==> Pls visit new site at http://malaysia-today.net/ <==

MT was truly an independent news portal and a forum for members to throw their views and opinions. The recent development after the mulish Home Minister's complaint on the so-called vulgarity in using languages and insulting, MT Super Admin had practiced some slight measure to censor off only those words of vulgarity and seldom there was any moderation or barring of comments, unless the comment breaches the condition of blogging or suspected to be from the activity of espionage set up by the power that be. We call those the activity of Umno cyber troopers and since most members don't welcome them, we normally will report abuse to super admin and he will warn and remove it or even ban it! There are idiots who are paid to be a cheap infiltrator and 'sokaiya' to instigate the readers!

As members, I suppose myself to be one veteran and based on my observation, most members have already shown less interests to comment on religious issue. The fact is, without the same belief in a religion, no consensus could be reached. No point we debate on issues which will cause misunderstanding and ill feelings, more so particular when many of the gullible politically inclined 'cyber troopers' are not ready with openness to faithfully debate on issues of religion, race and history etc. We amongst the members are consisting of many intellectual and open-minded level of cerebral faculties and in Malaysia, the racial problem is on a top and priority agenda in the racist Party Umno albeit the common citizenry have been in close fostering of unity and harmony amongst ourselves, regardless of races, we are all compatriots and brethren! I for one have my business partnership built on bi-racial with my intimate partner as close as my own brother, Mohd Noor and we have been together for more than 12 years. We have no problem, only Umno goons have problem to see our intimacy and they frequently stoke up undue sentiments and throw pepper bomb into MT to cause uncalled for emotions, split our brethren-hood and capture chips for their political evil plots and mileages! They will have reasons to nab us through these foul repertoires of lowest class!

I/We who supported Raja Petra Kamarudin not because of his charisma but because he is a real Hero, a Malaysian Hero, the beacon of hope ever since we discard our worship to the forefather hero Hang Tuah, given an impression that he was more a warlord for ethnic society, relatively, RPK was seen as our National Hero, upright, highly intellectual with a flair for scholar, civilized and venerable who is symbolic of a proponent to strive for universal justice, freedom, and a father of anti-corruption! How I wish I can relate his heroic character to the Father of Peace Nelson Mandela where factually, RPK has sacrificed himself as much as Aung Sun Suu Kyi, the Nobel Price laureate except she had been put under longer house arrest for 13 years or more!

So please do not cast any ill-perception on MT and continue to support our Hero and pray together to hope for his early release from the hell hole Kemunting detention camp under the guard of Malaysian Gestapo!

- Kopi 37 (MT) / Candidmen (WF)-- @page { margin: 2cm } P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm } -->

Comments (29)

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written by biggun129, October 30, 2008 15:10:58

I am not worrying about MT Censorship, I speak the truth!!!

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written by FFT, October 30, 2008 15:14:51

Nevermind censorship, has the standard of English deteriorated so much in Malaysia?

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written by riversnail, October 30, 2008 15:18:11

YES!!!
RPK is the HERO of the Rakyat who have sacrificed himself for the Rakyat;to uphold the truth and justice in malaysia.

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written by lamakawan, October 30, 2008 15:29:33

Since I started comments in MT, I can't remember that my comments were ever censored. We must be sincere and truthful when we write in cyberspace. The whole world will be staring down on us in whatever gesticulations we express. Recently we have UMNO goons who are gullible and irresponsible when they comment in MT. They couldn't care less whether they will hurt the feelings of others who m ight read their comments. They even went to the extent of provoking racial sentiments. Those sentiments were very explosive during bygone days. In this cyber age, we will just ignore them. They have gone rusty.

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written by fireduck, October 30, 2008 15:41:32

I have the same problem as indianputra with reference to the removal of Caps etc., and subsequently the emphasis is lost because of that. But well, no big deal. I will not be bothered and stressed over that. If they don't receive my input properly, it's their loss, not mine. Life goes on. There are bigger fish to fry.

