Got this from a friend of mine .
“Bloggers in Malaysia are under attack. Recently, two top bloggers Jeff Ooi and Ahirudin Attan has been sued by the NSTP (one of the biggest newspaper agency). backed by the powers”
Press freedom in Malaysia is …. is .. hmmm.. well the less said about it the better. On my last visit to Malaysia in Sep last year , people told me that they don’t believe one word written in the paper. ( Kinda reminds you of Zia’s Pakistan!)
Thus, the alternate media like the internet is fast emerging as a free honest space. . much like China. As the Internet users in Malaysia grow bigger and bigger, this makes the authorities and the giant media company afraid .
Thus, bloggers have united to protest this. The official protest is here but considering you can’t access blogspot from Pakistan (!) we will collect comments on our blog and then pass it on .
So, please people lets sign on for protecting the freedom to speak, write and blog the truth .
The Individual,
Thanks a lot for your solidarity and support. We really appretiate it. Hope that this can contribute to the freedom of information.
Regards,
Black.
Information Technology and electronic media boom have made communication very easy. Now news and ideas spread at the speed of light from one corner of the world to the other. Restricting the free flow of news and ideas in this age of media abundance, I think, is not possible. Actions against Bloggers in Malaysia are futile efforts. One cannot reverse time.
It is interesting that the individualland ’s site has been “ down ” ever since we posted the Balochistan story.
We strongly denounce the harassment of bloggers in Malaysia. We expressed our solidarity with the Malaysian bloggers. We urge the Malaysian government to create conducive environment for the promotion of alternative media.
Thanks for the highlight,
I wish to call bloggers all over the world to share your prayers for our to fighters. They believe in the truth. They are very responsible in their write up and now they are the endangered species.
I am here with you people to condemn this stupid action.
thank you for highlighting the plight of our two brothers.
let me tell you a story.
ahirudin attan (rocky) and jeff ooi are two of Malaysia’s most influential socio-political bloggers.
They are outspoken. perhaps too outspoken by malaysian standard. i dont know. that’s sad.
you can read their postings and make your own judgement.
i have been to pakistan and have read yr newspapers. rocky and jeff are NOTHING compared to the level of criticism and outspokenness of your journalists.
and rocky was a journalist of 20 years in the NSTP (one of the plaintiffs) and a senior editor.
Malaysia has taken many steps back.
what a tragedy.
Yes Nur you are right. Individualland members have also close contacts with the civil society organizations there and this is what our experience has been too.. that the Malaysian press is far from free … in fact political freedoms as a whole are seriously missing there.. . However, the internet provides us with an opportunity.. In China there are 30,000 internet police but the Chinese bloggers still manage to trudge along. So , lets do that. .. lets creatively think of how we can hoodwink them..
there is a proverb in my language Pashto
” you can not hide the sun with your fingers”
I think sooner or latter they will remove the blockage , though the struggle against such cowrdly acts must go on.
Very well said Idris. W
Bush goes ballistic about other countries being evil and dangerous, because they have weapons of mass destruction. But, he insists on building up even a more deadly supply of nuclear arms right here in the US. What do you think? How does that work in a democracy again? How does being more threatening make us more likeable?Isn’t the country with
the most weapons the biggest threat to the rest of the world? When one country is the biggest threat to the rest of the world, isn’t that likely to be the most hated country?
What happened to us, people? When did we become such lemmings?
We have lost friends and influenced no one. No wonder most of the world thinks we suck. Thanks to what george bush has done to our country during the past three years, we do!
thanks for supporting bloggers in malaysia. please read also our bloggers united official page here: http://sloone.wordpress.com/bloggers-united/