Pakatan accuses gov't of reneging on its promise to keep off Net

Malaysia Chronicle

Pakatan Rakyat leaders accused the Najib administration for reneging on its promise to keep the Internet free, pointing to theMalaysia Today website as the most visible sign of unhealthy government censorship and abuse of power.

“We are very concerned with this latest development. It will have a severe backlash on our ability to convince the IT world that we are a deserving and credible player,” PKR strategic director Tian Chua told Malaysia Chronicle.

“The attacks will also have serious implications on our image. Together with Malaysiakini, Malaysia Today is known in the international community as news sites that reflect the reality in the country. By hitting it, you are telling the world you have something to hide. We were told that pro-authorities hackers are behind the attack and we wish to warn other sites to take care because more of this sort of sabotage can be expected.”

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In recent weeks, Information minister Rais Yatim has revived the notion of an Internet filter to censor pornography on Net. Both the government and its media have gone on propaganda campaigns linking the rise in rape and other sexual crimes to the easy availability of cyber porn.

Pundits believe the government will soon push ahead with a filter similar to the Green Dam mooted by Beijing authorities. China decided not to go through with the filter after it was internationally slammed as a mask for blocking websites run by political dissenters and activists.

Malaysia Today is run by controversial blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin. It was down nearly 3 days and although it has been restored, only a low-bandwidth version is available.

In the past weeks, the website has been publishing a series of articles exposing top level government corruption that runs into billions of ringgit. Prime Minister Najib Razak, his predecessors Abdullah Badawi and Mahathir Mohamad have all been implicated.

Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim’s blog was also attacked but has been restored since. The Internet is a key communication channel for Anwar's Pakatan coalition.