Malik Fareed, The Guardian

The tension between Malaysian authorities and the country's raucous online media was heightened last week with the indefinite imprisonment of the prominent blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin, under security laws more often used to target suspected Islamic extremists.

Raja Petra is the man behind the popular anti-government site Malaysia Today, which authorities blocked access to earlier this year. He has taken delight in publishing a number of inflammatory allegations about government ministers, and was jailed for insulting Islam and threatening national security through his blog. In the process, he has joined other Malaysian online voices who have assumed the role of highly politicised opposition.

Another is the blogger Jeff Ooi, voted into the Malaysian parliament in March on an opposition party ticket. Ooi admits Raja Petra often "mixes fact with fiction" but points out that the 57-year-old commands a strong following. "It's a new phenomenon, because the citizenry is now empowered by this cyber-soapbox," says Ooi. "They can offer their views and often these are dissenting."

The popularity of sites such as Malaysia Today, Malaysiakini and The Nut Graph is a natural response to mainstream media rendered toothless by political party ownership. But not everyone is convinced that the power that comes with being the de facto opposition media is always wielded responsibly by unlicensed websites. "There is some truth to this," admits Ooi. "Some bloggers don't understand the nature of the dissemination of information and, sometimes, reckless or unmoderated dissemination can be dangerous."

Still, few seriously believe that attacking online media, or even imprisoning bloggers, will help the government out of its current predicament. "It's pointless and counterproductive to regulate or shut down websites," says Ho Kay Tat, former editor of the country's Sun newspaper, who has regularly crossed swords with many of the country's popular bloggers.

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