(RSF/IFEX) – The internal security minister has threatened to imprison Jeff Ooi, manager of the weblog Screenshots (http://www.jeffooi.com), after a message was posted to Ooi’s weblog insulting Islam Hadhari, a religious practice promoted by the government. RSF condemned the intimidating remarks and called on Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi to see that no legal action […]
(RSF/IFEX) – The internal security minister has threatened to imprison Jeff Ooi, manager of the weblog Screenshots (http://www.jeffooi.com), after a message was posted to Ooi’s weblog insulting Islam Hadhari, a religious practice promoted by the government. RSF condemned the intimidating remarks and called on Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi to see that no legal action is taken against Ooi.
“A blogger cannot be responsible for a message posted by an anonymous contributor,” said the organisation. “The statement by the internal security minister is serious because it will force those running weblogs to use excessive censorship.”
On 30 September 2004, Ooi posted an article on Screenshots discussing the contradiction between the values of Islam Hadhari and the corruption of the ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO). A contentious comment was posted a few hours later by someone calling himself “Anwar”. The message read, “Islam Hadhari and corruption are like shit and urine.” Ooi reacted quickly to the statement and replied online, “What you say offends me; you have completely twisted the topic of discussion.” To date, the person who posted the comment has not been identified. In fact, on most weblogs, contributors can post responses to articles without going through the person who runs the system.
A few days after the offending comments were posted, the internal security minister told the press that Ooi must “stop playing with fire or we will use the ISA.” The Internal Security Act (ISA) is a law that allows for imprisonment without trial for up to two years for reasons such as endangering state security.
Pro-government newspapers have added fuel to the debate. The daily “Berita Harian”, in particular, has been highly critical of the blogger. Ooi told RSF that he had “never wanted to insult Islam” and that the pro-government media had presented the case in a “completely biased.”
“I simply wanted to condemn corruption and in that I am singing the same tune as the prime minister himself,” he added.
Malaysian authorities have attacked online publications in the past. Hishamuddin Rais, webmaster of Malaysiakini, was arrested on 10 April 2001 under the ISA and was only released two years later (see IFEX alerts of 10 June 2003 and 18 April 2002).
For more information on freedom of expression on the Internet in Malaysia:
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=10785
