Under siege

It's truly ironic that Malaysia has been getting more bad press than Singapore over the issue of freedom of speech. Critics have always lambasted Singapore over the lack of freedom of speech, but few bloggers have been hauled up over their writing. Even mr brown continues to write freely although the establishment took issue with his column that was printed in Today newspaper last year.

No lawsuits and police reports have been filed against bloggers in Singapore since 2005. Two years ago, some netizens were brought to court under the Sedition Act for posting racist comments. I can't recall whether any blogger in Singapore has been charged in court for posting social and political commentaries.

But bloggers in Malaysia have been facing greater censures of late. Rocky's Bru and Jeff Ooi are still facing a lawsuit, young activist Nathaniel Tan was recently hauled up by the police for questioning over a posting, and Raja Petra Kamarudin has been the subject of a police report that charged that his political website malaysia-today had insulted the king and Islam. The Star has an interesting article on the impact of the bloggers on the Malaysian political scene.

Why are bloggers in Malaysia facing greater wrath of the political establishment? Are Malaysian bloggers more influential in society than Singapore bloggers? Or are bloggers in Singapore more responsible? Or is there greater tolerance in Singapore?

There are no clear answers. But there are many other questions on the hazy new world order.

Additional reading:
Kenny Sia