Arrests and Probes on Malaysian Bloggers

RPK Sent to Kamunting (ISA), Teresa Kok, Kickdefella Arrested and Freed, Negarakuku Rapper Probed

Malaysiakini reported Raja Petra sent to Kamunting , written by S Pathmawathy on Sep 23, 08 9:09am
Raja Petra Kamarudin was sent to the Kamunting Detention Centre today to begin his two-year detention under ISA. He arrived at the camp at 11.50am. MORE
-> He is held under section 8 of ISA
-> Detention can be renewed indefinitely

Few days back, Blogger Kickdefella of http://kickdefella.wordpress.com/ was taken to Kuala Lumpur from his hometown Kota Bahru. He recounts his experience in his three posts, Three Nights in Paradise, and Tears of Sadness , I found Al Ghazali in Dang Wangi and Sheih Is Back . Allegedly, it was over the national flag and the way it is being flown / displayed online. Sheih has since been released.

Teresa Kok, a Member of Parliament as well as a blogger ( http://www.teresakok.com/ ), was detained few days before Sheih. Teresa recounts her ISA experience and questions “What have I done? What have I said?”. Earlier, a Sin Chew daily reporter (Tan Hoon Cheng) was also arrested and released on a subsequent day.

Cops grill Negarakuku rapper, Wee Meng Chee ( http://namewee.blogspot.com/ ) was asked to translate his popular but controversial 'Negarakuku' Chinese rap song into Bahasa Malaysia. Namewee (his popular name) is purportedly probed under Sedition act.

On the same day, this news came out, the famous social-political blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin of Malaysia Today ( http://mt.m2day.org/ ) is being sent to Kamunting for detention under Internal Security Act. It was said Raja Petra had earlier seen it coming.

I disagree with the usage of Internal Security Act on anyone. I feel very disappointed and unhappy. I do not know what will happen to Raja Petra when he is in Kamunting.

Guardian.co.uk , one of the famous news sites and publications in Britain has posted an article titled In praise of ... Raja Petra Raja Kamarudin .

Hats off to all bloggers and reporter who have been arrested. I mourn and will not be celebrating Merdeka for a few coming years until I can feel the real spirit of it.