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UT:10 (1st show!)

Second blogger arrested

An opposition blogger has been arrested for allegedly displaying a national flag upside down on his website, as the government comes under more pressure.

The latest arrest follows that of the well-known blogger, Raja Petra Kamaruddin on Friday under the country's Internal Security Act, which allows for detention without trial.

He had attacked government figures on his website, called Malaysia Today, and was charged with sedition and defamation for alleging that Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife were linked to the sensational murder of a Mongolian woman.

Opposition Democratic Action Party politician Teresa Kok was arrested at the same time, apparently for objecting to a mosque broadcasting its prayers too loudly.

A reporter, Tan Hoon Cheng, from the Chinese language daily Sin Chew was also arrested on the weekend but was released after a day.

Rights groups have protested against what they say is a government crackdown on dissent and repression of constitutional freedoms of speech.

They say about 63 people are being held under the ISA.

The government minister responsible for legal affairs, Zaid Ibrahim, resigned earlier this week in protest at the government's resort to the harsh law.

Next: Opposition lawmaker

Opposition lawmaker Teresa Kok was the third to be detained near her home in a Kuala Lumpur suburb.

Blogger arrested, journalist arrested, who's next?

Malaysia's most prominent political blogger was arrested today at his home for posting anti-government comments on the Malaysia Todaywebsite.

Raja Petra Kamarudin, the British-born founder and editor of the site, could be detained indefinitely without trial under an emergency law brought in after a series of attacks on senior political figures.

Hours later, police made a second arrest. Tan Hoon Cheng, a Chinese reporter, was detained under the ISA in connection with comments in the Sin Chew Daily, where he reported that a member of the ruling party had referred to ethnic Chinese as "squatters".

How the Malaysian government is bullying bloggers...

With site block, Malaysia seems to break promise

Posted by Lee Min Keong

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission earlier this week ordered all 19 of the country's Internet service providers to block the controversial political portal Malaysia Today.

The MCMC's move is expected to send shockwaves across the IT sector as it appears that the Malaysian government has broken its promise not to censor the Internet--a commitment it first made when the nation launched its Multimedia Super Corridor strategy in 1996. Under the MSC Malaysia 10 Point Bill of Guarantees, the government pledges to "ensure no Internet censorship."

Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar said the block was justified, as Malaysia Today was publishing offensive content. He told reporters Thursday: "We do not intend to curtail people's freedom or right to express themselves. But when they publish things that are libelous, slanderous, or defamatory, it is natural for the MCMC to act."

Malaysia Today's founder and editor, Raja Petra Kamaruddin, called the move a breach of the MSC charter. "The Government has clearly broken its own promise," Raja Petra said in a Thursday report by news daily The Star.

Disclaimer: The above are excerpts from an article found in a Web site below http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10030325-38.html

I'll never forget...

Summer is coming to an end. Everyone I know is excited for the new school year to begin. I was too, until Saturday.

I got an e-mail from my mum, letting me know that one of the dearest person to me, passed away.

How kind of her. AN E-MAIL???? REALLY? I think my family can do better than that.

My grandmother's sister was in her 90s. Even though she was not in the best condition, health wise, she still tells me stories and jokes about everything you can imagine, every time I see her.

I can honestly say I've never met anyone in my life who gets so excited and sincerely happy to see me, every single time.

She saw me grew up and taught me almost everything I know, about life. Whenever I'm back in Malaysia, I know she's the one person I can see, knowing that she wouldn't judge, like the rest of my family do, and that she cared, sincerely.

My best girlfriends wouldn't judge, but they know nothing, compared to what she knew, she had after all, lived almost a century, before we even existed.

I've always thought to myself that even though I'm far away from people who mean the most to me, my family and 3 of my best girls, I would fly home, or wherever they are, in a heartbeat... and leave everything behind.

I would always dismiss my grandmothers' worries that if anything happened to them, I wouldn't be back in time.

Now that the time has come, I hesitated.

I hate myself for being so attached. To my work, to school and to the friends I've made in this country.

I wish I would have the guts to just buy the next ticket and fly back. But what good will it do though? I got another e-mail from my mum telling me that she'll be cremated today.

Now that I know it'll be too late for me to go halfway across the world,

I wish I could take at least a week off, just to reflect and try my best to reminisce the times I had with her.

But do I really wanna be of those people who would make this an excuse? I'm not that weak, am I? I know I'm stronger than that. Much stronger.

I anticipated that this will be a crazy semester, I just didn't expect it to start like this.

A co-worker once joked that every time we had new writers/copy editors, they would have to resign because one of their family member would pass away.

I laughed.