According to the article I read in Malaysia Today’s website stating that the government has issued fresh attacks on bloggers. Forcing bloggers to register with the government. The article is as follows:-
Malaysian ministers in fresh attack on bloggers
Malaysia Today (malaysia-today.net)
April 7, 2007
(AFP) - Malaysian ministers have issued fresh attacks on bloggers, threatening to take away their rights and accusing them of trying to overthrow the government, according to reports.
The assaults come amidst an unprecedented defamation suit against two bloggers and outrage from rights groups after a minister during the week suggested Malaysian bloggers may be forced to identify themselves.
Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin said bloggers should not be exempt from the same controls as the mainstream media, and accused them of using lies to overthrow the government, the state Bernama news agency reported.
“This is very dangerous as they are writing and taking steps to gain power,” he was quoted as saying late Friday from Singapore.
Zainuddin also supported a proposal by deputy communications minister Shaziman Abu Mansor, who on Wednesday suggested bloggers be registered.
Ministers, including Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, have in recent months launched attacks on bloggers and Internet users, accusing them of spreading lies about the government.
Abdullah has also supported a controversial lawsuit against prominent bloggers Jeff Ooi and Ahirudin Attan by the government-linked New Straits Times Press newspaper group for posts criticising the daily and the government.
In a report Saturday, communications minister Lim Keng Yaik threatened action against bloggers if they were irresponsible.
“We are not interfering with their rights. But if they behave irresponsibly, we will take away their rights,” Lim was quoted as saying in the New Straits Times. “The way they blog, with all that filth inside, do you think they are responsible?”
Rights groups have condemned all the attacks, arguing blogs offer a crucial alternative to the tightly-controlled mainstream media.
Paris-based watchdog Reporters Without Borders late Friday said the proposal to register bloggers was more evidence of Malaysia’s desire to control online information.
“The obligatory registering of blogs is a measure that so far has only been adopted by countries such as China that violate Internet users’ rights,” it said in a statement.
In my previous blog post, The Star newspaper reported that forcing bloggers to register is a “stricter” way to control information that bloggers release on the internet.
The question is, why stop us from spreading so called “rumours” about the government when the government has nothing to hide? If the Malaysian blogosphere says that the government is hiding something, then the government should step up and step out and say that, “Look, you said we did this and that, so here’s the proof that we are clean and honest with you.” Just by doing this, all of us will shut up and say no more because you’ve proven us wrong! If we’re accusing something that isn’t true and you don’t step to defend yourself about it but instead force us bloggers to register and control what information comes out from our fingertips, then wouldn’t that make us, no not only us, but Malaysians and other nations think that we have something to hide and don’t what this information to leak out?
Logical thinking people. The government should walk a mile in a typical Malaysian’s shoe and they’ll realise how much things they’ve hidden from us, whether we are right or wrong, it doesn’t make much of a difference becuase the government is trying to make the situation look like they’re hiding something. Anything that is implemented by force without strong fool-proof foundations will just spring up more matters.
Everyone in Malaysia already has to register to countless things. Birth certificate (okay, this is done in almost all countries), then we have to register for our Identification Cards (where countries like the UK and US don’t and people there are against having to do so), then we have to register to sit for countless government examinations i.e. PTS (during my time), UPSR, PMR and SPM (and every one of them costs a bomb, just think of the poor), then mid of last year, we were forced to register our prepaid phone numbers and now we have to register out blogs?! There’s just too much paper work already and I’m only 19! Imagine when I have to start paying income tax and quick rents and car registrations and tax and other various miscellaneous taxes?!
*rips hair from scalp*
If the government don’t want us to spread all these apparently “false” rumours then they might as well just stop providing internet for the entire country. That would stop bloggers from saying anything at all whether it’s for personal reasons or for the entertainment of others or for poking the government. Here we go, Malaysia is going to be one step closer to being identical to China’s cyber world.
*shakes head*
so true, so true… Malaysian’s government has become sadder each day. i doubt this register thing is going to work anyway, as if they can detect who is who. we can always say that we are migrants etc etc. sigh…
Guang: I do agree with you. However, the fact that the government is implementing something like this just bothers the mind a lot. As if the government has so much to hide from us that they need to force us to shut up.
Comment by Miaka — 11 April 2007 @ 3:06 pm
But PM said there’s no need for Bloggers to register anymore
I wrote something about this here.
Guang: That’s what the PM says. You and I know how flickered minded our government is. One minute it’s a go, another no go, then another it’s a go again. Besides, although the PM says no, he’s not the only person that’s running the government. The will be that group of people inside the government that wants this implemented and they’ll figure a way around it. Just wait, 5-10 years…
Comment by Paris Beaverbanks — 11 April 2007 @ 3:30 pm
It’s not gonna work.
Guang: It’s not the point whether it’ll work or not. This implementation is just reinforcing that our government has something to hide. Just look at the Scandinavian countries. They’re least corrupted countries in the world and I’m sure there are at least 1000 bloggers in each country. So far, I’ve never come across any blog that has been criticizing their own government. Why? Because their government has NOTHING to hide. Their government don’t need to worry about their own citizens accusing them of something they didn’t do because they can just say, “looks here’s the proof that we’re clean”, so the accuser will shut up and mind his own business.
Comment by KY — 11 April 2007 @ 3:47 pm
I feel so powerful… My blog will actually be OFFICIAL once i register it! Nevermind if i write crap, there are people who actually feel threatened! So cooool.. LOL.
Guang: LOL. Well, people aren’t afraid to register their blogs. If the government wants bloggers to register for other purposes other than controlling the information bloggers blog about the country, then why should we be afraid to register?
Comment by usws — 1 May 2007 @ 1:13 pm