Revisiting Fame

So, we have had Tan Sri Muhammad Muhd Taib indicating a further riot may happen if patience is continually tested, and tensions continue being fueled. So now, UMNO VP Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin is saying this.

'Amend Laws To Enable Action Against Bloggers'
August 13, NSTP

PETALING JAYA: Laws should be amended so that action can be taken against webmasters and bloggers who post lies and other statements which could have serious repercussions.

Umno vice-president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the Internet was good in the sense that a person had the freedom to think and decide, but there were those who posted lies and tried to incite feelings of ill will among the different communities in Malaysia.

This, he said, could lead to more serious repercussions.

"Propaganda posted on websites and blogs are widely read and many readers tend to believe the lies," he said after opening the Kelana Jaya Umno divisional meeting yesterday.

Continue reading here.

All I could do after this was shake my head profusely. Is this implicitly saying that since the party (who has reacted most aggressively about this blogger issue) can not control the content on the net, and cannot find bloggers at fault (YES, the net and blogs are under LKY's jurisdiction not anyone elses), that they have to resort to amending laws, revoking citizenships, and indirectly implying that bloggers who disrespect the country are traitors (and probably might even charge them with treason for all you know)?

Note: Newspapers have been quoting the ministers as UMNO position holders not as ministers of the BN government. Note that carefully. Only some ministries have been quoted namely Information, Internal Security, and Water, Energy and Communications.

Scarynya..

Now on to some old news. This was on May 14,2007.

Umno Information chief Tan Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib said people shouldn't base their beliefs solely on articles written in weblogs or blogs.

He claimed there were some bloggers who wrote with a slant that tended to side with Opposition views.

(...)

"The Internet reports are mischievious with the intention to cause panic in Umno and Barisan Nasional, and it can create a negative situation in the country.

"The people should check their facts first and not believe everything they read on the Internet," he told reporters at the Parliament lobby on Monday.

I shall speak on why am I writing criticisms and stirring up debate soon. For now, I'll just let this quote speak on my behalf.

They have become media watchdogs, and an undeniable instrument of social and political pressure. They are that breath of fresh air in a discourse that has long gone stale. They are everyone’s favourite whipping boy, and if the negative publicity is to be believed, then the whole lot of them are nothing more than the merchants of misinformation and the purveyors of doom.

But sweeping generalisations are usually an exercise in ignorance.

The blogosphere is after all, simply the mainstream in microcosm. Much like their accepted brethren, there are those blogs that are reliable sources of information, there are those that aren’t, and there are those that just don’t care to be.

We should by no means hold them to a lower standard, but we shouldn’t have to hold them to a higher one either. We should consider any and all information in the same way, regardless of its source, with pause and contemplation.

We then embrace the credible and reject the incredible. We accept all that is accurate and evidenced, adding it to that which we consider knowledge, and we regard the far-fetched the same way we would an epidemic of aliens fathering babies in the American southwest.

But why are an increasing number of Malaysians turning their backs on the mainstream press and looking to blogs as a source of news and information? Sure they appeal to our darker desires, our voyeuristic nature, and our love of gossip and conspiracy theories, but all of those reasons display an overwhelming superficiality.

I’d like to believe that to seek out an alternative view is for its own sake; that more information allows us to make even better, and more informed decisions.

//THE LOCAL WEATHER by UMAPAGAN AMPIKAIPAKAN

With international media claiming that it's UMNO vs The Bloggers, shouldn't it be high time you know who's who and what's really going on? I ain't saying that any one party is right, but as long as you understand what I'm trying to get to you, then that's fine (psst.. clamping down on alternative sources of news?).