THE CICAK.com

After Nathaniel Tan’s arrest, political bloggers discuss being targeted by the government

By JOANNA LIM

I am usually all talk and no action.

But that changed several weeks ago when I found out that political blogger Nathaniel Tan was arrested. He is a dear friend and a most unlikely criminal.

Upon his release, he organised a seminar on how to survive our government’s clampdown on political bloggers. I attended the event, which was held at the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall, to support Nathaniel and the Malaysian blogosphere.

The panel discussion took place 28 July, Saturday, in the afternoon. At the entrance of the assembly hall was Nathaniel. He was extremely laid back and showed no sign of angst or distress even though he had spent four days in jail.

About 25 people showed up for the event, which was publicised on the web on July 26.

It was a diverse crowd with people from different ethnic and religious backgrounds and from ages 12 to 50. They shared a bond as many of them were active bloggers. But there were also non-bloggers in the crowd and a few undercover activists like myself, who were very concerned about the government’s unfriendly stance on political blogs.

The first speaker was S. Arutchelvan from Parti Sosialis Malaysia. His message was simple, but highly relevant. Many Malaysians, he said, lacked basic knowledge of their rights when they encountered the police.

S. Arutchelvan, who wore a Che Guevara T-shirt, spoke about how to deal with the police when arrested or questioned. He also told the crowd how they could deal with the arrest of a loved one.

He went on to point out how to tell the rank of a police officer by looking at his or her ID and uniform, and how to exercise your right to remain silent when questioned.

The police, S. Arutchelvan said, always sought to trick suspects; questioning them in the dark and not allowing them to keep silent. He offered simple steps to exert pressure on police when a loved one is arrested, such as making frequent telephone calls to the police station and asking about his or her well-being.

Soon Li Tsin, Nathaniel’s girlfriend, talked about using blogs to disseminate information and how she used it to mobilize about 200 people to attend nightly vigils to support Nathaniel. Li Tsin spoke about how she found comfort through blogging.

While it was informative, I would have preferred the next panelist, human rights lawyer R. Sivarasa, to speak longer.

Sivarasa shared his views on political blogging with respect to Malaysian law. Most of his arguments centered around libel – how not to commit it by practicing the same standards as journalists.

While bloggers do not have to prove every statement true, it was important that they blogged responsibly. They should be aware, he said, about the negative consequences that might abound by allowing unmoderated comments on blogs. And that, under current Malaysian legal standards, is extremely risky for the webmaster.

The audience raised a lot of questions at this point. They were deeply concerned about this matter.

They crowd concluded that ultimately, bloggers would have to decide whether they would take risks for the sake of free speech and expression.

I found the event highly informative. However at times, the messages conveyed were somewhat softened, the tougher issues oversimplified or glossed over. It was as if the panel wanted to avoid discouraging people from blogging, and therefore did not want to fully explain the extent of blogger liability.

It was very encouraging to be in a room with so many other concerned and committed Malaysians. Despite Nathaniel’s arrest and the government threats issued to the blogging community, the people at the event showed that bloggers (and non-bloggers) are not afraid to engage in dialogue.

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JOANNA LIM is a contributing writer for theCICAK.

Joanna is a bohemian at heart. She is a financial consultant and has taught A-Level economics. Joanna loves working with young people and enjoys traveling, good novels and café lattes.