems etc etc. As a concerned citizen, I think that every little good deed that we do can help in making the world a better place. And for someone in your position, why don't you use your fame to inspire those who adore you? Perhaps it won't be much, but if you can motivate and encourage your young followers, you'll be doing a huge favor to humanity as a whole. Your mother is a wonderful example of this. I'm pretty sure she is an inspiration to many. I myself find her a remarkable public figure.

About the police report you launched against the person who created the fake account of you on Twitter, might I suggest you ignore it. The Queen of England has a parody account and I have yet to hear in the news that she is planning to take action against whoever created that account. Unless what is done will prove detrimental to your safety, I suggest you be a bigger person and let it slide. Although I don't agree with the sudden emergence of that Twitter account, sometimes we need to ask ourselves why certain things happen the way they do. Like the saying, you reap what you sow, I believe it can also be applied to this situation. With the way you have been tweeting, it was just a matter of time before people start to make fun of you. You asked for it. By flipping out and getting all upset, and tweeting that your haters are stupid, you are only playing straight into the hands of those who are already clapping at the absurdity of your outbursts. The best course of action is to admit that what you said was out of line and move on. Trust me, you will gain a lot more respect that way. Talking about respect, it cannot be commanded. Not in this day and age. Today, respect is earned.

Even as I'm typing this, I'm already getting the feeling that this would be an effort in futility. If you did not get the point I was trying to make in Not So Royal After All, Antara Pujian dan Kutukan Give Both A Chance and Still Not So Royal After All, chances are you will probably remain on your high-horse with this open letter and dismiss me as being nothing more than a 'stupid hater'.

If you choose to heed my advice, I thank you and wish you well in your future endeavors. And if you choose to have another outburst over this, I would just like to reiterate that I'm not a hater. I'm just balancing things out. Someone who's a strong advocate of common sense. Think of me as a modern-day, internet version of a caped crusader. I may not be able to rid the world of war, hunger or poverty, but this is my bit for humanity. Common sense is not so common these days, if I can do my part in helping to make it common again, that would be my little achievement. With that said, Live Long and Prosper.