SE Asian bloggers fear govt reprisal<\/p>\n
Sean Yoong, Associated Press\/Kuala Lumpur<\/p>\n
Bloggers, beware. Big Brother is watching.<\/p>\n
The recent arrest of three Singaporeans accused of making
\nracial slurs on Internet message boards has sparked concerns of a
\ncyberspace crackdown by authorities in Singapore and neighboring
\nMalaysia, where strict laws suppress outspokenness.<\/p>\n
Web logs, or blogs, a global online phenomenon, are seen as
\nthe high-tech equivalent of personal diaries, but they've also
\nbecome a public forum for free speech in Singapore and Malaysia,
\nwhere the media are tightly controlled and provocative views are
\nrarely heard.<\/p>\n
Now, bloggers in both countries fear they'll have to watch
\ntheir words, following the arrest of Benjamin Koh Song Huat, 27,
\nand Nicholas Lim Yew, 25, in Singapore on Sept. 12 for allegedly
\nposting comments insulting the country's Muslim Malay minority. A
\nthird Singaporean, a 17-year-old, was charged separately on Sept.
\n16, the Singapore Straits Times reported but did not identify
\nhim.<\/p>\n
Charged with sedition, all three face prison terms of up to
\nthree years if convicted.<\/p>\n
While some bloggers say they deserve little sympathy because
\ntheir remarks were repugnant, the case has triggered concern that
\nSingapore's government might be tightening social controls.<\/p>\n
\"A part of me is fairly exultant at the fact that two people
\nwho ... made extremely racist comments are being punished,\" wrote
\nblogger MercerMachine. \"The other part of me is sick at the fact
\nthat there isn't even a pretense of free speech now.\"<\/p>\n
Koh and Lim are the first bloggers to be arrested and charged
\nin Singapore.<\/p>\n
In May, Chen Jiahao, a Singaporean studying in the United
\nStates, was threatened with a lawsuit for allegedly defamatory
\ncriticism about Singapore's scholarship policies. Chen was spared
\nafter he apologized and closed down his personal Web site.<\/p>\n
International press freedom group Reporters Without Borders
\ndecried the lawsuit as \"intimidation\" that \"could make the
\ncountry's blogs as timid and obedient as the traditional media.\"<\/p>\n
The racial element to the blogs was bound to raise hackles in
\nSingapore, where ethnic Chinese comprise 80 percent of the city-
\nstate's 4.2 million populace, with Malays making up around 15
\npercent and ethnic Indians some 5 percent.<\/p>\n
Neighboring Malaysia has a similarly delicate ethnic mix among
\nits 25 million people, with nearly 60 percent Malays, 25 percent
\nChinese, 10 percent Indians and a remainder of other races.<\/p>\n
Both nations pride themselves on racial harmony and rank among
\nSoutheast Asia's most peaceful places, but critics say the
\napparent racial order is forced by their governments, using tough
\nlaws such as the one that hit the bloggers.<\/p>\n
In Malaysia, laws provide for maximum one-year prison
\nsentences for Web users who post false, indecent or offensive
\nmaterial. \"The online environment is not a legal vacuum,\" warns
\nthe Communications and Multimedia Content Code, which came into
\nforce last year. \"In general, if something is illegal off-line,
\nit will also be illegal online.\"<\/p>\n
Malaysian bloggers have faced no legal repercussions so far,
\nbut many have been worried since the government threatened one
\npopular Web writer with jail after a racially provocative comment
\nwas posted on his Web site. Jeff Ooi was warned that he could be
\njailed under a security law that allows imprisonment without
\ntrial if he was found to be encouraging debate on contentious
\nissues after a reader published a comment that offended Muslims.<\/p>",
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