HRW Speaks Out Against Harrassment of M'Kini

Excerpts from Human Rights Watch:

Malaysia: Don’t Censor or Harass Independent Website

(New York) - The Malaysian government should drop its order to a popular news website to remove videos of a recent protest and of a government minister's reaction, Human Rights Watch said today.

The website Malaysiakini has refused to comply with a September 3, 2009 order by the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission to remove a video showing an incident where protesters in Selangor state marched with a severed cow's head to oppose the building of a Hindu temple and another in which the home minister stated that the actions were legal. The minister later reversed himself and police charged some of the protesters.

"The government wants to make the problem disappear by taking the videos off the internet," said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "But Malaysians have a right to see for themselves what happened and hear what was said - the government shouldn't be suppressing this information."

According to the Communication and Multimedia Commission, the videos are in violation of the Communication and Multimedia Act 1998, which prohibits "content which is indecent, obscene, false, menacing or offensive in character with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass another person." Violations carry fines of up to RM50,000 (US$14,325) and up to a year in prison.

The commission's letter ordering Malaysiakini to remove the videos from its website stated that the videos "contain offensive contents with the intent to annoy any person, especially Indians."

"The government's investigation of Malaysiakini is nothing short of media harassment and it needs to stop," said Pearson. "Malaysians are entitled to know all sides of a story. It is not up to the government to approve what news is fit to air, print, or post."

I genuinely feel embarrassed for the BN government. It puts its foot in its mouth so often that the foot ought to start paying the mouth some rent for taking up permanent residence there.

It screwed up royally when it rounded up the pseudo-Muslim gangsters to protest the relocation of the temple.

UMNO probably hoped it would garner Muslim sympathy and comradeship. It did not.

Then Hishamuddin Hussein attempted to calm trouble waters by pooh-poohing the whole issue. It backfired in his face. Literally.

He was caught on tape spouting rubbish. That move earned BN an all-time political pariah status.

Muslims were quite embarrassed (the poor things) and quick to disassociate themselves from those munafik imbeciles.

So he quickly changed his tune and ordered that those protestors be arrested and tried in court. Of course, you and I know they will be out in no time at all.

But he couldn't change the video in which he was caught making a fool of himself.

The smart thing (for any other normal being) would be to lie low and lick one's wounds in quiet.

But no. He gets a running dog, the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission to force Malaysiakini (who videoed him and uploaded it to its website) to remove those offending videos.

That sort of stupidity can only attract a whole new level of attention.

But BN has been around for ages. They haven't learned anything thus far, and they never will.