Malaysian ministers in fresh attack on bloggers

KUALA LUMPUR, April 7, 2007 (AFP)

Malaysian ministers have issued fresh attacks on bloggers, threatening to take away their rights and accusing them of trying to overthrow the government, according to reports.

The assaults come amidst an unprecedented defamation suit against two bloggers and outrage from rights groups after a minister during the week suggested Malaysian bloggers may be forced to identify themselves.

Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin said bloggers should not be exempt from the same controls as the mainstream media, and accused them of using lies to overthrow the government, the state Bernama news agency reported.

"This is very dangerous as they are writing and taking steps to gain power," he was quoted as saying late Friday from Singapore.

Zainuddin also supported a proposal by deputy communications minister Shaziman Abu Mansor, who on Wednesday suggested bloggers be registered.

Ministers, including Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, have in recent months launched attacks on bloggers and Internet users, accusing them of spreading lies about the government.

Abdullah has also supported a controversial lawsuit against prominent bloggers Jeff Ooi and Ahirudin Attan by the government-linked New Straits Times Press newspaper group for posts criticising the daily and the government.

In a report Saturday, communications minister Lim Keng Yaik threatened action against bloggers if they were irresponsible.

"We are not interfering with their rights.

But if they behave irresponsibly, we will take away their rights," Lim was quoted as saying in the New Straits Times. "The way they blog, with all that filth inside, do you think they are responsible?"

Rights groups have condemned all the attacks, arguing blogs offer a crucial alternative to the tightly-controlled mainstream media.

Paris-based watchdog Reporters Without Borders late Friday said the proposal to register bloggers was more evidence of Malaysia's desire to control online information. "The obligatory registering of blogs is a measure that so far has only been adopted by countries such as China that violate Internet users' rights," it said in a statement.