Jan 20

Malaysian Bloggers Sued for Defamation

Ever wonder what the Malaysian Bloggers Unite! on the sidebar of this blog is all about? Days ago, the news about two Malaysian bloggers, Jeff Ooi of Screenshots and Ahirudin of rocky’s bru being sued for defamation by New Straits Times Press(NSTP) are spreading all over the blogosphere, especially the Malaysian blogosphere. Kickdefella, in order to show support to both bloggers being sued made some badges, written “Bloggers United. No Fear”. The one on the sidebar here was grabbed from his blog.

I am not judging anything here, but just analyzing the effect of this issue. If NSTP wins -bloggers in Malaysia will be disappointed, and eventually dare not to express their opinions as they might be sued if someone don’t like it(especially big companies). This is not because they think it’s wrong expressing their opinions, but once they’re sued, they will need to pay a lot of money to hire a lawyer. A company can have enough fund to hire a lawyer, but a blogger might not have such money to waste on. This will be similar to bullying, because you can’t afford to pay the lawyer, you have to take down the post requested.

So what if NSTP lost this round? Malaysian bloggers will be celebrating it and NSTP will be once again flamed for being stupid etc. I don’t see what’s the benefit to sue Jeff and Ahirudin. The post that’s marked as defaming is kinda old, and no one actually bother to remember them. Whether the article stays online or not, it’s only NSTP who cares. Even before the case are on court, Malaysian bloggers are already complaining on their respective blogs about NSTP’s action.

Won’t it just hurt the company’s reputation badly? If NSTP wins and the post they requested has taken down, it wouldn’t make any different to anyone. In my opinion, Jeff Ooi keep his so-called “offensive” entries is because he don’t want to spoil the freedom of speech and nothing else. Taking off those entries is as easy as pie, and he will not be sued. But by doing this, it means that he’s wrong and indirectly telling us that we must follow someone’s order if they threaten us.

Bah, guess I wrote too much. Not even knowing what I’m actually writing here. Anyway, all the best to our fellow bloggers, hope you both will be alright and show no fear, because most Malaysian bloggers are united to support you guys.

Update: Oops, forgotten to list some related links. Check out the reports on other sites below.