Wednesday, August 27, 2008

MCMC, stop being silly!

The decision to shut down Malaysia Today is totally unnecessary and unconvincing. Sue him, arrest him, charge him or whatever but Raja Petra Kamaruddin has the right to operate his website. He has a large following but there are also many including this writer who do not agree with many things he has written. He is outspoken, daring and imaginative but he has little regard for accuracy. He doesn't give a damm about evidence but that is beside the point - he is entitled to his views. He has the right to write whatever he wants and if he steps out of the boundary, there are enough laws to be used against him. In a democracy, we don't have to agree with each other but we must defend the right of everyone to speak up - including RPK and other voices of dissent. It is not the job of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission to decide what is seditious or libellious or slanderous. Let the proper authorities do the job. The MCMC order to internet service providers to block his site is myopic and ridiculous. It goes against the Multimedia Super Corridor Bill of Guarantees which promised no censorship. If it can happen to RPK, it can also happen to other Malaysian bloggers. The MCMC should just end this silliness.

48 comments:

mohsein shariff said...

It is a plain stupid political motivated act. Until when we should be in denial, YBs BN

Anonymous said...

Datuk Wong,

Has it occurred to you that your rants on concerts, dressing are seen as some like me as silly? They also sound like a teenager wrote them. You know that 14-year-old rebel that is upset that daddy doesn't allow her to go to the concert?

Anonymous said...

The UMNO government has no respect for the rule of law. Here we have the MCMC who had flouted the rule of law when they directed TM to block Malaysia-Today site. This is very arrogant, and is representative of the behaviour of the UMNO government. And they wonder why the rakyat is fed up with them! And MCMC is still ignorant of the power and flexibility of the Net. You cannot really totally block the site. The M-T site can be accessed by other routes, not necessarily via streamyx. And the same M-T site can be resurrected almost instantly with a different web name and address. As an analogy, it is almost impossible to block those porno sites and spam. They keep metamorphing. Fans of the Malaysia-Today blog have already found ways to access the site, bypassing streamyx, and for those stuck with streamyx , they can already access the mirror site. MCMC, you are an ignoramus. The more they try to shut down Malaysia-Today, the more popular Malaysia-Today gets. And the more we distrust the government because we figure they are trying to hide the things that RPK keeps exposing!

Anonymous said...

Dato, MCMC, like many of the other UMNO-run government instruments, keep making silly decisions because they are run by silly people. Sadly it reflects the lack of quality in the UMNO leaders. Some try to buy bogus PhD degrees. Some have low level diplomas from low quality colleges, and some have no tertiary education. Some use their blood money to buy honorary Doctorate thinking it will make them "honorable". Some buy their Dato titles.
Sigh....it is time, way overdue actually, for a change.
Mr Change.

mode de la shadow said...

looks like the govt need the rakyat to remind them a simple thing or 2 about democracy.

Anonymous said...

Not everything that RPK says is accurate, and not backed by evidence. Sure, I would not argue with that. But then there are also a lot of truthful articles written by RPK too, which were ignored by BN controlled media. And not everything reported by BN controlled media is true also. There are a lot of BS dished out by BN that these media happily and faithfully just regurgitate without question. And also a lot of stuff that they "self censor" as if they are our "guardians of information" and decide what we can hear and what we can't hear. That is why we are turning to the likes of Malaysia-Today, Malaysiakini, etc. We don't want to be at the mercy of papers like your STAR.

Ikrak said...

The silliness of the BN-UMNO regime is so contagious that it spreads to the MCMC by way of phone call.

This is the disease of the BN-UMNO regime - arrogant display of power.

Anonymous said...

Chun wai

these are fools living in "tempurung" sack these idiots... we dont need them to tell us what to read, watch, how to think.... who made them Gods...

