Malaysia and RSF Index

As expected the government will not accept reality if it does not favour them. They actually fit the Malay proverbs, "Masuk bakul angkat sendiri" because they think that they are good but in real sense they are otherwise.

The Information Minister Datuk Seri Zainuddin Maidin who was once a member of the press, dismissed the survey by RSF as not valid. A recent index announcement by RSF saw Malaysia’s ratings falling to 124th spot this year from 92nd in 2006 while Singapore took 141st spot from 146th previously. It is Zam's duty to refute the index as a member of the cabinet but that does not mean the rakyat has to agree with him. Let us just hope that the rating will not slide down any deeper because it reflects the press freedom in Malaysia. The government does not accept the ratings because it will hurt the governments image on press freedom. The BN government is doing as best as they could to win the next election again and one area that can furnish the rakyat the truth is the press. So they need to supress this area especially the SOPO bloggers who to the governement is disseminating the truth to the rakyat. Reporters sans frontieres has this to say:

Government repression no longer ignores bloggers

The Internet is occupying more and more space in the breakdown of press freedom violations. Several countries fell in the ranking this year because of serious, repeated violations of the free flow of online news and information.

In Malaysia (124th), Thailand (135th), Vietnam (162nd) and Egypt (146th), for example, bloggers were arrested and news websites were closed or made inaccessible. “We are concerned about the increase in cases of online censorship,” Reporters Without Borders said. “More and more governments have realised that the Internet can play a key role in the fight for democracy and they are establishing new methods of censoring it. The governments of repressive countries are now targeting bloggers and online journalists as forcefully as journalists in the traditional media.”

At least 64 persons are currently imprisoned worldwide because of what they posted on the Internet. China maintains its leadership in this form of repression, with a total of 50 cyber-dissidents in prison. Eight are being held in Vietnam. A young man known as Kareem Amer was sentenced to four years in prison in Egypt for blog posts criticising the president and Islamist control of the country’s universities.

What Harakahdaily says here.