Curb in cyberspace

On the 2nd of May, Malaysia Today editor Raja Petra Kamaruddin was being investigated under section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 and Section 4C of the Seditious Act for an article he wrote titled Let's send the Altantuya murderers to hell. The article implicated the Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife in the murder case of Altantuya Shaariibu (Lee 2008).

Subsequently, Raja Petra was charged with sedition at the magistrates' court on the 6th of May. Two months later on the 16th of July, the mentioned parties in the article sued Raja Petra for defamation. As a result, he was charged with criminal defamation.

It is not the end of the incident after the blogger was being charged with law. Today, Malaysia Today is being blocked by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (SKMM). According to Home Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar, the site is being blocked due to its editor ignored many warning letters.

In 1998, former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad established Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) for the purpose of accelerating the economic development. At that time, Tun Dr Mahathir promised that there would be no censorship of the internet in order to attract and secure foreign investment.

But today, the government breaks the promise by shutting down Malaysia Today. I believe it would affect the credibility of the government and also frighten the foreign investors.

Stifling Freedom of Speech

Basically, our freedom of speech and expression is protected under the Article 10 of the Federal Constitution, and Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which stated that " Every one has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."

However, there are too many existence laws to restrict the freedom of speech/expression, which are the Internal Security Act (ISA), the Sedition Act, the Defamation Act, and the Official Secret Act (OSA).

Moreover, the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA) is used to regulate the print media while the broadcast media is being regulated by the Communications and Multimedia Act. The licence of the print or broadcast media can be revoked anytime if they 'do something wrong' in their publication or broadcast. Well, it depends on the discretion of the Home Affairs Minister and the Energy, Water, and Communication Minister, which means the reason to revoke media's licence can be subjective.

The online media should be free from any rules and regulations. However, the condition has changed after Raja Petra was being investigated under the Communication and Multimedia Act 1998 for his 'seditious' article on his blog.

So, how much freedom do we have to express our views and opinions?

The existence laws are more than enough to bring a person to face law suit if he or she breaks the laws. But the action of shutting down Malaysia Today is unacceptable and it has been seen as a further suppression on alternative voice. Democracy in Malaysia seems to be moving backward. Curbing on freedom of speech and expression will not help in fostering democracy in our country.

Bloggers, take good care of yourself!

P/S: Under Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998:

1) A person who

a)by means of any network facilities or network service or applications service knowingly-

(i) makes, creates or solicits; and
(ii) initiates the transmission of, any comment, request, suggestion or other communication which is obscene, indecent, false, menacing or offensive in character with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass another person person; or


b) initiates a communication using any applications service, whether continuously, repeatedly or otherwise, during which communication may or may not ensue, with or without disclosing his identity and with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass any person at any number or electronic address,

commits an offence.

2) A person who knowingly

(a) by means of a network service or applications service provides any obscene communication for commercial purposes to any person; or

(b) permits a network service or applications service under the person's control to be used for an activity described in paragraph (a),

commits an offence.

(3) A person who commits an offence under this section shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding fifty thousand ringgit or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or to both and shall also be liable to a further fine of one thousand ringgit for every day during which the offence is continued after conviction

Now only you got to know....

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi took commuter and LRT rail services on last Friday to experience the transport problems faced by the public. His comment was "unsatisfied service".

I am one of the commuter and LRT users. I always take LRT to reach KL Sentral, and then change to commuter to reach college. The commuters always delayed or canceled. Most of the time, the platform was crowded due to delay or cancellation of trains. When the next train came, people pushed their way in and would not give way to the disembark passengers. In the crowded train, passengers need to beware of pick pocket and female passengers need to beware of lecher.

There are signboards in the trains indicate that we need to give seats to the person with disabilities, pregnant women, elders and persons who carry children. However, I used to see people who were sitting pretended sleeping when they saw pregnant woman stood in front of them. When the pregnant woman left, they awoke and read newspaper or listened to MP3.

One day, if you got the same experience as mine, you may feel annoy in the beginning. But at the end of the day you will become apathetic when you experience all these consistently.

Two years ago, the government reduced oil subsidy and promised that the RM4.4 billion savings from the reduction in oil subsidy will be spent wisely in improving and upgrading the transportation system, including commuters, monorail, buses and LRT rail service.

Abdullah was quoted in a news report from Bernama that "I hope the people will no longer question the money received. We will put the money to good use so as to improve the public transportation system in all states." Since Abdullah has already experienced the public transport which is not up to the expectation, shall the people (tax payers) question where does the RM4.4 billion gone?

There was no queue when passengers were waiting for the commuter at KL Sentral station.(Photo taken by Claire)

This is a letter from a commuter user to express his dissatisfaction towards the commuter service. It was published in The Sun, dated 21st of August, page 17.