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Malaysia to charge six over online insults to sultan
Associated Press - March 13, 2009
Kuala Lumpur – At least six people will face charges for allegedly posting insults on a Malaysian sultan's Web site, a government official said Friday, the latest in a series of actions against Internet writers in this Southeast Asian country.
Malaysia – known for its strict control of the media – had once promised not to regulate online content in a bid to draw more investors, but in recent years has cracked down on online commentary critical of the government.
An official with the Attorney General's office said five people from different parts of Malaysia were to be charged Friday with "unwisely using the network" by making comments deemed "obscene, indecent, false, menacing or offensive" on the Web site of the sultan of northern Perak state.
Another person will be charged Sunday, and more people were being investigated, said the official, who declined to be named citing protocol. If found guilty, the writers could face up to a year in prison.
"They are not bloggers, but ordinary people who posted comments on the Perak Royal Web site using nasty and obscene words," Attorney General Abdul Gani Patail was quoted by the New Straits Times as saying.
The sultan's Web site was not accessible Friday, but the attorney general's office and palace officials could not say whether it had been taken down.
Critical online commentaries have mushroomed in Malaysia, where all mainstream media is government-linked. But in recent years, bloggers have come under increased scrutiny.
Last year, prominent online writer Raja Petra Raja Kamaruddin was detained under a strict security law that allows for indefinite detention without trial. He was released after two months.
Raja Petra has also been charged with sedition for allegedly linking the deputy prime minister to a murder case. Other bloggers have been investigated over allegedly defacing the police logo and flying the Malaysian flag upside-down on their Web sites.
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