The Frog and the Blog

Here I am in faraway Sri Lanka and I get to hear this before anyone else. A little bird called me up and told me that Deputy Minister for Energy, Water and Communications, Dato' Shaziman Abu Mansor (pic above), has suggested that all local bloggers be registered with his Ministry before they can be allowed to blog. My Sri Lankan AIDS colleagues thought I was mentally differently-abled when I started to laugh and splutter at the same time. Oh my, oh my, is this why the Ministry website is KTAK.gov.my? Because they are Katak Bawah Tempurung? Do they even understand how blogs work? Any time today, any number of the 11 million Internet users in Malaysia can register with Blogger or Wordpress or any of the blogging websites and there is nothing they can do about it. None of them need to ask permission to blog of anyone. This is why blogs are popular.

But the KTAK tries. Last August, there was this report:


Thursday, August 03, 2006
No censorship of Internet, says Lim

But Bloggers can be charged

By Hamidah Atan
New Straits Times

There will be no censorship of the Internet but bloggers are not above the law for what they publish in cyberspace.

Energy, Water and Communications Minister Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik said action would be taken against those who disrupt peace and harmony through their postings.

He said there was no censorship of the Internet as promised in the Bill of Guarantee with the Multimedia Super Corridor "but if any bloggers go against the law of the country, they can be charged, whether under criminal law, sedition or whatever law it is".

He said it would be difficult for the Government to take action against foreign bloggers but it would not be a problem against local bloggers.


"We will also take action against those who spread rumours or malicious materials via the SMS.
(Tho I think they have shied away from doing this when it comes to prominent religious persons...)
"Once registration for mobile pre-paid numbers is completed, we will start monitoring.

"You have to keep to the law of the country.

"Local bloggers must control the contents of their blogs and be responsible. If the contents are seditious, they will have to face the music."

He said the law applied to all bloggers irrespective of their standing in society.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said such activities could affect peace and harmony in the country.

They could also make the people, including investors, lose faith in the economy and development programmes.

Abdullah said the Government could not allow the Internet or Short Messaging Service to become a platform for people to spread rumours or threaten others.

He said the type of liberty found in the blogs and websites had exceeded the freedom given to the Malaysian media.
(well, duh...)
He was responding to Information Minister Datuk Zainuddin Maidin’s call for control over the Internet.

Dr Lim said he explained to the Cabinet on the types of action that could be taken against local bloggers.

"The explanation was detailed and the PM left it to me to handle the matter with other ministries."

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It's now almost exactly eight months since that report and the best they can come up with is that bloggers must register with the Ministry?