Simply shoot their mouths and get shot at, i wonder which bird brain came out with that donkeys idea ke ke ke

Next, they'll say no more blogging, then they will say no more internet, the live telecast, then no more TV, then we are becoming morally corrupted bla bla bla

One of these days someone should cathch these idiots and givem a thundering slap lolololo just kidding, fed up la, memalukan Malaysia, veli veli veli the shy wan u knw ke ke ke ang moh laugh at malaysian mah sebab these bodohs bin bahlul bin tak masuk akal punya statement

anyway, something interestin i read check drcareesp out.... google it... will shock the daylights of you... pdf doc must read punya... ada tu blog, tak ingat la

well, its anothe 20 odd days for PR to take over ke ke ke so, we'll just have to bear with yes sir yes sir all bags full sir lol

selamat malam malaysia

conscience said...

DPM recently commented, "Democracy is alive" and yet, MCMC pulled the plug on MalaysiaToday. It is ridiculous to see undemocratic events happened...almost instantly. Is the words of this Govt leader, was just a political gimmick?
The fast erosion of trust on this UMNO led administration, will undoubtedly, spell the inevitable end.

Anonymous said...

RPK,we are firmy behind you.A person like RPK only comes by rarely.Malaysia needs men like RPK.
Datuk wong,i hope that you will highlight this in The Star,and give it a fair coverage.The people should be given the right to voice their opinions and views.I hope The Star will allow people to voice their disgust over this matter which involves our freedom of expression,as efficiently as they did so for the Avril concert issue.

Anonymous said...

That is why Malaysia can never progress further and decline in our competitiveness. Stifling, threatening, arrogant, shortsightedness and abuse of power seem to be the way to run the nation. Just let me ask you, does this government deserve to run this nation and the support? Your guess is as good as many Malaysians out there. Thank You.

Anonymous said...

Datuk Wong, I agree with your views. In addition, the people are tired sick of the BN government's way of utilising the police, ACA and other departments. Their ways make us feel that things are simply not right.

RPK is outspoken - expressing out the voices of the people against the authority. Thus, the following is huge. Some people agree with him, some do not. It is childish for the government to still presume that the people will be misled. The people are more mature than this. The lawmakers should feel the pulse of their constituents instead of behaving so disgustingly in the Parliament House.

Back to Malaysia Today, the people's impression now is that there are some truth in RPK's claims which has led to its closure to protect the government.

It also shows that Pak Lah does not do what he preaches. Malaysians now have less freedom of expression than Mahathir's era.

Samuel Goh Kim Eng said...

Can people continue to profess
What they want to fully confess
As their own solutions to progress
Without having deemed to transgress

(C) Samuel Goh Kim Eng - 280808
http://MotivationInMotion.blogspot.com
Thu. 28th Aug. 2008.

Anonymous said...

Dato,

It is sheer stupidity and reflect badly on the quality of the management in MCMC, UMNO, and BN. The way to fight back RPK is to counter his allegations and accusations with logic, reasoning and facts. Censoring his site will make more readers flock to his website like a free porno site. Any fool can predict RPK will fight back and his tales will be even more juicy than ever....BTW, MT is still accessible.

Anonymous said...

Well, there must be alot of truths in what Raja Petra has to say in his site. Otherwise, why would BN goons be pissed and resorted to this blocking action?

Regardless, still a stupid thing to do to block it. In this world of techy savy, there are always alternative ways to still access the site.

This makes RPK's site even more popular now. Stupid BNs.

lanaibeach said...

Democracy is alive?
Even dissenting views can’t tolerate
How could BN government compete?
One man’s views they are so afraid

Let the bloggers write
Set up teams to engage them
Put forward your views
Engage them don’t run away

The government of BN
The holes digging some more
One hole giving so much publicity
And this one blocks all the way

The magic of their words
The flip-flop wheel takes turn
The BN leaders never learn
Likewise so are the ministers

Afraid to read the messages
The criticisms of Malaysians
So why set up MSC?
We want to compete with the world
We can’t be living in villages
Listening to one track music

UMNO/BN never learn
In the recent by election in PP
It never humbles the leaders
Dismissed it as a bad dream

Democracy is engaging
Truth or false go out to explain
Laws used should be the last resort
So allowing democracy to really work

Samuel Goh Kim Eng said...

Can people continue to profess
What they want to fully confess
As their own solutions to progress
Without having deemed to transgress

(C) Samuel Goh Kim Eng - 280808
http://MotivationInMotion.blogspot.com
Thu. 28th Aug. 2008.

