Badawi on bloggers and responsibility

January 24, 2007

Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has said that bloggers must blog responsibly and be subjected to the law, in short they can’t have freedom without responsibility.

Hurrah. The more important question that must be asked is what is the Prime Minister of a country commenting on a civil suit between a newspaper and two bloggers? Since when has civil suits between two parties been of such national or political significance that the Prime Minister must wade in to give his two sen worth?

Anyway, this is what he said:

“The law is the law. They cannot hide and hope to be protected under some kind of a cover or whatever they think that they have,” the Prime Minister said. Abdullah said it was obvious that for bloggers and for journalists of other media, duty and responsibility must go together.

“And if you want freedom, what is freedom without responsibility?” he asked. “I don’t agree with freedom without responsibility. Freedom without responsibility is anarchy. Actually, it is being irresponsible,” he added.

unspun

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8 responses to “Badawi on bloggers and responsibility”

bnaipal

January 24, 2007 at 11:20 pm

Whenever Badawi opens his mouth, his words don’t make any sense – not even two sens worth.
Freedom of speech is an essential catalyst for the political & economic growth of any Nation. In multicultural Malaysia, transparency in Govt. policies also contributes strongly to Nation building. However when the Govt. is slack, like the current one under Badawi, bloggers & journalists will need to question each & every aspect of the system, responsibly or irresponsibly otherwise, inorder to find effective answers & solutions since the Govt. itself has proofed to be highly irresponsible. The current Govt. is acting in a highly irresponsible manner which by itself is ‘anarchic’ – hence why the hell is Badawi accusing the bloggers & journalist of being irresponsible? Badawi, go sail your yacht!

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bayi

January 25, 2007 at 4:09 am

The whole issue has been clouded by a lot of emotion, to the extent that many of those who have expressed their opinions may have a different view under calmer circumstances. Yes, bloggers must be responsible for the things they write. Yes, freedom of speech is important for nation building though I suspect many do not understand the ramifications of saying this.

However, in this case, what many of us are concerned about is an unnecessary act of bullying. It’s a David-and-Goliath case, with the plaintiff having vast and almost unlimited resources to engage in a legal battle against two individuals with almost no resources.

Essentially AAB skipped this issue when he was asked to comment on these two cases. AAB said bloggers must be responsible and cannot escape from the laws on defamation and sedition. But there is nothing to stop a huge corporate entity with vast resources from engaging a long-drawn legal battle to finish off the poor individual bloggers. It is blatant social injustice when this happens. It’s for this reason that I must voice my support for Jeff and Rocky, even if there isn’t any other compelling reason. I will support their legal fund too as my conscience tells me that it’s the right thing to do.

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lubokmelayu

January 25, 2007 at 11:08 am

bayi and bnaipal/./ agree with u guys. what abt responsible journalism? those guys appointed by badawi are responsible?? they arent even free!! so what’s freedom without responsiblity?
mr prime minister, i tell you what it is. you are free to go to perth to open some nasikandar shop. that’s freedom. but you exercised your freedom and went there when your responsibility was to ensure the flood victims — 100,000 or so of them — get your personal attention as prime minister. you went to perth leaving behind your responsibility.
]
that, sir (small case for the s), is freedom without responsibility.\

rocky and gang, the bloggers in malaysia, they responsible but their freedom may be taken away by the pm, through this legal action by his men.

mr unspun, the above statement is not defamatory because it is true.

regards.

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bayi

January 25, 2007 at 12:40 pm

The most glaring case of irresponsible journalism was when the NST reported inaccurately (this is as kind as I could get) the meeting between Dr Mahathir and Pak Lah in Tokyo. The writer never did apologise and has kept an unelegant silence and Pak appeared to have condoned this. Somehow I seem to get the idea that apologies come from those who did a wrong unknowingly but not from one who did wrong with a not-too-noble intention in the first place.

Similarly when several mainstream newspapers were penalised for publishing the controversial cartoons about Islam, they were penalised. When the NST did it, it was a pat on the hand. I wonder if actions such as this went on to encourage NST’s brand of responsible journalism.

These are some of the reasons that have lent credibility to the belief that NST’s suit is even genuine. Everyone knows that Rocky and Jeff have been harping on these points as well as the case of plagiarism by BP. That’s why the suit smacks of a revenge motive.

Whatever the outcome of the case, the NST and those behind the suit have lost. I don’t think I am wrong if I say that many see them as being bankrupt morally.

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Global Voices Online » Blog Archive » Malaysia: Prime Minister Comments on Blogger’s Responsibilities

January 26, 2007 at 12:28 am

[…] Abdullah Badawi’s recent speech where the prime minister stressed that the bloggers are subject to the laws of the country. Preetam […]

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Rikey®

January 26, 2007 at 11:36 am

A responsible leader WOULD NOT had had Nasi Kandar in OZ while Johor was underwater….
A responsible leader would Have HAD fired and throw the book at the owner of the Klang Palace… If he can response to the Blog issue so fast then why it took so long to response to the Klang issue?

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Rikey®

January 26, 2007 at 11:47 am

This should be the reponse on the issue in Klang but the Buck was passed to the State Minister instead. How come he can response to the blog issue so fast when the others took so long. How come he took sides when the Court has yet to proof any criminal intent? “Guilty Until Proven Innocent” ???

If only our Voted PM can be like this:

Councilors must be responsible for what they do as there are laws on corruption and mis-use of powers, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said.

The Prime Minister said these laws were enforceable and Councilors must bear in mind that they could not hide or take advantage of the System to do something that was against the law.
“They cannot hope to cover themselves or hide from the laws,” he told Malaysian journalists at the end of his three-day working visit here yesterday.
He said Councilors, just like Ministers, must be responsible for what they do or risk facing legal action from others.
Abdullah was commenting on the legal action against Councilors that were corrupt and abusing their powers for personal gains. He raised the question of “what was Power without responsibility,” saying that laws must be respected.

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Linken Lim

January 26, 2007 at 3:09 pm

Allow me to quote Scott South, Dubai’ letter to Malaysiakini’ :
” I am bemused by Pak Lah who says in that time-honored Malaysian tradition that ‘there is no freedom without responsibility and that bloggers must be responsible for their writings or risk facing legal action’.

The Malaysian prime minister is correct only in his first four words: ‘There is no freedom’. A head of state who makes such a statement is making it clear to all his subjects that there will be no speech without government control. The New Straits Times, after all, is a government- controlled newspaper. ‘Freedom of speech is allowed only if the speaker is responsible’ is merely a euphemism for ‘there is no freedom of speech’. Is the Malaysian government so insecure that it fears public opinion to this degree? Some Malaysians claim that Malaysia is not ready for democratic free speech, that the nation would degenerate into chaos and all the politicians would lose their power. Nonsense. “

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