Malaysia cracks down on bloggers

11 Responses to “Malaysia cracks down on bloggers”

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1. chrisblogging.com says:

   July 30, 2007 at 1:13 pm

   Nice link to a good story! Talk about taking blogging for granted…
2. Wallace says:

   July 30, 2007 at 7:12 pm

   we are lucky…
3. pablopabla says:

   July 30, 2007 at 9:31 pm

   I am a Malaysian and a blogger.

   Yes, the government (and components of the ruling party) has issued open warnings to “bloggers” to toe the line and not make false accusations against the government, Agong and religion of Islam failing which certain laws will be used against them. These laws mentioned grants the Executive branch powers to detain someone without trial for a period of time (some up to 60 days).

   It is likely that these warnings go out to socio-political bloggers who have been exposing or rather, providing information on the failings of the government which I presume, the government takes it as a threat to their voting popularity (by the way, general elections are around the corner). The government has not faced such kind of “exposes” as in recent months as blogging is not a phenomenon or mode of transmission of information during the run-ups to the previous general elections.

   It is true that Raja Petra was summoned to have his statement taken on a potential charge of sedition (for mocking the Agong and religion of Islam) but he had his answers. Most bloggers who blogged about this current episode have expressed their outrage as well as embarassment over the exercise by the authorities. You should read Raja Petra’s account and you will know what I mean by embarassment.

   It is plainly obvious that the threat to imprison bloggers without trial under certain laws of Malaysia is politically motivated and nothing more. So much for a country which touts itself as having what was once the tallest buildings in the world, as Chairman of the OIC , prides itself with being multi-racial, multi-religion and harmonious and having a Multimedia Super Corridor which is supposed to rival the best there is in the world.
4. the anti-jihadist says:

   July 31, 2007 at 8:09 am

   I suspect my anti Islamic articles posted at Raja Petra’s website in the past 6 weeks have something to do with this crackdown.

   You can read my articles and judge their ‘anti Islamic’ sentiment for yourself. Just google ‘Malaysia Today’ and ‘Anti Jihadist’ to see them all (total of ten pieces).

   In particular, read the three columns of mine that were deleted from Malaysia Today shortly before Raja Petra’s police interrogation.

   Those pieces, still available at Pedestrian Infidel are entitled, as follows:

   1. Why Muslims are doomed to fail
   Link: http://pedestrianinfidel.blogspot.com/2007/07/why-muslims-are-doomed-to-fail.html

   2. Is reforming Islam mission impossible?
   Link:http://pedestrianinfidel.blogspot.com/2007/07/is-reforming-islam-mission-impossible.html

   3. The Malay dilemma, revisited
   Link:http://pedestrianinfidel.blogspot.com/2007/07/malay-dilemma-revisited.html

   Enjoy the articles. Down with Islamic fascism!
5. Linken Lim says:

   July 31, 2007 at 9:29 am

   Thanks for the link.

   Malaysia’s Prime Minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had hosted a very incendiary and seditious article inciting racial hatred, ill-will and animosity among the Malays and Chinese in the country.

   Who must be held responsible for the seditious article on the official website of the Prime Minister?

   The government has issued open warnings to Monkeys “bloggers” to toe the line and not make false accusations against the government,Agong (The King) and religion of Islam, and to avoid touching on racial issues.

   Is Abdullah strictly liable for seditious postings on the Prime Minister’s Office website to the extent that he could be charged and tried for sedition?

   You can read the news here
6. Kevin says:

   July 31, 2007 at 10:07 am

   pablopabla – Raja Petra’s account is a very interesting read. He’s certainly someone who isn’t going to be bullied by all this.

   the anti-jihadist – interesting articles, did Raja take those articles offline or was it the goverment.

   Linken Lim – Your welcome. I think that the goverment has shot itself in the foot with this whole thing. I had a friend at Auckland Uni (who was Malaysian) and she mentioned that there were lots of students from Malaysia there ie. Malaysia ia country where the young are very educated so I don’t think that this will simply go away.
7. the anti-jihadist says:

   July 31, 2007 at 10:12 am

   I do not have confirmation, but I am reasonably sure the blog owner of Malaysia Today, Raja Petra (RPK) deleted said articles and not the government. I requested confirmation and additional info from RPK on this, but no answer has been forthcoming.

   At the very least, no matter what else happens, the Malaysian government has scared RPK into pre-emptive self-censorship.
8. StockTube says:

   August 1, 2007 at 10:16 am

   thanx for the link superman kevin,

   it’s not too much on how the king (there’s no king as justified by raja petra, mind you) or islam being insulted … it’s more of how the ruling government trying to cover their worms from spilled over the street by masking under the charge of “insulting king and islam” …

   if you care to ask anyone (educated) about how corrupt are the government, most of them will tell you it’s a “culture” within the country …

   raja petra is no ordinary man, he has the royal blood circulating in his body and thus the govn need to create a more concreate and complete story to nail him … but being detained twice under the ISA (detention without trial) twice before has made him wiser that he can smell the police coming miles away …

   he would be left alone had he not spill the corrupt practice within the highest officials within the govn – the same links within my post …

   anyway, it’ll be an uphill task for the govn to arrest every single bloggers out there, considering the ministers are not well-versed with email, only know how to spell it …

   long live bloggers
   cheers
   stocktube
9. My Lil Venture says:

   August 24, 2007 at 12:23 pm

   Hi Kevin, I am a Malaysian too. I try to stay away as much as possible from writing political stuff and anything that would seem “sensitive” to my country.

Trackbacks

1. A Mike Life says:

   July 30, 2007 at 5:24 pm

   We have it good…

   I ran across this incredible story today about a guy in Malaysia who was arrested for something he said wrong on his blog. It wasn’t anything other than an opinion against Islam. Apparently Malaysia will be using anti-terrorist laws against these…
2.   Wordpress.com banned in Turkey says:

   August 22, 2007 at 6:19 pm

   [...] than a month after the Malaysian goverment cracked down on bloggers, the Wordpress.com domain has been banned in all of Turkey (*Wordpress.com [...]

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