Samuel Goh Kim Eng said...

If anything on earth deemed 'sensitive' is blocked
Then all blockheads should be the first to be blocked
Often when the door is wrongly closed
There'll be a window still left exposed

(C) Samuel Goh Kim Eng - 280808
http://MotivationInMotion.blogspot.com
Thu. 28th Aug. 2008.

Unknown said...

Datuk Wong

We can still access the RPK's Malaysia Today via proxy server. They are thousands if not millions of those server in the net.

How can TMNET going to block them all?

Check my blog for how to access via Proxy server.

Freddy Toh said...

Datuk,

America gives the world Alfred E Neuman, the idiot kid who kept us laughing with this What - me worry?

Malaysia gives the world an alternative by the name of UMNO ....

Mad Magazine or UMNO?

Who's the icon for the Malaysian version? I have listed 6 contenders at my blog..

Anonymous said...

I am no fan of yours Datuk. But you hit the right note this time.
It is plain stupid for Najib to decide and influence MCMC to bar RPK.
What is the use of censorship, MT is up and running now.
The act of MCMC only show that how out dated our leaders are.
I would urge them to step aside and let the more capable new leaders lead the country.

Anonymous said...

It is unnecessary....and useless. Just like those cybertroopers deployed by BN.

The more they try to impede us, the more we florish! The collective force of rakyat Malaysia can't be stopped.

Rakyat boleh, down with BN!

Anonymous said...

It is definitely politically motivated and a response to the potentially massive political change that is about to happen and ruffle the cosy 50 year old nests of some leaders of whom it does not take a difficult guess who they are.
Blocking a website is a regressive step. If the government truly is honest and not corrupt they should defend themselves against RPKs accusations with facts of their own. Go to the courts and fight it out if need be whether it concerns C4 murders, son-in-laws raping the treasury or sleeping on the job taunts.

BERANI KERANA BENAR or is it DIAM DIAM UBI.....

amoker said...

I agree with you on this statement that the government is punishing the messenger instead. If BN reforms and governs diligently, these blogs would have nothing much to talk about. Instead, UMNO decides to be archaic and communist about it.

I just sent an email to Zainon ( the Sun ) saying that i observed the SUn doing self censorship these days. The Star, under your supervision also does that. The independence of mass media would be the second prong. Censorship is not going to work except demean Malaysia in the eyes of the world.

Anonymous said...

I think BN has lost the plot and can't engage with the Rakyat maturely. Their solution is to go back to the 80s ie no internet, rtm1,2 & tv3, MSM fully controlled (not that they've relaxed). So rakyat will remain underneath the 'tempurung', play marble, gasing,etc.

Only leaders like Ku Li and Muhiddin seem to get the drift of Rakyats' dissenment. MCA, MIC, Gerakan leaders not a single voice.

MCMC is really dumb. Haven't they heard of proxy server. You can never block a website.

The more you try to frustrate the Rakyats, the more they'll rise up.

Curiousity DOESN'T kill a cat in this case. MT will become more popular at the end of day!

In the meantime, read Belling a cat

Anonymous said...

again the government try to undermine our 'KUASA RAKYAT' !!!!!

Anonymous said...

There they go again. Another stupid, arrogant, unpopular, unlawful action by UMNO that remind the rakyat AGAIN why we should remove UMNO. Are the UMNO leaders brain dead? Or is it simply that they don't care. They just want to reap maximum bounty before they get kicked out. They want to blank out the news so that the rakyat don't know their crime?

Anonymous said...

The UMNO goons just did a favour for Pakatan Rakyat. They just did something to peev off the Rakyat AGAIN, and sent the Rakyat another reminder why we should get rid of UMNO. Not only that. Despite the unpopula action, they still cannot block Malaysia Today! Just go to the mirror site. They can block this mirror site later, but another will spring up to replace it! HA HA, MCMC is real stupid.

Unknown said...

