Malaysia's government pledged to allow the internet to be free from censorship while setting up the Mutimedia Super Corrider in few year ago, thus, compared to the mainstream media, independent online news sites and bloggers have been pushing the limits of what they can freely report and say over the Internet, but the future of cyberspace increasing bleak.
The raid on Malaysiakini has served as a rude wake-up call to those who have been complacent in thinking that the Internet was safe and free by virtue of the government’s promise of no-censorship.
In January 2003, responding to a complaint from the youth wing of the ruling United Malays National Party (UMNO), police from a special "computer crimes" department entered the Malaysiakini offices in Kuala Lumpur, interrogated several journalists and seized all of the company's computers.
Police officers told the staff the computers would be held and searched for evidence in a possible sedition case to be brought against the online newspaper. But the Malaysiakini website started operating later that evening after police officers left its premises.
In 2005, editor of Malaysia Today, Raja Petra Kamaruddin, who was under police probe over alleged seditious reports carried by the website, had his two computers confiscated. The action was taken following a police report lodged by the Negeri Sembilan royal family claiming the website reported corruption and misconduct of the royal family.
Besides online news portal, famous blogger Jeff Ooi also was hauled in for questioning by police who were investigating an allegedly contentious comment posted months earlier on his weblog--Screenshots.
Ooi made a remark relating "civilization Islam", or Islam Hadhari, and money politics to water and oil, implying that the two concepts do not mix. A reader identified himself as “Anwar” responded by arguing that faeces and urine, instead of oil and water, should be drawn as the analogy. Despite Ooi swift response in rebuking the writer and banning him from further posting, Ooi received a police summons issued under the Penal Code that "prohibits actions or conduct that could cause disharmony in society".
From time to time, authorities have threatened to take action against online portals owners, webmasters, and bloggers for purposely spreading “false news and defamatory material” or for bringing up “sensitive issues” on the Internet.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has been issued a warning-those who spread untruths and slander on the Internet will face the law. “If information in blogs, websites and online portals were incorrect, bordered on slander, caused disturbance or compelled the public to lose faith in the nation’s economic policies, their authors would be detained for investigative.”
It seem the Malaysian authorities appear to be pushing back the alternate form of expression, and would be reneging on a promise made by former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad "to never censor the Internet" in his quest to make Malaysia a global online multi-media hub.
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