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written by teo siew chin, October 30, 2008 15:43:40

there must be no censoring IF a comment has substance no matter how vulgarly put, no matter how rojak the language, no matter whether from the good guys or the bad guys, no matter whether out of topic or not.

people please.... SUBSTANCE !!!
and to those cybertroopers - show us your brains, not your brawn nor asses.

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written by densemy, October 30, 2008 16:10:30

OH, believe me. Censorship is alive and well in MT. At one stage at least half of my postings were being removed from the discussion, usually those comments were about religious matters. More recently the degree of censorship has tailed off

Here is a letter I wrote to RPK, ironically on the eve of his ISA detention. Of course the letter never saw the light of day Don'tcha wish your Freedom of Speech concept was a lot like mine To paraphrase the line in a now much abused pop song

I refer to the MT statement "Terms of Usage"... It should be Terms of Use as pointed out later, but never mind about the nit picking

"By submitting your comments we reserve the rights, at our sole discretion, to change, modify, add, or delete your comments and portions of these Terms of Use at any time without further notice."

Now what a wonderfully flowery and round about way of saying ... "We can, and will censor whatever you write whenever we like" I have taken up this issue of censorship with Malaysia Today a number of times. My first attempt was greeted with a rather offensive reply saying that MT is RPK's website and he can do whatever he likes. So butt out!! I might point out that RPK later retracted that comment and I'm pleased to be able to say that if anyone stands for ABSOLUTE Freedom of Speech then its RPK. But he can no longer be everywhere all the time and he cant be expected to read every posting which was ever written. So inevitably the onus must be left to Super Admin to police this site. And that's where the system falls down

Super Admin's concept of Freedom of Speech is not all that free. He operates under a philosophy widely held in this country which goes ..."You can say whatever you like so long as it agrees with my thoughts on the matter" I can partly excuse that attitude because having grown up under the repressive UMNO philosophy regarding Freedom of Speech he probably knows no better. But somehow I suspect the real reason is deeper and more sinister than that. Anyway, this is a new era we are entering and it might as well begin here in MT

The top line and the bottom line and every line in between has to say: FREEDOM OF SPEECH IS ABSOLUTE

There can be no diversion from this standard. If you dont agree with what another person has to say, you can debate the issue, or in extreme cases you can take him to court and have the Law of the land decide the truth. Because the Laws of the land are designed to protect citizens from such behavior

To this extent I think Malaysians have to overlook the draconian and malevolent clauses in their Constitution which stipulate that some topics are 'sensitive' and as such may not be debated. In fact the sooner those clauses are removed from the Constitution the better off Malaysia will be. There should be no topic within the public arena which should not be open to full and frank debate If MT wants to impose Terms of Use, they are quite at liberty to do so... because after all it is RPK's website. But those terms must be specific and clearly stated. eg , Do not spam. Limit the length of articles. Avoid the use of language unacceptable in a public forum etc etc etc

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written by kkselvam, October 30, 2008 16:15:41

Well said MT. Future generation must remember RPK as a REAL National Hero than that UMNO type Hang Tuah.
I will make sure my kids know this real hero.

Long live YM RPK!!

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written by Anti Relon, October 30, 2008 16:54:17

A little censorship of vulgarity is fine. But to censor a blogger's idea is not on. Without MT, the Malaysian public will ever know/learn the destruction of the nation by a few.
We should be grateful to RPK and MT. The real hero in Malaysia is RPK. Yesterday I commented that he should stand for election as an MP as a voice for the people. He is the man to change the country.

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written by teo siew chin, October 30, 2008 17:22:51

err Indianputra, throwing a tantrum izzit?
bandwidth man, bandwidth... no capital, big spaces in between...a machine can only do so much lah!

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written by 1351, October 30, 2008 17:29:02

Painful FFT, and it is getting worse but what takes the cake - knowing there is a problem - Keris Boy came out to say that assessment does not truly reflect one's intelligence and soon, students at primary level won't be required to sit for any public examination !!!!

With regards to censorship - early days of MT, RPK personally had to adjudicate all postings and I must say it took a lot before he pulled out the red card. RPK always held the view, MT and all its forum was our sand box, space for us to share(while he picked up the tab) and resisted all suggestions to make it a pay site ie M'kini.

