Is Malaysia in for a change in freedom of speech after the elections that shook the nation? It’s not only a few months ago that bloggers were the pirates of free speech (see the 2 newspaper extracts below).

Even me, an expat in Malaysia will make sure never ever to use a discourse like I would use in my European blogs, due to respect for the government that doesn’t like people who "make too much noise without being constructive".

It’s hardly possible to be constructive as long as there is no transparency about what is happening. So I prefer to keep quiet and blog about Siti Nurhaliza or other things that can’t harm the government.

But the elections showed clear that the government harmed itself: it didn’t need any blogger to speak out his or her mind, it was just a matter of time. Something we have seen in young democracies in Europe as well: you can never sit and enjoy having a majority: sooner or later the people that voted for you want something in return.

Anyway, the political landscape has had a hiccup, and I have the impression this hiccup is going to tolerate bloggers more. Which is a great thing for the government: they just have to read what bloggers are saying and they know what is happening in the street, no need to leave the aircon office in Putrajaya and still be in contact with the basis (apart from the people not having Internet)…

Anyway: half a year ago the situation looked like below, let’s see how it will look at the end of this year.

• Malaysia: Wednesday August 2, 2006: PM: Those who spread untruths on the Net will be detained
• Malaysia: 3th December 2006: Cyber law mulled to block lies in blogs

Malaysia Newspaper wants to know what happens with liars who tell their lies not on the Internet?

Adapted-commented by Malaysia My Second Home: Malaysia newspaper December 4th, 2006

BY HAH FOONG LIAN

SITIAWAN: Registering bloggers may be a stricter way to stop cyberspace writers from spreading disharmony and lies.

So who is allowed to speak in Malaysia if the bloggers of Malaysia cannot speak? What happened to the Minister of Parliament that said that: Malaysia sex better than Bangkok. Is he punished? No. So does that mean he is speaking the truth? Anybody can go and see for himself that what this PM said is far from what is happening on the Malaysian streets… Yet the lie is out, the person in case is an MP and well… that’s all we know about this case. All is clear under the beautiful Malaysian sky…

Acknowledging that the registration of bloggers was a difficult task, Deputy Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Kong Cho Ha said that it needed the cooperation of other countries.

Kong said: We need to have stricter cyber laws to prevent these bloggers from disseminating disharmony, chaos, seditious material and lies. We are talking about creating cyber laws to control those who misuse the Internet, he added. Kong noted that the high number of bloggers in the country was a good development if they used the Internet constructively. However, he said, some of them would put up sensational or controversial articles or images to attract readers to their blogs. We want our bloggers to be responsible, to keep within the rules and not put up seditious articles that can create disharmony and chaos, he said.

Citing the example of the recent picture of Gombak MP Datuk Dr Rahman Ismail and Senator Datin Paduka Norhayati Onn, Kong said it reflected the irresponsible acts of some bloggers.

We are talking here about some gossip in Malaysia: a not developed picture of a man having a woman’s head on his shoulder in public…kind of paparazzi gossip… don’t we have anything better to do in Malaysia than going after the gossip blogs? Gossip spreads faster than Malaysian Airways can transport people, yet doesn’t help our country gaining any economical benefits for any Malaysian business. So why wasting extra money and extra energy here?

Now we have cyber laws to check such misuse but the laws need to change to keep up with the times. This is because technology changes faster than our laws, he said yesterday after opening the inaugural computer fair at Dewan Merdeka in Seri Manjung, near here. The fair was organised by the Association of the Computer and Multimedia Industry of Malaysia (Pikom).

Malaysians get punished because of lack of transparency

Summarized: In August and December of this year: PM Pak Lah wants:

• to restrict Malaysian bloggers from speaking and
• punish or detain Malaysian bloggers(see articles below).

When Pak Lah came in power, he said he would go to the people and listen to what they had to say. Well, each Malaysian man and Malaysian woman has his or her subjective idea of what is going on in Malaysia. If you have to step out your door and visit 20 million Malaysians, that will take you way too long. You can facilitate your quest to listen to the Malaysian people by just logging on to the Internet and read the blogs of this Malaysian man or that Malaysian woman. It is "their" blog, meaning that is how they think reality is in Malaysia.

Now if reality is different, that means that for one reason or another bloggers cannot see clear. The lack of transparency in Malaysia could be one of the reasons why what Malaysians think is not what the Malaysian government wants the people of Malaysia to think… Transparency: an issue Pak Lah is tackling already from the first day he is in power ruling Malaysia. So you cannot punish the Malaysian men nor the Malaysian women for lack of transparency can you?

At least by blogging, the Malaysian women and men give a 100% transparency of their thoughts.

Technorati Tags: Malaysia | Politics | Malaysia newspaper | Weblog | Malaysia sex | Malaysia Today

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Technorati Tags: blogs, discourse, elections, expat, extracts, free speech, freedom of speech, pirates

Last Friday I wanted to book a fight for myself so at 16.30h I contact Malaysian Airlines (MAS). The conversation goes like this:

• Can I do a booking please?
• No sir.
• Why not, this is Malaysian Airlines right.
• Yes sir but it is Friday afternoon so everybody went home already.
• Ok, can you then put me through with a Malaysian who is not doing his or her Friday prayers like a Chinese or an Indian colleague of you?
• Cannot sir, don’t have sir….

What is wrong at Malaysian Airlines (MAS)

1. Why when you pray at 15.00h, you are still out of the office at 16.30h????
2. Why is there no policy to hire people who can take over when others want to go home????
3. Why will I fly AirAsia or Singapore Airlines from now on????

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Technorati Tags: 00h, airasia, colleague, fly, friday afternoon, last friday, malaysian airlines, prayers, singapore airlines, sir don

Did I read well in the Malaysia newspaper this weekend; more than 50% of the kids in Malaysia are abused? And it seems to go from parents to their children to their children.

I am not surprised, as sometimes you hear kids screaming when walking into a residential neighbourhood: the same screams as when in Europe we slaughter piglets. Talking of piglets: what’s happening in Australia with Mr. F and his incest house is no example to be proud of either…

And add to that teachers like this one:

A 16-year-old schoolgirl has reported to the police that a teacher had given her RM15 after he allegedly molested her.

It’s unfair to only point our finger to Malaysia, it’s the children that are loosing here

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Technorati Tags: australia, Europe, incest, parents, piglets, residential neighbourhood, schoolgirl, screams, slaughter