‘This is yet another step the Malaysian government has taken towards being a Gestapo-style police state. We Malaysians are utterly disgusted and appalled by this hypocrisy'.

On Minister defends Malaysia Today ban

Perry: This is yet another step the Malaysian government has taken towards being a Gestapo- style police state.

We Malaysians are utterly disgusted and appalled by this hypocrisy. RPK's blog is ranked number one in Malaysia and is actually visited by all races.

Raja Petra himself is very much a ‘Malaysian Malaysian'. It is unbelievable that pornographic sites, fanatical and chauvinistic religious sites, con-job sites, etc. are all free from Malaysia's government censure, but RPK's blog is banned.

Is it because of some startling and ‘explosive' revelations about those walking the ‘corridors of power'? The MCMC is a joke of an institution.

This action will only provoke more revolt among the Malaysian public, and we shall demand that all persons responsible be brought to justice when the new government is in place, regardless of their claims that they were ‘instructed by those in power'.

Enough of these gutless civil servants.

Lim Leong:

A democratic and a progressive society does not come about by having a ‘Big Brother' government telling people what to read and what is right and what it wrong.

In fact, it is the absolute control of the media and information channels which has allowed corruptions and injustices to flourish unchecked in Malaysia for so long.

The Malaysias people are not illiterate and we can come to a conclusion on whether a piece of information has any truth or otherwise.

If the information is ‘libelous, defamatory and slanderous to the other people', there are more than enough avenues under the Malaysia legal framework to settle the wrongs in court.

My advice to Syed Hamid is to stop spinning the censorship story. If you have got nothing to hide, truth will prevail eventually as the people will reason it out for themselves.

On the contrary, no amount of censorship will conceal wrongdoings in the 21st century.

Peter Ooi: I understand that Syed Hamid Albar is a lawyer by training. But the way he argued for the banning of Malaysia Today does not really reflect his understanding of the law.

I do agree that Malaysia Today did publish articles bordering on slander. If any one is offended by the slanderous article, he is free to take legal action against the writer.

There is no need for the government to act on behalf the offended individuals. At present, Raja Petra is having two of such cases hanging over his head.

In a civil and free society it should be the offended parties that seek legal redress and not the government on his behalf.

The irony here is that our leaders who felt slandered would not act or I should say, fear to act against such slanderous remarks.

Now that Syed Hamid decided to ban the site for these reasons, it further confirm the public perception that the authority is attempting to cover up all its wronddoings which no mainstream media would dare expose.

Syed Hamid, it is time that you treat the public with due respect.

Timo FP: Instead of wallowing in sorrow, the blockage of ‘Malaysia Today' should be seen as a cause for celebration.

It appears to have hit a nerve where it hurts and that, my friends, is a definite cause to raise a glass or two (of rose syrup, if Jais is reading this).

As they say, ‘The truth hurts, and someone has got to take it with a pinch of salt'.

To the guys at Putrajaya, you'd better watch it. The truth has a funny way of biting you in the rear when you least expect it to.

RjtS Dhaliwal: What is more ethical than exposing the lies and corrupt practices of an individual? This country gives absolute right to individuals to reply to bloggers' comments - why not use blogger media to explain or justify your actions?

Which law of the land was violated? Is it a law in our country to suppress the truth?

What does MCMC expect us to say - that there were no hanky-panky dealings in the purchase of submarines?

That Altantuya never set foot on Malaysian soil as there are no immigration records, and therefor she could not have been murdered in this country?

It is a natural phenomenon for people who sign affidavits implicating a powerful and influential minister to change the affidavit and go missing afterwards?

That the majority of the people in this country do not mind, and in fact are happy being trampled and told to go back to their ancestral countries if they are not happy with the government's policies and racial slurs?

Last but not least, that the ruling coalition is ruled by the highest standard of uncorrupted leaders found no where else in this world, all of whom hold the highest ethical and moral values?

Would anyone buy that?

Tetraigrat: It looks like this is one of the steps initiated by the current, desperate government to block the real truth from being known - especially that one high-ranking person.

Instead of ordering all this and spoiling his own name, he should just go and sumpah each time an offensive article of him is out, as this is the rule of the day.

I hope RPK and all national-minded bloggers come together and post all the necessary truths.

