I find Nazri Aziz's warning, or threat (here and here) to bloggers arrogant.
Not his warning against belittling Islam or the Yang di-Pertuan Agong for we all know that it is seditious to belittle Islam and the King. Indeed no one is above the law. So, yes, punish anyone who insults Islam and the King.
How arrogant is he for warning bloggers that the Internal Security Act and the Sedition Act will be used against them. Of course, throw in Section 121b of the Penal Code for good measure.
The ISA is in existence under immense pressure for it to be abolished.
However, there are people who feel that it is a necessary evil to fight evil in this country such as drug trafficking and illegal possession of fire arms.
It is on this ground that the government for this long has been resisting pressure to abolish this piece of draconian legislation.
But Nazri's blatantly cavalier threat that the government will invoke the ISA only serves to convince us, thus confirming our worst fears, that it is a piece of very evil legislation that is so conveniently abused by those in power.
How can anyone now believe that the ISA is a necessary evil?
Putting the fear of the ISA and the Sedition Act in bloggers is the latest of a series of scare tactics used against bloggers and netizens.
Nathaniel Tan who founded Berita Keadilan (Parti Keadilan Rakyat) and Raja Petra Kamaruddin who operates Malaysia Today, come to mind.
Nat was detained four four days under the Official Secrets Act earlier this month, while RPK was called by the police for questioning yesterday after Umno information chief senator Muhammad Muhd Taib lodged a report against MT for publishing allegedly seditious comments.
But really, how many bloggers out there have insulted Islam and the Agong, if there are any at all?
You know what I think? The heat is on bloggers because some bloggers have been critical of the government. And they're doing a darn good job of it.
Indeed, because of this some people are trying their damnest to have bloggers portrayed in a negative light and be seen as a threat to national security.
Nazri said that the use of the ISA and the Sedition Act against bloggers is not to destroy freedom of speech in the blogosphere but to stop the freedom to lie, to abuse and slander people.
Oh dear. Do you need to use such powerful and oppressive legislation to just deal with lying bloggers who slander people?
oppressed or otherwise... there's certainly a sense of fear going around.
ReplyDeletezewt,
ReplyDeleteindeed. a tangible sense of fear. There was a time when Cabinet ministers and government officers would hold back on any threat to invoke the ISA. ecause this frightened people. How can it be right to be brandishing the ISA and Sedition Act against any citizen? The ISA is a very powerfully oppressive or oppressively powerful piece of legislation --detention without trial. Used against the country's enemies i.e communist terrorists, drug traffickers and gun runners.
i do understand the argument that there is a need for the ISA to be used against drug pushers...although I don't agree because you can still overcome the problem without the use of ISA.
But to brandish it like you are some gunslinger...well, this is worrying.
we have reason to fear.
Oh Hello Aunty Nuraina,
ReplyDeleteLama tak jumpa...
Like I always say, if you wanna keep people from reading/supporting/commenting on blog, and stop people from going all out to blog, the best thing to do is to not say anything...
The authorities should have learned somehting from the 'Dilarang Membuang Sampah, Denda RM 500' singboard a long time ago...
Lagi ler you paku the signboard on the ground, lagi ler ramai rakyat-rakyat who will dump the rubbish at the very same spot you said 'Kenot!'...
So, the more they blab about how bad blogs are in the papers, the more people will read/start/comment...
In fact, I think arresting/charging/making noise (about) Rocky, Jeff Ooi, RPK, Nat Tan and Tian Chua has done the one thing the authorities don't want: Give them 10-folding readership...
I mean, we wanna know what the fuss is about right?
We're not challenging the authorities, we're just curious...
Human Nature...
Can't run away...
amusing :)
ReplyDeleteIf what the bloggers write are lies and slanders, I wonder why they wont take the other course available to them rather than the draconian law called ISA. The person(s) can always sue for slander. Before they used to threaten people with litigation but now after seeing people are willing to go to court to battle it out, they chicken out. They know for sure that more skeletons in their cupboards will be exposed for all and sundry to scrutinse. So the safest way for them is to threaten to use ISA.
ReplyDeleteMention the case of misuse of taxi permits and APs, they prefer to keep their silence on the subject.
election is coming and they are aware of the immediate need to control the last bastion of free flow of information. too many a times, it is thru the internet that truths and untruths are unveiled to the detriment of the powers-to-be.
