Blocking the Malaysian blogosphere

So it looks like Malaysia is about to tread the path taken by China, a country where freedom of expression and dissent are frowned upon, if not criminalised.

According to Malaysiakini and The Malaysian Insider, the government plans to filter websites that are ‘undesirable’. Malaysians, particularly those who are concerned about democracy and civil liberties, would find it extremely difficult to believe that the present government has some degree of appreciation for freedom of information, media freedom and freedom of expression if this censorship plan were to materialise.

And this plan would certainly fly in the face of Mahathir Mohamad whose previous administration had given the guarantee in 1996 that there would not be censorship of the Internet – as a way of attracting foreign investments to the much touted project of his, Multimedia Super Corridor.  

What has triggered the government to take this path? There are a number of possible reasons, one of which is that there is much dissent expressed within Malaysia’s blogging community to the extent that it causes political embarassment and, to a certain degree, electoral losses to the government. In other words, the ruling coalition’s political hegemony is being undermined.

Another is that views and news found in the virtual world make much of the mainstream media, which are closely aligned to the government, look silly, if not incredible, as they often resort to the distortion of social reality.

This tendency of not listening to criticisms, dissent and truth would only bring about an increasing rate of disconnect between the government and the rakyat, which can be politically unhealthy in the long run. 

The upshot of all this is that Malaysia’s democratic space will obviously be further constrained.