14 DAY TRIAL // A new dispute was started in Malaysia where Muhammad Muhammad Taib, the information chief of United Malays National Organization, sent a complaint to the authorities, claiming that Malaysia Today infringed the country's laws and insulted the local king. It seems like the entire trouble was started by several comments posted to some of the articles that were described as beinginsulting for Malaysia's king. "Some of the offensive comments are capable of threatening racial stability and national security. The comments show that they do not respect the law," Muhammad said according to New Straits Times and cited by AFP.
However, the majority of bloggers were worried that the government can turn against them and threaten this online activity by voting new laws and banning the insulting webpages. According to AFP, the country's deputy prime minister denied the rumors and said the government has no intention to fight against the bloggers as the existing laws are clear enough to describe the bloggin activity.
"There is no special decision to go against bloggers but citizens must be aware that there are laws in this country," Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak was quoted saying by The Star daily, AFP reported.
This case is quite similar with other reports coming from China where the country's authorities even arrested some of the bloggers after they were found guilty for insulting and damaging politicians' image. A few weeks ago, it was reported that a Chinese blogger is being sent to the court because he posted illegal material on his blog which infringed the country's laws.
It this the end of the blogosphere? Surely not because more and more users are attracted by this phenomenon but, since most of the authorities are trying to promote laws that would restrict the rights held by a blogger, some of the consumers might feel threatened and the freedom provided by the blogs might disappear.