ReplyDeleteIn the name of King and Islam, they want to shut this channel up as they have done to the pliant mainstream media.
the question is who dares to stand against this coming tide of oppression and suppression from this repressive regime. The hype about a freer press and more democratic space under this regime is nothing more than a state propaganda?
daphne,
ReplyDeletehello, my dear.
nice to "see" you.
you are right. diam saja-lah kan senang. nobody will know. nobody's the wiser.
but no, they want to scare some bloggers, like really scare the crap out of some bloggers so they scream ISA and Sedition Act.
they still have not decided whether bloggers are influential, powerful or simply nothing.
1. bloggers jahat, buat kacau, teach them a lesson.
2. nobody reads blogs. bloggers dont have an audience.
3. Nab Nat under OSA. Detain RPK for questioning for seditious comments in MT.
4. Use ISA on bloggers who are post seditious articles.
oh well..elections are sooner than we expect.
they need to shut people like RPK up.
too dangerous for them because he knows a lot and dares publish what he knows.
kimster: I do wish a lot of our Cabinet ministers have a sense of humour.
ReplyDeletesigh... most of the time they **XX*#@
zawi: they are threatening bloggers with ISA and Sedition Act. ISA is very oppressive. Sedition Act makes you look like you are an enemy of this country.
They want bloggers to stop posting articles that highlight the abuses and excesses by certain people in government.
elections are nigh.
Kak Ena,
ReplyDeleteTouche! This is what worries me too. The REAL targets are the resposible bloggers. Why? Simply because they have credibility. That's what the irresponsible leaders are worried about kesan nya..*hai*
In fact, the authorities should take these bloggers seriously. But no, they love shooting the messenger. Why? To cover up their own shortcomings? Their misdeeds?
Yes, the sheer arrogance of it all.
God help this country that we love so dearly...
the people in power definitely tak boleh cope with public scrutiny.
ReplyDeletewith their pea size brain do they have the skill to debate to fend off critics ?
threatens the rakyat with ISA,OSA and sedition act show us how stupid they are.
their stupidity are the real threats to our beloved truly asia.
Ena, your piece hurt him where it hurts most....no not down there where they do most of their threatening...but his arrogance. He is pulverised pulp now...impotent....just loud-mouthing. He should go back to taxi-affairs where there is more money. It was to punish his urge to take that he was taken off and put in Parliament to take care of furnitiure, leaking roofs, kenduri, slaughtering of sacrificial animals .In frustration he has to throw his weight around hoping to be noticed since his name starts with N and the next PM's name must start with N. Some ambitions little minds do hve.
ReplyDeleteRPK blog is down. What happened?
ReplyDeletemat salo: when people start bein desperate, they always should the wrong target.
ReplyDeleteanona@5:47pm: we're not in the best of situations.
zorro: pulverised pulp! hahaaa...that's a good one.
basree,
MT should be up by now.
it seems earlier, MCMC blocked it. the site could only be viewed thru uising foreign proxy, just like they blocked the "scam" websites.
Kak Ena,
ReplyDeleteSomehow, it feels that bloggers ni macam Order of the Phoenix punya members lar pulak, kan kan. Them , he oppressive Ministry of Magic people.
Yeah, I know, too much HP. This is not good.
Mior,
ReplyDeletenow that you've mentioned it, it means that i am not the only one to find some parallelism between H Potter vs he-who-mus-not-be-named And bloggers vs they-who-must-not-be-criticised.
over tea the other day, I was telling brother Rocky about something that would not have stood out had it not been for all the pressure against bloggers.
I said Harry and friends are in hiding, and his supporters cannot show themselves and had to resort to listening to a clandestine wireless for update of the REAL news in the wizard world and they have to read the Quibbler for the eal and alternative news not the Daily prophet which is pro-he-who-must-not-be-named and Hogwarts is under a reign of terror.
How familiar is that?
hahaaa..... cerita budak2 pun ada a piercing realism.
Nuraina
ReplyDeleteThe last I heard, it is just as criminal to belittle Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism or anybody's legitimate religious beliefs and anyone doing so is wont to be punished to the full extent of Malaysian law....isn't it ????
anon@6:25pm:
ReplyDeletei don't know but i am sure it is criminal to be insulting any religion in this country.
put it this way... if they take bloggers like me away... i wonder how many ppl will do a candle vigil... wait... i wonder how many ppl will even be aware!
ReplyDeletemy fiance is of the opinion i should stop blogging altogether though i hardly talk about politics.
zewt,
ReplyDeletehey.... dont let them frighten you, zewt.
that's what they want bloggers to feel. fear.
you have to only ask yourself, you conscience, this -- have you really broken the law of the country?
anyway, when that happens to you... tell us all, and who you really are (haha....) and we will hold a candlelight vigil for you. that's a promise!
so, dont let your fiance be worrying.
cheers...