Let's see how many blogs MCMC can block off now. It's sad to see so many apple polishers in this country.

I hope Malaysiakini will be cautious with its news and viewers' comments, as the same fate may befall them. After all, this is what MGG Pillai famously called Bolehland .

Ricky Wong: I see no reason for the ‘Malaysia Today' website to be blocked. After 51 years of independence, the Malaysian government still does not understand the true meaning of democracy, freedom of speech, and expression.

No one should be offended by a report if he or she is not guilty of the actions mentioned in the report itself. Just like the Malay saying goes: jika tak makan cili, maka tak rasa pedas .

In this light, ‘Malaysia Today' has done a good job by giving the public the other side of stories. By giving both sides, people can judge by themselves.

Personally, I feel that ‘Malaysia Today' has done a great job in the dissemination of information in today's modern world.

By blocking the website, the government has moved a step toward suppressing democracy in this country and still has not learned from the March 8 and Aug 26 elections.

The government is mistaken. It's not the ‘Malaysia Today' website that caused the political tsunami , but rather their own negative actions and lack of accountability to the rakyat .

Therefore, if the government wants to recover their credibility in the eyes of the rakyat , give the rakyat what they want and let them judge whether they still want you next time.

Make a positive move to unblock the ‘Malaysia Today' website and you'll reap more positive feedback.

KIV T: These people still don't get it and are still arrogant. Now they are trying to block ‘Malaysia Today'. This is totally unacceptable. We are worse than a communist country.

Look at Afghanistan, for example: the government has limited their Internet bandwidth so that their citizens cannot access news portal and video portals.

That is why the people there have no idea what is going on in the world. Is this what Malaysia is becoming?

Blogging is a means for people to publish their personal views, and it's up to the readers to believe what was written.

We Malaysians are not stupid and we know what is true and what is rubbish.

Please, MCMC, do your part. I am sure these are instructions from above, and not MCMC's own initiative!

Rob: As a Malaysian, I find the instructions from MCMC to block the ‘Malaysia Today' site totally unacceptable. It also contradicts the MSC Bill of Guarantees.

I also find your excuse for the block laughable, as I think that the MSM is 'bordering on incitement' as well.

So why not ban them as well? Or is that not MCMC jurisdiction?

You should know better that.

JTB:

The remarks made by Syed Hamid Albar are to say the least is shocking.

Hamid Albar is a lawyer by training and I suppose when he left practice to join the BN government he must have forgotten whatever law he had learned.

He said that the reason for blocking the web site was because the contents of the web site were ‘libelous, defamatory and slanderous'.

I would like to know how did he come to the conclusion that the contents of the site were ‘libelous, defamatory and slanderous". Is he now playing judge and jury on such matters?

What happened to the legal system? Is Hamid Albar now telling the Malaysian public that he and the BN government now arbitrarily decide on what is defamatory?

What about the right to fair comment and justification that what is said has substance? What about the rights of the person defamed to bring his grievances to court and seek damages?

Look, if it is criminal defamation the police can act, if it is a matter not criminal but tortuous in nature you can sue the pants off Raja Petra and wipe him out from the face of this earth financially.

After the Lingam Tape royal commission, any reasonable person would read between the lines that the government now has no confidence in the judiciary to get a ‘correct, correct correct" decision in their favour.

This ban on Malaysia Today is bad for the country and a disgrace to the present government.

One Malaysia: If ‘Malaysia Today' is slanderous, the BN government should examine itself objectively. Had it not be slandering via the MSM etc all these years?

BN just cannot accept the exposure of truth by RPK and others. The exposures are endangering the BN selfish interests. Pure and simple.

In every government project there is someone inside swindling the public's money. Are revelations of such misdeeds slanderous?

We have plenty of unsavoury characters in the government. Is exposing them a misdeed?

Blocking the Internet is a clear indication of BN being hell-bent on suppressing the truth from surfacing. If a matter is true , it is not slanderous but factual reporting.

If it is not true then it is okay to call that a slander. The DPM should sue RPK for that. Why didn't he do that?

Permatang Pauh is not enough a lesson for the BN leaders. Thank god, we have nincompoops running the psychological warfare against us the rakyat .

The more they ‘slander', the more revelations we get.