Recently Malaysia has been experiencing a frenzy of bloggers that have been arrested. This year alone we saw bloggers RPK,Penarik Beca and Kickdefella being arrested. I was wondering if this is a trend that has been happening around the world that our government have been “learning from”
I must find the book “101 ways to keep bloggers shut” I think some governments of the world skipped the content and got to the end bit where it said ARREST THEIR ASS. Its mind boggling that government see bloggers as national threats and rapist,kidnappers and murderers are still roaming around looking for new targets.
Last year alone we had Nurin,Sharlinie,Preeshena and god knows how many more were either murdered or kidnap. The highlight after they have gone the cases were suddenly not spoken about and no updates were given. Are bloggers that bad that you need to arrest them and give them such a hard time??
Well back to the original story… Yes there have been arrest that have been happening around lately and the countries that are notorious for arresting bloggers are China,Egypt,Iran,Singapore and Malaysia among the not very long list. You can view the listings HERE .From 2003 till 2008 approximately 64 bloggers have been arrested in the list that is till Q108(does not include RPK,Penarik Beca and Kickdefella).
The reasons :
- Using blog to organize or cover social protest
- Violating cultural norms
- Posting comments about public policy
- Exposing corruption or human rights violations
- Other reason, or no reason given
- Posting comments about political figures
You can find the classification HERE.
Im wondering if there are any bodies out there who fight for the rights of bloggers from around the world. The Internet is a powerful tool that allows seamless communication and blogging has been a revolutionary invention that allows the promotion of free speech however crack downs have become aplenty lately and it puts a speed bump towards the flow of thought. How many times have you have you found yourself changing a article from the way it initially came out? How many times have you not published a story you wrote because of fear of being arrested?
Yes i know that the rule of law is present in every country and nobody is on top of the law however unless a person is suspected of REALLY being a national threat then whats the justification of arresting them?? Do you arrest someone then investigate them or investigate then arrest??
This is a debate that can go on for hours depends on which side of the table you are sitting on. The funny thing is it was supposed to be a round table and not a square one that has sides to it. Governments are elected by the people and represent the people but it feels like they are on one and we are on the other. Well…I envy the way the US presidential elections is going on with even copanies openly support a certain candidate where else in this region people are afraid to even to come close to that as their kids may not gain entry into the University or you may not get that government job you always wanted.
Hopefully times will change and so will mindsets.
Recent Comments