"He doesn't give a damm about evidence"

hold you right there, are you saying we the readers are stupid idoits easily fooled by him??? do you think if he is just bullshitting around, we will faithfully and consistantly reading his blog??? get your fact right, bugger.

if all the copies of letters, polis reports, and SD are not evidence, pls enlighten me what is evidence to you???

Anonymous said...

Congratulations to MCMC. Now they are making themselves and UMNO look silly twits. First they break the law, which is very normal for UMNO goons as they do not respect the rule of law. Second Malaysia Today is already up and running at a mirror site, and the word already got around to MT fans how to access the site. This could go on perpetually. Thirdly, the more UMNO try to suppress RPK and Anwar, the more we support them.

Anonymous said...

Since when has the STAR cared about accuracy? When the PM and DPM come out to declare Anwar guilty, even before any court trial has begun, STAR was more than quick to publish it without even daring to question the PM and DPM. So STAR is happy to accept their accusation as accurate?

Anonymous said...

damn you datuk wong..

this guy seems like protecting RPK right to speak but indirectly also damaging the credibility of RPK by saying what RPK reveal are not true..

Datuk wong, r u sincere?

Anonymous said...

this is the first time i agree with you.

Why the need of banning MT/RPK? Why not all the money scams websites or the pornos?! I bet the MCMC is getting their daily doses of porns through internet.

~anon 11.55

Anonymous said...

UMNO

YOU JUST DON'T GET IT DO YOU ?

MALAYS ARE DIFFERENT NOW.

SWEETS AND CANDIES ARE FOR KIDS

JUSTICE AND EQUALITY IS FOR A MAN.

FOLLOW THIS RULE AND YOU WILL UNDERSTAND.

Malaysian people

Anonymous said...

Short of shutting down the entire broadband service in the whole country, you cannot block any site permanently. Like a virus, it will just mutate into another site. Even the mighty China cannot succeed in censoring the cyber space. Not even the mighty music label companies and the mighty USA can succeed in shutting down all music swapping sites. Yes you can close down one site. But it is immediately replaced by more carbon copies. Can't the UMNO goons get that into their jurassic heads (or rather "block" head, pun intended) ?

Anonymous said...

Sometimes I am really amazed at the stupidity of the government in tackling a problem. I refuse to believe that with the resources at their disposal, they can only come out with a half cook (or half hearted) solution in censoring by removing DNS entry in their servers? You can see some of the whiz kids in the blog already providing solutions to crack. Can you imagine how 'IT unsavvy' some of these decision makers who is suppose to be vanguard of our MSC charter? What will they come out next to exhibit their utter ignorance?

Anonymous said...

If there is no truth to what RPK says, by all means counter it with your own evidence. By censoring it will make us feel that there is certain truth to it that the bumbling Get Smart gomen is trying to hide something......now that's juicy, who can resist that? If not for the report on this censorship attempt, I wonder how many people actually will get to read that there is a scanned copy of crony letter signed by our dear......., quick! go and read it before they have to change name again!

Anonymous said...

I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it.

- Voltaire

Anonymous said...

When we were young our parents tells us what to do. When we grow older and go to school, the teachers tell us what to do, what we can read or cannot. When we enter the university (in the 70's) we become young adults and we explore the universe of literature and hear opinions that are different from us and yet we are not sway by every wind and doctrine.

For the govt. to suppress freedom of expression that do not conform to their ideology is like asking mature adults (like you Datuk) to be treated like kindergarden kids all over again. Where I take you, you have to follow. What I give (dish out) to you, you have to swallow, even if it's rubbish.

When I was a child, I act like a child. But now that I am an adult, I act as an adult. I put aside childlish way.

So don't expect the Malaysian public after 50 years of growing up to still act like babies or shall I say to treat us as babies. Babies can't talk or argue back and can so easily be taken advantage of. Who wants their 30 year old children to behave like babies unless you want to control them and make tnem dependent on you for life. Is that what you want? All parents must face the fact that their children will one day leave them and be independent, strong and able to strive out on their own, having their own ideas and vision.

Is our govt mature enough to handle a population that has grown up or does it still want them to be tied to the govt apron string which means forever lookin to it for sustenance.

The choice is yours. The raykat has spoken and they want to have the freedom

Anonymous said...

