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“The 12 ‘Enemies of the Internet’ - Burma, China, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam - have all transformed their Internet into an Intranet in order to prevent their population from accessing ‘undesirable’ online information,” Reporters Without Borders said.
“All these countries distinguish themselves not only by their ability to censor online news and information but also by their virtually systematic persecution of troublesome Internet users,” the press freedom organisation said. Reporters Without Borders has placed 10 other governments “under surveillance” for adopting worrying measures that could open the way to abuses. The organisation draws particular attention to Australia and South Korea, where recent measures may endanger online free expression.
“Not only is the Internet more and more controlled, but new forms of censorship are emerging based on the manipulation of information,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Orchestrating the posting of comments on popular websites or organising hacker attacks is also used by repressive regimes to scramble or jam online content.”
A total of 70 cyber-dissidents are currently detained because of what they posted online. China is the world’s biggest prison for cyber-dissidents, followed by Vietnam and Iran.
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During his annual address to Parliament on 17 February, King Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin voiced his anxiety about blogs which he called “sources of confusion for citizens”. He also called on bloggers to adopt an “ethical” and “more responsible” approach online.
The country stepped up repression by applying the Internal Security Act (ISA), that provides for detention without trial for two years (Article. 8), a sanction that is indefinitely renewable. Renowned blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin, nicknamed “RPK”, was a victim of this judicial hounding over articles on his website, Malaysia Today (http://mt.m2day.org/2008/). He is currently under threat of the application of Article 8 of the ISA, on the personal orders of interior minister, Syed Hamid Albar, who considers him “a threat to national security”. RPK has already been imprisoned in 2008. This pressure is one of the means of intimidating critical voices that oppose the government and which it is not known how long it will remain in force.
The country has a long tradition of keeping the media under control. The network is not censored but bloggers are monitored. Almost 63% of the population is connected to the Internet and an “inappropriate” use of the Internet can be grounds for arrest. This happened to the lawyer, P. Uthayakumar, who has been held since 13 December 2007 in the Kamunting centre for posting a letter addressed to the British government condemning ill-treatment of the Hindu minority in Malaysian prisons.
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