Twilight of the internet?

By attempting to control the internet, the BN federal government is indirectly acknowledging that the results of the 13th general election was in fact an urban tsunami.

COMMENT

Earlier this month, the Minister of Communications and Multimedia, Ahmad Shabery Cheek, had announced that the BN federal government is currently conducting a study before implementing control of the internet.

According to PAS Pokok Sena MP, Mahfuz Omar, this shows that the government fears the internet.

“This means that the government acknowledges the fact that the internet lent an advantage to Pakatan Rakyat (PR) in the recently concluded 13th general election and they are afraid that it will be the same in the 14th general election so they try to curb its influence.

Only via the internet can the rakyat have access to alternative sources of information as all the other avenues have been blocked. Even Pakatan’s newspapers are under attack because now the newsagents are afraid to sell them,” said Mahfuz in an interview given to this columnist.

Thus the internet is the only source wherein the voice of the opposition can be heard. To impose internet-control therefore is a clear indication that the government is insincere in its efforts of transformation to be a people-friendly government.

The government always urges the rakyat not to believe everything on the internet because according to them the information on the internet is false. But the internet now is the only place where much true and useful information can be obtained.

Online news portals such as this one provide urban Malaysians with news and views from both sides of the political divide and this is balanced reporting unlike the mainstream media which is all one-sided.

The attempt to control the internet shows that indirectly the BN federal government blames the internet for its less than satisfactory performance in securing the urban vote and it is therefore also an indirect acknowledgement that the results of the 13th General Election is in fact an urban tsunami.

The government has run out of ideas on how to control the mind of the urban voters and therefore has decided to zero in on the internet.

Edy Noor Reduan, an activist with a PR-friendly NGO Solidarity Anak Muda Malaysia (SAMM) informed this columnist that if the internet is tightly controlled and monitored, then Malaysia’s media freedom index will surely drop further down the ladder.

“Currently Malaysia’s ranking is at No 147 out of 197 countries. All Malaysians especially the youth must oppose the control of the internet. Otherwise our minds will be held captive and the nation will regress in the media freedom rankings,” said Edy Noor.

Ignorance make the voters dumb

PAS Youth Information chief, Riduan Mohd Noor, commented that the government looks like reverting to the Stone Age if they are thinking of controlling the internet.

He said that this idea came about due to the weak, senseless and baseless arguments of BN’s cybertroopers on the internet which are always shot down by members of the public.

“This internet-control idea also stemmed from feeling threatened by Pakatan’s creative and innovative use of the internet to relay information to the public. And that is the reason why voters with no access to the internet will always vote for BN. Ignorance make the voters dumb and therefore the powers-that-be intend to dumb-down the rakyat. However controlling the internet will transform the government into an autocratic one,” said Riduan.

PSM (Parti Sosialis Malaysia) secretary-general, S Arutchelvan was more blunt, saying that controlling the internet is a form of democracy blackout.

It is bad enough that the mainstream media has blanked out the voice of the opposition but now the last bastion where the opposition’s voice can be heard is also under threat. If internet-control is implemented, then it is truly a black day for democracy.

Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak always says that he is ready to listen to the rakyat.  Is controlling the internet a form of listening to the rakyat? If the government moves to control the internet, it simply amounts to stifling the voice of the opposition and there is nothing clearer than that.

Najib must be reminded that the opposition is not a rogue organisation but is in fact the federal opposition and must therefore be accorded the highest respect it deserves because its duty to provide check and balance of the federal government is provided for in the federal constitution and therefore, the existence of a vibrant federal opposition is a hallmark of democracy.

Silencing the opposition is equivalent to silencing democracy and this is unacceptable in Malaysia who aspires to be a First World nation. Najib has always announced that Malaysia is a ‘model democracy’ so he must walk the talk instead of just mouthing empty rhetoric to look good on the world stage.

PAS deputy president, Mohamad Sabu, said: “The mainstream media must be truly freed from the clutches of the government.  Then only can we call Malaysia a ‘model democracy’. The media is always attacking Pakatan without giving any of the Pakatan leaders room to defend themselves. What sort of a democracy is this?!”

Selena Tay is a DAP member and a FMT columnist