We need leaders by example

WHEN the new year began at midnight last week, I sat in front of my laptop, taking in a stream of information on the protest at Dataran Merdeka in Kuala Lumpur.

Only hours earlier, I ended my work for 2013 by taking a ride around Kuching city centre, including driving past Padang Merdeka, the site of a supposedly planned protest in Sarawak. But except for the police, reporters and cameramen, it seemed that the rumour had been wildly exaggerated.