Take it easy on blogger Jeff Ooi

Deputy Internal Security Minister Noh Omar’s warning that blogger Jeff Ooi risks facing action under the ISA is most regrettable. With one stroke, Noh has shown that the guarantee of no Internet censorship is hollow.

Ooi was accused of allowing an Internet-user to post an abusive message that insulted Islam Hadhari (which the government is trying to promote as a progressive understanding of Islam) in the light of money politics within UMNO.

No one can condone disparaging and abusive remarks made against any religion including Islam. But Noh must understand that a blogger cannot be made responsible for messages that visitors to the blog may post.

One of the main features of most blogs and some websites is a facility to allow visitors to comment on what has been written. This encourages interactivity and promotes debate and discussion. In the case of a popular blog like Jeff Ooi’s, dozens of comments can be posted on any single day and it becomes very difficult for the blogger to keep tabs on all entries and sieve out the abusive, derogatory ones.

Give more credit to Malaysians and their ability to handle such abusive comments soberly. Most blog visitors realize that those who post crude, coarse, or abusive comments on a blog inadvertently reveal their own immaturity and character. And most Malaysians, who can see through such comments, will discount or ignore them. There is no need for Noh and the government to over-react to such crude, childish comments, which have been likened to rude graffiti in a public rest-room.

A few critics have suggested that the strong reaction against Jeff Ooi appears aimed at deflecting attention away from the uneasiness over money politics and vote-buying inside UMNO.

The sad thing about Noh’s outburst is that it creates a sense of fear among legitimate Internet users that Big Brother is watching them at all times. Already many Internet users are worried about expressing their views on the Net.

In these circumstances, the promise of no-censorship of the Internet is meaningless when the authorities use other draconian laws to frighten Malaysian web surfers. The government’s shrill reaction makes one wonder whether it is worried about the expanding use of the Internet for alternative news, which threatens to undermine the government’s monopoly over the major news media in the country.

One also wonders whether this episode has 'offered' an opportunity to the government to perform a ‘makeover’ of the draconian ISA – to make this anachronistic law more 'relevant' to our cyber age.