Of lies and bloggers, again

It looks like blogging, or rather a collective of ‘lying blogs’, has become an inescapable phenomenon as well as a growing concern in Malaysia among certain quarters, apart from politicians such as Mohd Shafie Apdal.

 

A piece about blogs and lying is published in today’s New Sunday Times, an extract of which is carried below. It is written by former special adviser to the United Nations secretary-general on ethics, Tunku Abdul Aziz. For his entire comment, read here. 

  

Liars hiding behind the cyber curtain

FOLLOWING the electoral winds of change in March, a great wave of cynicism is sweeping the land.

 

Whatever the government says is treated as a pack of lies by the blogging community which has arrogated to itself the role of the nation’s conscience and arbiter of truth.

 

This may seem absurd, and it is, when we know from painful personal experience that most of them who are trotting out opinions and comments on the website are least qualified to claim the moral high ground where truth, and the whole truth, is concerned.

 

Mark you, I have the greatest respect for responsible bloggers, and they can be counted on the fingers of one hand. And it is not my intention to tar all with the same brush.

 

Unfortunately, the World Wide Web seems to have attracted, and has apparently become a ghetto of sorts for, a growing population of the socially maladjusted who make a virtue of distorting the truth, scattering insinuations and innuendos like confetti on those who come within range.

  

The imputation of improper motives to those they perceive to be fair game has been developed into an art form.The damage to the reputation of their victims is never given a second thought, and why should anyone object when we live in a democracy and they are well within their rights to hide behind the cyber curtain and level wild allegations against those whom they dislike for reasons best known to themselves?

 

Blogging, as far as they are concerned, is not about fair comment; it is a licence to spread despair and disquiet, and to exploit the uncertain political times the country is going through.

 

It is also about gaining notoriety; the blog is the only avenue they believe that is open to them to add a little spice and excitement to their otherwise sterile intellectual existence.

‘Blogs and SMSes can destroy our civilisation’

Yes, if it’s true what was reported by Bernama yesterday, Unity, Culture, Arts and Heritage Minister Mohd Shafie Apdal did warn that ‘A culture of lies spread via blogs and SMSes, if left unchecked, can destroy our civilization and the country’.

 

This message was targeted at Malaysians who (once again) are supposedly gullible and tend ‘to believe blogs and SMSes’.

 

Shafie further said, ‘The government is worried because a culture of lies via blogs and SMSes has reached a level that can destroy national culture and the country and thus must be contained fast.’

 

He also insisted that ‘people who believe in such lies will be prompted to join illegal rallies or have the wrong perception towards leaders.’

 

In other words, judging from Shafie’s contention, the formula for a safe and even thriving ‘civilisation’ and a secure nation is: people should stop believing in those ‘lying’ blogs and SMSes and instead rely entirely on the mainstream media and other government-approved sources of information.

 

In addition, Malaysians should shy away from ‘illegal rallies’ and instead throng government-sponsored public gatherings.

 

And last but not least, people should really discard their ‘wrong perception’ of the country’s political leaders and opt for the ‘right one’.  

 

There you go.