 |
|||||||||
|
|||||||||
|
|||||||||
|
|||||||||
Fall 2008 Bulletin
International
Malaysian Government Faces Criticism over Jailed Blogger
The Malaysian government released the editor of a news Web site who was detained under a national security law for criticizing Islam after a court ruled his detention was illegal.
High Court Justice Syed Ahmad Helmy Syed Ahmad ruled Nov. 7, 2008 that Malaysia’s home minister exceeded his authority in detaining blogger Raja Petra Raja Kamarudin, editor of the Web site Malaysia Today, under Section 8 of Malyasia’s Internal Security Act (ISA), according to The Associated Press (AP). The New York Times reported November 7 that the court concluded that the government’s justification for Raja Petra’s detention was insufficient.
Raja Petra had been detained since Sept. 12, 2008 when he was arrested as part of a larger government crackdown on anti-government critics. The blogger’s arrest under the ISA drew protesters to the streets of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s capital, and drew criticism from international free expression advocates and the U.S. State Department.
The government can appeal the ruling, but the judge ordered Raja Petra released the same day, according to The Times. Raja Petra told the AP, “I’m really glad it’s over. I’m really tired. The judge’s decision proves there is no justification for my detention.”
The ISA gives the home minister broad powers to detain individuals acting in a manner considered harmful to national security without trial for up to two years. According to a Sept. 30, 2008 story on the Web site c|net news, the law’s expansive powers are a vestige of British colonial rule in Malaysia, and it was originally enacted to address the threat of communist terrorists.
Malaysian Information Minister Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek said Raja Petra was detained for national security reasons because he ridiculed Muslims in his blog posts on Malaysia Today’s Web site, according to a September 12 report issued by the Malaysian official news agency Bernama. Raja Petra wrote an August 8 post entitled “I Promise to Be a Good, Non-Hypocritical Muslim,” that stated “Muslims do everything Islam is against” and “Muslims are hypocrites. That is what ails Malaysia.” The column is available at http://mt.m2day.org/2008/content/view/11025/84/. Cheek also cited another August 24 column authored by Raja Petra, “Not all Arabs are Descended from the Prophet.”
According to Bernama, Cheek said Raja Petra’s statements might antagonize Muslims worldwide. He compared Raja Petra’s blog to controversial political cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed published in September 2005 by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten. (See “Controversial Cartoons Lead to Worldwide Concern for Speech, Press Freedom, and Religious Values” in the Winter 2006 Silha Bulletin.)
Raja Petra was detained at the Kamunting Detention Center in Taiping, according to the AP. Under the terms of the ISA, an advisory board was required to review the grounds for Raja Petra’s detention every six months. The home minister is authorized to extend an individual’s detention for two years beyond the initial two-year detention period.
Raja Petra was also arrested earlier this year, on May 6, 2008, for sedition, according to the AP. In an April 25 post on the Malaysia Today Web site, he implicated Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife in the 2006 killing of a Mongolian model, Altantuya Shaariibuu, according to a May 6, 2008 Reuters story. The post, entitled “Let’s Send the Altantuya Murderers to Hell,” stated that before her death, the model allegedly had an affair with the Deputy Prime Minister and tried to blackmail him for money.
Raja Petra was released on bail on May 9, The New Straits Times reported. His trial on sedition charges began in Kuala Lumpur on Oct. 6, 2008, after he had been detained for violating the ISA, according to The Guardian of London. The New York Times reported November 7 that the charge of sedition was still pending against Raja Petra. “This is becoming a test case,” Raja Petra’s lawyer told Reuters. “This is the first time a blogger has been charged with sedition.”
In August 2008, the Malaysian government attempted to block the Malaysia Today Web site, citing concerns about defamatory content. On Aug. 27, 2008, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) ordered Internet service providers (ISPs) in Malaysia to cut off access to the Web site, according to an August 29 AP story.
“Everyone is subject to the law, even websites and blogs,” Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar said, according to an August 29 New Straits Times story. Although he asserted that the government did not intend to restrain freedom of expression, he added, “when you publish defamatory contents [sic], it is only natural for action to be taken.”
The New Straits Times reported that the MCMC’s efforts to block access to the Web site were ultimately stymied. Raja Petra created a mirror site of Malaysia Today, an exact copy of a Web site on a different server, that allowed users to access the Web site’s content in spite of the ISP block.
Raja Petra told the AP for an August 28 story, “Blocking my site is a move by a desperate government that is trying to silence me, but it’s not going to stop me. It only reveals that the government does not know how to handle the Internet.”
The government has also detained other individuals under the ISA. The Malaysian opposition claims the ruling coalition is trying to quash dissent following a loss of support in the March 2008 general election, according to a September 23 BBC News story.
Raja Petra’s arrest on September 12 occurred on the same day opposition lawmaker Teresa Kok and reporter Tan Hoon Cheng from Chinese language newspaper Sin Chew were also detained pursuant to the ISA, according to a September 13 AP story. Kok was arrested for allegedly complaining about the noise created by morning prayers at the mosque in her district. Tan was detained after reporting that a Malay Muslim party politician made derogatory comments about the Chinese minority in Malaysia. Both Kok and Tan have since been freed. The simultaneous arrests, however, instigated a wave of criticism against the Malaysian government and inspired calls for the abolition of the ISA.
The Malaysian Bar Association adopted a resolution calling for the repeal of the ISA on September 20 and the release of individuals detained under the law, according to a September 21 story in The New Straits Times.
On September 27, more than 2,000 Malaysians marched in protest in the streets of Kuala Lumpur to show their support for repeal of the ISA, according to the Straits Times of Singapore on September 29.
U.S. State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack said in a statement issued September 18, “The United States firmly believes that national security laws, such as the ISA, must not be used to curtail or inhibit the exercise of universal democratic liberties or the peaceful expression of political views.”
– Amba Datta
Silha Research Assistant
 |
 |
 |
Home | About | Events | Bulletin | Resources University of Minnesota | College of Liberal Arts | School of Journalism and Mass CommunicationCopyright © 2003 Silha Center at the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved.
|