No wonder BN lose badly in recent by-election. The rakyat are fed-up with BN and BN never learn from the past mistakes. They continue to treat everyone like small kids. Wait till the new govt arrives!

Anonymous said...

Chun Wai,

The government's action can be best described in one simple word. STUPID.

They simply fear the truth...they just want us to be more stupid by only tuning in to the mainstream media and blogs.

Ask them to go and fly kites.

The BN is going to lose big in the next elections, mark my words. Umno, MCA, MIC, gerakan will all be wiped out.

Pro-bloggers

Vinson said...

Datuk, you seem almost intelligent and even to possess a backbone!

Wow, never would've imagined someone who works for the Star would have any of those qualities in them!

Bravo, let's hope you show more of that IN THE STAR NEWSPAPER.

BlueMoon said...

A person is entiltled to his opinion as long as he is writing based on facts and figures. Say NO to Auta

Anonymous said...

Mr Wong,
I used to enjoy reading your articles in the Star.
The enjoyment was reduced by the day the when I began reading the opposition sites.

The more the MSM side the UMNO controlled govt, the more people 'run' to the opposition side.

Likewise, this stupid blocking of MT only strengthens the general perception that what RPK writes is true, hence the blocking.

More and more people like me don't even bother to drop by at sites that are pro-govt. We visit 'true news' sites like MT, Malaysian Insider, LKS, Rocky, Jeff Ooi daily.

This is my first time at your site. And that also because of a link from Jeff Ooi.

Welcome to the Internet age.
Tell UMNO-BN-MSM to go back to Stone Age.

Anonymous said...

POLITICAL MOVEMENT. They are scare out of their s. They scare until have to broke the rules and shut down the website to shut our mouths off.!!!

I am looking forward to next election!!!

Niuku said...

They had done the Siafu's swearing on the eve of the Permatang Pauh nomination. They did the blocking of Malaysia Today immediately after the Permatang Pauh by election.

To me, both were done by the same bunch of idiots "strategists"- advisers who must be panicking now. The more wrongs they do, the faster they will go into the history book of Malaysia. We will then have a truly New Malaysia indeed.

As I had been "advised" by my seven years old son, "Can not find the site, Daddy, Google la..".

What next then ? The panicking master strategists may get this idea and suggest to block Google. And if that still fails, block the access of Internet next.

It is not that MCMC who is stupid. It is those who made the decision to block the site who is real stupid. If I were the CEO who runs Malaysia, I will immediately fire this real stupid person and correct the action that had damaged the reputation of Malaysia as a safe, secure and free international IT hub / data centre built over the years.

If not, the real CEO of Malaysia aka the Rakyat will make the firing next.

Unknown said...

Dear Wong,

This stupid move by the govt. will inevitably backfire and the nation economy will pay a heavy price for this govt blunder.

Whatever little trust foreign investors have in us will disappear when a sovereign country like Malaysia which is a major trading nation in the world can even decide not to honour a Guarantee Agreement signed earlier.

How can we compete effectively with other nations for investments if our written word cannot be trusted ?

Can we afford it if major US corps. decides not to proceed with their billion dollar investments in our country.?

These are the 2 important questions which the govt. will need to answer.

Anonymous said...

Datuk Wong

You are a newspaper editor. Can you ask for comments from MCMC commission members. I am VERY keen to hear their answers.

These are members of MCMC. http://www.skmm.gov.my/about_us/members.asp

Datuk Dr. Halim Shafie (Chairman)
Dato' Dr Halim Man Secretary General of the Ministry of Energy, Water and Communications
Dato' Dr Gan Khuan Poh President of the Malaysian Economic Association
Datuk C. Rajandram Executive Deputy Chairman of Rating Agency Malaysia Holdings Berhad (RAM)
Dato' Abdul Hanan Alang Endut Secretary General of the Ministry of Science, Technology and
Innovation, Malaysia (MOSTI).
Datuk Dr. Abdul Samad bin Haji Alias Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australi
Encik Idris bin Abdullah Member of the Companies Commission.
Encik Mohamed Sharil Mohamed Tarmizi Executive Director of Binafikir