Politics 101 Malaysia

Malaysia’s new information minister has pledged not to impose curbs on bloggers, who have been accused by other government officials of spreading lies and undermining public stability.

Internet commentators played a key role in recent general elections by catering to voters who wanted an alternative source of news besides television and newspapers, Information Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek told AP late on Friday.

‘If there is something newsworthy, I don’t see anything wrong in them posting it,’ the national news agency Bernama and New Straits Times daily quoted Ahmad Shabery as saying. ‘Everyone has the freedom to use the blogs as an information distribution centre.’ ”Continued”

AFP Report

Government officials stepped up their warnings against bloggers, reports said today, as a key ruling party member described cyberspace as having “the law of the jungle”.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, quoted by The Star’s online edition, said bloggers were as liable for defamation as publishers of printed materials.

“It is wrong for bloggers to go overboard, especially if they post slanderous articles against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (the country’s king) and Islam on the website,” he was quoted as telling reporters.

“This is not something one can take lightly,” Abdullah added.

His comments were the latest official warning to bloggers since Umno lodged a police report last Monday against a political website, Malaysia Today.

Umno information chief Muhammad Muhammad Taib alleged that postings on the blog insulted Islam and the king and contained elements that could cause racial tension. ”Continued”

More than two dozen countries are imposing excessive restrictions on how people use the Internet, a new report said, warning that regulations are having a chilling effect on freedom of expression.

Among those are Malaysia, where a government official said this week that laws will be drafted for bloggers and authorities will not hesitate to prosecute those deemed to have insulted Islam.

“Governing the Internet,” issued by the 56-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, called the online policing “a bitter reminder of the ease with which some regimes — democracies and dictatorships alike — seek to suppress speech that they disapprove of, dislike, or simply fear.”

Full report in Washington Times.

It is 2029. Elections have just been held and the BN has been defeated.

Defeated so badly that Umno’s seats total fewer than its allies’ combined.

The loosely-arranged front comprising Pas, DAP, PSM and some new East Malaysia parties have snatched a cliff-hanger by a slim majority.

The victory is due largely to better informed voters who habitually seek alternative news on the net as internet penetration is 95%.

In hiding for fear of charges being laid against them, defeated PM Khairy and his team agree they lost because former PM Abdullah Badawi did not do enough to put a choke on internet freedom.

In The Terminator fashion, the defeated ketuanan Umno leaders, using artificially intelligent computer-controlled machines bent on the extermination of the opposition and vocal pressure groups, sent back to 2004 cyber-trooper robots to engage and destroy the growth of internet freedom by wiping out the Communications and Multimedia Act’s Bill of Guarantee. ”Continued”

Malaysia-today no ping reply 10 minutes ago. Apa jadi?

Words has just come in that The Internal Security Ministry has given a directive to all mainstream media not to publish any news on the issue of Malaysia being an Islamic state.

Internal Security Ministry’s Publications Control and Al-Quran Texts Unit senior officer Che Din Yusof told malaysiakini that they are afraid that allowing such discussions would cause “tension”.

“They cannot publish any news on whether the country is secular or Islam. Stop harping on this. The debate would never end.”

Che Din pointed out that while the two top leaders of the country can make such statements, any reactions from political parties and the public will not be allowed to be published, reports malaysiakini.

“Reaction from political parties and the public cannot be published especially the negative reactions made by MIC and MCA,” he said.

I’ve finally got my hands on Dr Kua’s almighty’s revelation, the MAY 13: Declassified Documents on the Malaysian Riots of 1969

The friend who gifted it to me said looking for the book was like looking for drugs.

She finally ended up in Popular, PJ. Look left, look right, no see book on display. She then approached the counter and asked for it. The person at the counter whispered for her to go to the cashier’s counter. She made her way there and, the book was pulled out from under the counter and straight into a bag.

Nice practice for scoring a bong if she ever needed one.

• To save the legwork, readers can order the book at Kinibooks.