Nat Tan is a political activist and aide to former Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim who was recently detained under the nation’s Official Secrets Act.His arrest was apparently and ostensibly because of a comment left on his blog. Below is an extract of Nat’s account of his incarceration before the Police released him.

It is a chilling account of what can happen to any of us when the apparatus of State have the power to detain people without due process of law in the name of the Official Secrets Act or the Internal Security Act. Nat writes well and his account is both in English and Bahasa Malaysia.

clipped from jelas.info
The fact that I appear to be the best suspect they could arrest in relation to this case indicates that the police do not understand how the internet works, and are at a complete loss as to how to handle true cyber crime.In my particular case as well, the government and police appear to be sending a signal that while irresponsible bloggers roam free, responsible bloggers who moderate their comments and put a name to their writing are more likely to end up as targets. This policy could not possibly be more ill formed and counterproductive.

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blogging, Malaysia

July 19, 2007

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