“I am now looking for a lawyer to represent me,” said Ahirudin, a former editor of Malay Mail, one of the newspapers in the NST stable. Opposition leader Lim Kit 
Siang said the suits would have a “chilling effect” on freedom of bloggers and citizen journalists. “It will have far-reaching consequences for the healthy, mature and democratic growth for free speech and expression, not only on the Internet but in the country as a whole,” he said in a statement.
This is the first case of bloggers being sued for libel in Malaysia, where Internet chatrooms are mushrooming amid tight government controls on mainstream media.
Ahirudin Attan’s whose blog is known as
Rocky’s Bru [blogger platform owned by Google (Nasdaq: GOOG, stock)] has indicated in his blog that the parties who are suing him comprises:-
The New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Berhad
-
Kalimullah Bin Masheerul Hassan
-
Hishamuddin Bin Aun
-
Syed Faisal Albar Bin Syed A.R. Albar
-
Brenden John a/l John Pereira
Jeff Ooi’s blog, Screenshots, is flushed with comments after the news broke. Jeff said in his blog that his lawyers are looking into the suit.
The fate of both bloggers in this law-suit will likely set the direction for the rests of the bloggers in Malaysia in future. Will freedom of speech and thinking prevail?
|
|
January 18th, 2007 by financetwitter
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Comments
Add your comment now.
Leave a Reply