Internet Censorship Too ?

I am really shocked after reading this article :

Malaysian Insider : Malaysia mulls ‘Green Dam’ despite China’s failure

Let's put it simply, filtering is a form of censorship. Censorship violates MSC Bill of Guarantees Article 7 that reads "Ensure no Internet censorship". Whether it is to filter pornography or so-called "undesirable websites", it can't be denied it would be considered as internet censorship. Besides, the term "undesirable" is a very vague and subjective term, similar to phrases like "excite disaffection"

Why do we need to study from India, Pakistan, Australia and Hong Kong when we can learn from Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea ?

Even as we speak, Hong Kongers have begun a campaign against Internet filtering since last year. I'm really curious about the registration of bloggers part. From what I gather, many bloggers need to register themselves with respective free website providers before beginning their own writing.

Another point to take into context is, how does one define a blogger? One can be writing simple articles or music reviews over the net, does one have to register oneself? How about one that writes about cooking, but not in blogspot.com or wordpress.com? How about the other person that writes about drugs and fashion? How about a fellow that writes his opinions and letters on social matters and publish it all over the net?

Would they be considered bloggers too? Not music reviewer, writer, cooking reviewer, drug writer, fashion reviewer? If that is so, would it happen that perhaps people (including non-Malaysians) all over the internet will have to register with the Malaysian government in order for other Malaysians to view their work?

I am very sure people outside Malaysia will not do that for Malaysians.

This may be a serious deterrent to the growth of ICT industry in Malaysia.

Malaysians should be allowed to exercise their freedom in performing self-censorship. I believe it is not necessary for Malaysians to have a Big Brother / Parent Software deciding on what they should or should not view.

If one has sufficient religious conscience to perceive pornographic elements as negative, one would practise restrain from visiting pornographic sites.

As for other forms of "undesirable" sites, I believe Malaysians are able to read, judge and decide on the viability of the contents in those sites. Most Malaysian internet users have had sufficient education for performing such feat.

Why Do Malaysians Demonstrate and March ?

Yeo Yang Poh wrote two great articles that reflects what goes on my mind. It is written in the aftermath of the 2009 Anti-ISA March. It was originally said to be Anti and Pro-ISA March but since I do not see any Pro-ISA marchers significantly in any pictures, I will conclude this as an Anti-ISA march instead.

English : Why do Malaysians march?

Bahasa Melayu : Mengapa berdemonstrasi?

Well, put it this way : No one likes to march amidst tear gas, water cannons, Black Marias, under the hot sun with huge amounts of police running around for the sake of fun.


Compared to BERSIH walk or the previous year Anti-ISA march, the presence of police and aggression are heavier this time around. There are more warnings through mainstream media and a higher potential of confrontation with people on the other side of the coin (Pro-ISA).


If Malaysians are willing to risk all that to participate in a march, it becomes an indicator that a certain part of the population are very dissatisfied and they want to make their mind known and find no better way to express.


Malaysians should be given freedom to assemble as provided as a constitutional right in Open Air places (not just stadiums) such as Dataran Merdeka. It should be part of the aim of 1Malaysia that ensure such right is not violated.

Bernama News on Losses Due to Anti-ISA Protests

Bernama reported : Estimated Losses Of RM100-200 Million Due To Illegal Demo: Raja Nong Chik

1) Can we see the breakdown of the losses in full , albeit OFFICIALLY ?

2) Did all the costs come from Unnecessary Road Blocks, Arrests, Usage of FRU water cannon trucks, Black Marias and Tear Gas?



3) Wouldn't the cost be unnoticeably low if the demonstration is declared legal and allowed to centralise at the front of Istana Negara or Dataran Merdeka? Wouldn't the cost be largely reduced if the items from (2) are not used and the protesters allowed to gather peacefully at Istana Negara or Dataran Merdeka?

4) Why is the demonstration declared illegal? Why is it not allowed? I thought Freedom to assemble is part of the constitutional right of Malaysians?

5) Gerakan Mansuh ISA organised the event. "Mansuh ISA" means "Repeal/Abolish ISA". It does not mean "Review ISA".

6) "Politicised" is a strange word to use considering the fact that only political parties like BN is primarily the chief in deciding on the abolition of ISA.

Malaysiakini pics on the Anti-ISA protests are here.

The Edge Malaysia pics : Scenes of the anti- and pro-ISA rallies in KL

Pictures from joyce-tedoen.com . She went there as a neutral person but managed to catch all these :






Am I not wrong to say that the number of Pro-ISA contestants are almost non-existent? I guess there are no ISA supporters.

The March For and Against ISA !

Wouldn't it be more interesting if they hold it on 31st August (Independence Day) rather than 1st August?

For more information on ISA, the abbreviation for the draconian law Internal Security Act, one can read this :

CPI Asia : FAQs on ISA

This is a map that I found over the net while searching for information :

Looks like it will be a very big event tomorrow. As usual, whenever such protests happen, police will discourage public to participate, roadblocks will be set in various places in and out of town. The blocks have started even as we speak.

Remember, remember the 10th of November, when the BERSIH yellow wave swept through the streets of KL amidst torrential rain on 10th November 2007?

Perhaps this time around, it will be black (anti) and white (pro).

As far as I can recall, Gerakan Mansuh ISA (anti) had started calling for participation for quite some time. In fact GMI holds annual protests on the ISA matter. I have only heard about Pro-ISA recently. Hmmnnn ...

If there is any truth to the map above, I would say both anti and pro groups will meet somewhere in the middle of the journey.

Who planned to chance upon whom? Whatever that is, I believe everyone should have a chance to voice out.

The biggest opposition party has urged its members to participate, therefore the numbers will be great. I believe human rights activists will be there too.

Somebody said ISA rallies pointless and should not be politicised . I'd say, since only political parties, regardless of which divide, will decide on this matter, the term "politicised" is quite a strange word to apply to this event.

I do not even understand why certain groups are pro-ISA. What is so good about :

1) indefinite imprisonment with periodical internal reviews to release a detainee
2) arrest of any person without the need for trial in certain defined circumstances
3) violation of fundamental human rights
4) having laws of subjective language with terms such as ‘substantial body’, ‘substantial number’, ‘cause to fear’, ‘excite disaffection’, ‘promote feelings of ill-will and hostility’.
5) having potential to abuse the law for certain reasons due to item (4).

I'd ask, "why review? why not totally abolish it?"

It seems that there are more information in jelas.info on the event tomorrow.