NegaraKu is getting more litigious: UPDATE

UPDATEd @10.30PM:

International wires Reuters and Associated Press have picked up the story -- so it's Malaysian Bloggers making a worldwide debut on the legal front. Yes, solidarity in unity is the clarion call but Desi's simple experiential lesson tells me not to harbour high hopes nowadays -- for there are so Few Good Men left Standing, as proven by the Prof Lim Teck Ghee's episode involving his academic findings on bumi equity ownership figures with regard to the New Economic Policy, or have most of us forgotten? I'd like to be proven wrong.

Meanwhile, here's what The International Herald Tribune carried, based on AP file:


Malaysia's pro-government newspaper sues two bloggers for defamation
The Associated Press
Published: January 18, 2007



KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: A pro-government Malaysian daily has sued two popular Internet bloggers for defamation in what a critic said Thursday would have a "chilling effect" on freedom of speech.

The lawsuits by English-language New Straits Times marked the first time Malaysian bloggers have been taken to court for publishing comments on the Internet in a country where much of the traditional media are controlled by political parties or the government.

The first suit was filed on Jan. 11 against Jeff Ooi, whose "Screenshots" blogs carry daily commentaries on the political situation in the country. The blog is widely read by Malaysians.

His case will be heard on Jan. 30. The other suit is against Ahiruddin Attan, filed on Tuesday, which will be heard on Jan. 25. Both bloggers disclosed on their Web sites Thursday that they had been sued for defamation.

A spokesman of the New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Bhd. group, which owns the newspaper, confirmed that the lawsuits were filed.

He did not elaborate further.

Ooi did not return a call for further comment, and Ahiruddin, who operates the blog "Rocky's Bru," couldn't immediately be reached.

The plaintiffs are the New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Bhd. group, the group's chief executive Syed Faisal Albar, former group editor-in-chief Kalimullah Masheerul Hassan, current group editor-in-chief Hishamuddin Aun and former Times editor Brendan Pereira.

Neither the plaintiffs nor the defendants elaborated on what invited the defamation lawsuits. But the Times is believed to have been angered by a series of articles since the middle of last year, alleging Kalimullah and Pereira were agents of neighboring Singapore.

The two countries share uneasy relations and being branded a Singapore agent is considered a serious insult in Malaysia. Details of the articles cannot be reproduced because of their allegedly defamatory character.

Opposition leader Lim Kit Siang slammed the New Straits Times for the lawsuit, calling them a "grave development in the defense of the legal rights of bloggers and citizen journalists in Malaysia to break the stifling monopoly of the mainstream media."

He said the suits will have a "chilling effect on freedom of bloggers" because the high cost of litigation would "cripple and paralyze the individual blogger."

The amount of damages sought by the New Straits Times was not known.

NB: The highlights (THUS BOLDED) are Desi's.

DESI: While I welcome Readers' comments, I urge great care and restraint because these are matters subject to law suits. Don't anyone try to be a "hero" as the hoRst of this Blog won't hesitate to remove any comments resembling "adventurism". This is NOT a fictional event -- so don't play Loyar Buruk on this issue! It's reality legal happenings, and any event involving the courts incur heavy costs and time and other resources.

I'm no legal expert, so my thinking aloud is that indeed, the words of Parliamentray Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang that -- the suits will have a "chilling effect on freedom of bloggers" because the high cost of litigation would "cripple and paralyze the individual blogger" -- would continue to haunt Bloggers' journey in the days, month, or even yaers, ahead.

These are challenging times. I wish upon the ill-minded parties that they have in "interesting times" ahead. The bells nowadays are not chiming much with such Playerson the Malaysian Stage.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The following was filed in the morning ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I just finished my maiden piece on "Times and Chimes" for TheSundayPost; it's titled "I would trade my world to be a Lawyer!".

Minutes later, I surfed to jeffooi.com and I was greeted by this dismay-ing Post~~:( which I am rerproducing in FULL, for the widest circulation as possible in blogosphere, for WE HAVE A COMMON CAUSE to have cause for CONCERN.

"Bloggers sued in Malaysia


The New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Berhad,
Kalimullah bin Masheerul Hassan, Hishamuddin
bin Aun and Brendan John a/l John Pereira have
jointly taken an order, via an ex-parte injunction
obtained in the High Court of Malaya Kuala
Lumpur (Civil Suit No. S6-23-3-2007) on January
11, 2007, against this blogger.
The abovementioned parties' application for an
injunction has been fixed for a hearing at the
same court on January 30, 2007 at 9.00am.

My lawyers are now taking care of it

Meanwhile, Screenshots was informed that
journo-blogger Ahiruddin Attan (Rocky's Bru)
has been served January 16 a Writ of Summons
and Statement of Claim by the New Straits Times
Press (Malaysia) Berhad and four others, dated
January 11.

The parties' application for an injunction against
Rocky has been fixed for a hearing on January
25, 2007. "

DESI: No comments on the above for the moment.

Calls on ER to lend support to fellow Bloggers in whatever way deemed appropriate and within their means.

As for my TheBP article, please exercise Patience. Miss Virtuous will reward thee cometh Sunday Jan 21, 2007.

PS @11.40PM: I surfed to asylum60.blogspot.com at Leisure and left this footprint~~
"
desiderata said...

First it's Big Brother watching.
Then the MSM steps up.
Which Agency will surface, out of the blue, sext?
Finally, paranoia will ring the curtains down and we re-enter the Dark Ages, prefaced by the "keris" on the PWTC Stage.
I:
S:
A:... "