Malaysiakini Your Say | Jul 21, 11

‘It would have been more beneficial if the ink was used to blank out racist hate articles in Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia.’

‘Economist’ to investigate censored Bersih report

Malaysian Born: Someone should get a message to Home Ministry Publications Control and Quranic Text Division secretary Abd Aziz Md Nor. Next time you want an opinion on what to do, please check with someone at the ministry and the police who are qualified, preferably someone with a basic level of common sense.

There is no point censoring the truth especially after it has been posted online. There was no part of the article in The Economist that was even marginally exaggerated, so what is the point of blacking out sections in the magazine given that it is also available online – you just made it important for everyone to check it out, and they will.

You are behaving like you are from a 20-year time warp. You all look like a bunch of illiterate desperate buffoons, but much worse, you make the country look terrible which is unforgivable.

3com: Here are the missing parts:

1) “…and one man died of a heart attack.”

2) “The march itself was then banned, although the authorities offered Bersih a stadium to meet in – and then withdrew the offer.”

3) “The heavy-handed police tactics have provoked a lot of anger; the government has conceded an official investigation into claims of police brutality. In one instance (caught on film), police seemed to fire tear gas and water cannon into a hospital where protesters were sheltering from a baton charge.”

AnesthMO: The mature and responsible thing for the government of Malaysia to do would be to write a letter to the editor rebutting the points that it is in disagreement. Instead, the government resorted to childish and infantile behaviour.

Anonymous_3e86: Stupid move by the government. Those copies that are blanked out are only the Malaysian copies. Elsewhere around the whole world, the uncensored version circulates.

And what’s the use of blanking the Malaysian copies when the rakyat have witnessed the rally through YouTube and other online media. In fact, the whole Malaysia has already viewed the online videos.

The blanking out merely shows that the government is trying to “hide” the facts. Now, everyone is curious to know what was blanked out.

WangMalaysia: “Meanwhile, Home Ministry’s Publications Control and Quranic Text Division secretary Abd Aziz Md Nor said action was taken to censor parts of the article which he claimed to be incorrect and misleading.”

Abd Aziz, who do you think you are? God? Were you there at the rally to verify those statements to be false and misleading? While you are free to state your version, you should not stifle others from doing the same.

SusahKes: Every time their big boss goes overseas to promote the country and try and bring back FDI (foreign direct investment), these jokers climb out of the woodwork with their cave man mindset and muck it up. What’s the point of the PM going abroad?

Not Confused: To censor an international publication by using black marker pen? If it were not so serious, I would be rolling on the floor with laughter.

Do they seriously and honestly think that this is a sensible thing to do in this day and age? It just shows how scared and delusional they all are. Malaysia is becoming more of an international joke every day and the idiots at the ‘top’ just don’t see it at all – how sad.

Lusiapa: A truth is a truth even if it is mentioned only once; a lie remains a lie even though it is denied (in this case, censored) a thousand times!

Fly Emirates: I am very surprised the Home Ministry is resorting to censorship in this day and age of Internet and social media. Instead of censoring the article, the Home Ministry should have issued a rebuttal to the Economist, unless of course those folks in Home Ministry cannot argue their case.

One suggestion – Malaysiakini has excellent social media and SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) courses. Perhaps the Home Ministry can send all their top officials to attend these courses so they can stay abreast of current developments.

TehTarik: What a waste of black ink on a world-class weekly. It would have been more beneficial if the ink was used to blank out racist hate articles in Utusan Malaysia.

Anonymous: What an irony. The police come under the Home Ministry but they have to consult the police first before censoring. It only goes to show a police state in existence.

Borg Kinaulu: These government servants are again wasting money and time doing unnecessary, unproductive, ineffectual tasks without thinking things through.

Why censor that few lines in The Economist? The target readers of that magazine are likely to be upper middle class, educated, Internet savvy, intelligent people who will feel insulted by the censoring.

Please concentrate your efforts on the readers for the likes of Utusan and other mainstream media. And of course, don’t forget to keep up the efforts to keep young Malaysians ignorant and ‘dummified’ through the national education system.

You can’t do anything to those who are already educated, so don’t waste time there. Just stay focused on safeguarding BN’s fixed deposits of votes. Let’s see how long the flames will remain under wrap.

Mimi: Censor this.

Lin Wenquan: A desperate regime will do anything to hide any unpleasant truth about their failings and misrule. The censoring of parts of The Economist’s article termed as ‘incorrect and misleading’ by the home minister is both a juvenile and stupid move.

What did he hope to achieve when the cyber world was ablaze with first person accounts, and pictures and videos to match, about the police brutality? If he had not mutilated the article it would not be such a sensation. After all, we have been fed a constant diet on Bersih 2.0’s ordeal with the frightened government in the e-media.

Instead, this ludicrous action has now attracted the curious who are non-subscribers of The Economist and further expose the regime to more ridicule and ignominy for trying to hide the truth. The forbidden fruit is always sweeter.

Teh: The Malaysian government should use the indelible ink for the coming general elections instead of using it to censor parts of the Economist.

MCA: Censoring of Economist is ‘bad press’

Hibiscus: It is frightening that in this age of the Internet, our country has people in power who could be so silly as to think that blacking out lines in The Economist will prevent people from reading the lines.

If this type of ‘strategic’ thinking represents the best of brains in the government, we as a nation is really in deep, deep trouble. Certainly, to excuse such ineptness is unacceptable.

Instead of trying to suppress information, which arouses deeper suspicion onto itself, the government should be more engaging and argue out its case.

Remember, we are living in a borderless world. This means the world has become a village, a kampong. In a kampong, you cannot stop people from sharing truths, rumours, lies, etc.

You just have to manage it ethically and not make yourself out to look like an ignorant fool or a big bully, especially if you represent the government.

TehTarik: If the criteria for censoring The Economist article is “false and misleading” news, then we will need to open a giant ink manufacturing factory to produce sufficient black ink to censor Utusan Malaysia.

For years, Utusan has been publishing racist articles to inflame racial and religious disharmony. Also the paper is full of lies and half truths. Yet the Home Ministry has kept mum.

Double standards and lies are now the way of life of our leaders and their media lackeys. The credibility of Najib Razak and his cousin is somewhere around zero. We should rename Malaysia as ‘Bohongland’.