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RIGHTS-MALAYSIA: Blogger&#39s Arrest – &#39Politically Repressive&#39

Baradan Kuppusamy

KUALA LUMPUR, Jul 18 2007 (IPS) - The arrest, under the official secrets act (OSA), of a prominent blogger and senior aide to opposition icon Anwar Ibrahim has shaken the fast growing blogging community in this country dominated by docile, state-controlled mainstream media.

Harvard-educated Nathaniel Tan, 27, was picked up for allegedly posting sensitive government information on the Internet, as part of a wider campaign against "slander and lies" supposedly spread by writers of blogs.

This was made clear by deputy internal security minister Johari Baharum who said police has been instructed to ferret out who is writing what in the blogsphere here.

Baharum told the official Bernama wire on Sunday that police had arrested Tan as part of an investigation into "lies and slander against national leaders" posted on the Internet by bloggers and webmasters. "We want the police to investigate and trace writers spreading lies through websites and to bring the culprits to book," he said.

"The police must act to prevent those (bloggers) from tarnishing the image of the country," Baharum told Bernama.

It is clear that the government has launched a campaign against bloggers and websites that have been lampooning the government and singling out Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi as an "inept" administrator and for failing to deliver on 2004 election promises to combat corruption and run a clean government.

Police arrested Tan who also manages the website of Anwar&#39s National People’s Party, on Friday, and took away his laptop and desktop computers.

Tan, released on Tuesday after four days of questioning by police, said he was constantly asked by a relay team of officers over postings in his blog. "I have to report to police later and am not sure how the case will progress," he told IPS after his release on Tuesday.

Although Tan has been released, he potentially faces a heavy fine and mandatory one year in jail if charged and found guilty under the OSA. According to international rights group Amnesty International, the OSA is a particularly draconian law which provides "vaguely worded definitions" of what constitutes an official secret.

"It gives the authorities wide powers to curb and impose penalties on the unauthorised publication of any information in the hands of the government, no matter how insignificant or whether such information is already in the public domain," Amnesty said on its website.

The arrest sent shockwaves through the closely-knit blogger community, sparking fear on one hand and outrage on the other.

"The arrest of Tan has shaken up the blogging community," said human rights activist Elizabeth Wong, herself a blogger. "We are all asking who is next?"

The fear is palpable because Tan is seen as a "mover and shaker" in the blogging community who is noted for his unvarnished criticism of government leaders. He had even called Baharum a "coward" and asked readers to "vote this guy out" in his website www.jelas.info

Baharum was investigated and cleared of all wrongdoing last week after Internet postings surfaced last month alleging he had received RM5.5 million (1.6 million US dollars) in bribes to release three gangsters from prison.

Many bloggers threw caution to the winds and gathered to keep vigil outside several police stations in the capital where Tan was being held and questioned.

Most observers and political analysts said the real target is not just Tan but also other bloggers as well who have been having a field day criticising politicians and pushing the boundaries of press freedom in cyberspace.

Oriental Daily News, a Chinese vernacular daily, best described the mood when it headlined its front page Tan&#39s arrest story as a "white terror" striking down bloggers. The daily asked, "Is the campaign against bloggers started?"

Political analysts see the "anti-blogger" campaign as an attempt to "instill fear" and also curb "unrestrained" attacks on national leaders especially on Badawi ahead of a crucial general election widely expected later this year.

Officials fear that "too many Malaysians" were being taken in by the alternative blogs and websites that offer an explosive mixture of gossip, hard opinions and few facts, capturing the imagination of millions of readers.

It is unclear whether the public fascination with Internet-based angst would translate into votes for the opposition – seen as an uninspiring blend of hardnosed Chinese chauvinists, Ivy-league educated and laptop-carrying liberals and Muslim fundamentalists clad in turban and flowing Arab costumes.

The government has admitted that it cannot repeat the sterling performance in 2004 when public expectation and hopes from Badawi were high.

But the ruling National Front coalition also does not want to see a major swing in voter support for the Anwar-led opposition which is promising a transparent and accountable government, affirmative action to help all needy Malaysians, not just Malays, and an end to all racially discriminatory policies.

The arrest sparked widespread condemnation both here and abroad with Anwar, opposition lawmakers and various rights NGOs demanding Tan&#39s immediate release and an end to the campaign against bloggers.

Anwar, who himself spent six years in prison on charges of which he was later acquitted, condemned Tan&#39s arrest and described it as "unprofessional and high-handed.’’

Anwar said the police did not present a warrant of arrest nor told Tan’s parents the reason for the arrest. "It is to intimidate and threaten the opposition political parties," he told IPS. "We have taken to the Internet to push our agenda for change and the government is getting worried at the huge Internet following bloggers have earned for themselves."

Parliamentary opposition leader Lim Kit Siang urged Badawi to oversee a change from the policy of "arrest, and then investigate" to one of strict adherence to "investigate, then arrest".

"Abdullah (Badawi) should spell out that his administration is for human rights and freedom of publication as he had promised the people he would do," Lim told IPS. "There is a clear ulterior motive in arresting the blogger."

The South East Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) and Reporters without Borders both urged Badawi to respect human rights and restrain the police.

"By arresting him (Tan), the authorities are trying to intimidate Malaysian Internet users and get them to censor themselves. Until now, they had limited themselves to threats and abusive prosecutions. Now they have gone further and adopted a more radical form of repression," SEAPA said in a statement.