Malaysia's new information minister has pledged not to impose curbs on bloggers, who have been accused by other government officials of spreading lies and undermining public stability.
Internet commentators played a key role in recent general elections by catering to voters who wanted an alternative source of news besides television and newspapers, Information Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek told reporters late on Friday.
"If there is something newsworthy, I don't see anything wrong in them posting it," the national news agency Bernama and the New Straits Times daily quoted Ahmad Shabery as saying. "Everyone has the freedom to use the blogs as an information distribution center."
The remarks by Ahmad Shabery, who took over the ministry on Wednesday, reflect a softening in the government's stance toward bloggers.
His predecessor and other officials have repeatedly criticized bloggers and warned that new laws could be crafted to rein in bloggers who dispense malicious or false rumors that could stir tensions.
CRITICS
Some of Malaysia's most popular blogs offer political commentaries that include criticism of government policies, presenting themselves as a substitute to mainstream media that are controlled by or closely linked to ruling political parties.
Opposition groups credit the Internet for helping to convince voters to turn against the ruling National Front coalition in March 8 elections.
The coalition remained in power, but lost its two-thirds parliamentary majority and retained control of only eight of Malaysia's 13 states.
The diminished showing was attributed to public dissatisfaction over rising prices, corruption scandals and racial and religious tensions.
Ahmad Shabery said that he planned to meet with bloggers soon to "better understand their sentiments and give them an avenue to express themselves," the New Straits Times reported.
"Bloggers' views cannot be ignored," the minister was quoted as saying. "We've overlooked their roles and failed to understand their feelings."
Ministry officials could not immediately be contacted.
PROPS
Many Malaysian bloggers welcomed Ahmad Shabery's comments in postings online.
"Way to go, Mr. Info. Minister," wrote blogger S.K. Thew. "I'm here to give you the benefit of doubt since you've shown the courage to engage us."
Worries about online freedom mounted last year after a government-linked newspaper filed defamation lawsuits against two prominent bloggers, who were accused of posting allegedly libelous statements about the paper's editors and executives.
In a separate instance, an opposition party blogger was detained by police for five days over comments posted on his Web site that linked a deputy minister to corruption.
In the sweltering streets of Jakarta, buskers carry towering, hollow puppets and pass around a bucket for donations. Now, they fear becoming outlaws. City authorities said they would crack down on use of the sacred ondel-ondel puppets, which can stand as tall as a truck, and they are drafting legislation to remove what they view as a street nuisance. Performances featuring the puppets — originally used by Jakarta’s Betawi people to ward off evil spirits — would be allowed only at set events. The ban could leave many ondel-ondel buskers in Jakarta jobless. “I am confused and anxious. I fear getting raided or even
Kemal Ozdemir looked up at the bare peaks of Mount Cilo in Turkey’s Kurdish majority southeast. “There were glaciers 10 years ago,” he recalled under a cloudless sky. A mountain guide for 15 years, Ozdemir then turned toward the torrent carrying dozens of blocks of ice below a slope covered with grass and rocks — a sign of glacier loss being exacerbated by global warming. “You can see that there are quite a few pieces of glacier in the water right now ... the reason why the waterfalls flow lushly actually shows us how fast the ice is melting,” he said.
Eleven people, including a former minister, were arrested in Serbia on Friday over a train station disaster in which 16 people died. The concrete canopy of the newly renovated station in the northern city of Novi Sad collapsed on Nov. 1, 2024 in a disaster widely blamed on corruption and poor oversight. It sparked a wave of student-led protests and led to the resignation of then-Serbian prime minister Milos Vucevic and the fall of his government. The public prosecutor’s office in Novi Sad opened an investigation into the accident and deaths. In February, the public prosecutor’s office for organized crime opened another probe into
RISING RACISM: A Japanese group called on China to assure safety in the country, while the Chinese embassy in Tokyo urged action against a ‘surge in xenophobia’ A Japanese woman living in China was attacked and injured by a man in a subway station in Suzhou, China, Japanese media said, hours after two Chinese men were seriously injured in violence in Tokyo. The attacks on Thursday raised concern about xenophobic sentiment in China and Japan that have been blamed for assaults in both countries. It was the third attack involving Japanese living in China since last year. In the two previous cases in China, Chinese authorities have insisted they were isolated incidents. Japanese broadcaster NHK did not identify the woman injured in Suzhou by name, but, citing the Japanese
RSS