We have come a long way. I lived abroad during MT's inception and didn't know situation was critical back home. Soon realised I stumbled on a good thing and needed to spread RPK's message and keep this site alive. Heart felt appreciation to all old hands, seasoned writers and missing nicks who all played a part in generating interest.

Censorship notwithstanding, it is real big of admin/labisman to welcome all queries. A lesser person/organisation could care less - hats off for this open end gesture that would have RPK beaming with pride.

People's Power, Makhal Sakti, FREE RPK.
Casper

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written by Kopi37, October 30, 2008 17:32:06

Agreed with Anti Relon. I too had also inspired with the concurrence of those uncles in kopitium, who not even know how to read English, had also known who is RPK! Mostly identify him as a Botak Raja and you will be surprised, they also got the same dream and proposal that Pete should be in politics and he could be supported to be a more wise and intellect Home Minister with his unfathomed knowledge! Botak Raja sure thousand times better than Botak camel shit!

I beg your pardons for comparing our icon, though both are Botak!

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written by densemy, October 30, 2008 17:54:24

Ha ha Indiaputra. Dont worry too much about the -'s. All they mean is that you are confronting someone's preconceived ideas... and that probably means what you had to say was worthwhile saying

... and dont go blaming SuperAdmin for your -'s. Blaming is too much of a Malaysian thing where you are expected to blame someone else for everything.

Look on your -'s positively... they are a measure of your ability to challenge the status quo

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written by Ali Cordoba, October 30, 2008 18:42:59

Salaams

Nice comments here. Shows how freedom of speech is fast developing in Malaysia. Kudus.

However, to make the point, we at WF are not against Raja Petra. We do support MT with ads and we will do more when we get more!

What we want is an appreciation of what we do independently. We do not have to remain silent if we feel something is wrong. This site belongs to RPK but since it is a public forum, RPK and the Admin today has to relinquish some of the 'powers' they have. This is where true freedom of press and of speech takes grade.

Yours truly

PS: Hope the Admin will consider using our stories just like before. We supported MT for a long time. There's no reason for them to favor NST, STAR and all pro-regime press while ignoring others that are doing, perhaps, a more independent job?

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written by nanakassim, October 30, 2008 19:05:05

Ali Cordoba, why don't you forward your stories to MT for publication as an item? By merely squeezing them in as comments, your stories will certainly be out of place, in other words, irrelevant.

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written by cruzeiro, October 30, 2008 19:42:18

Here's something RPK wrote in an email long before MT hit the limelight:

"Thanks for your e-mail.
Yes, what you said is true.
But Malaysians have just discovered free speech and do not quite to know yet how it works.....

On the threat of detention I have replied to that in my latest article in No Holds Barred.
Yes, I am aware that the police have been .... No problem though.
We need to face them and fight back or else they will win.
Sure some of us will suffer but that is the price we need to pay to change this country.
Nothing comes cheap or easy and we owe it to the next generation to make this sacrifice. "

Ali,
I'm sure RPK does appreciate your support- just as he appreciates the MT Admin Team who are doing a great job at maintaining the "MT Institution".
However, the option to publish remains with the editors - whether the articles are from the MSM or anybody else.
What matters is the quality of content - if it doesn't have it, there's no way it will be published.
Probably articles from sore losers who complain about censorship, or make requests to ban other commenters will be rejected too ...articles propagating twisted ideas would probably be rejected (that's just my opinion).

Differences in opinion will always be there - just as in the "conflict" with Bukit Chandan, sjs and others who complained. Remember that many wish to "belong" to the community - while others have more sinister motives. Therefore the Admin team needs to excercise extreme caution, while trying to do the best they can (and it'll never be good enough for all parties).
Although things aren't the same as in the old days, I believe the team is doing an admirable job.
But don't give up - who knows .... maybe someday, with better articles, Admin will start paying you to write for them!

And Teo - there are no absolutes!

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written by cruzeiro, October 30, 2008 19:51:19

Sorry Teo ....
I meant densemy - just read what you have written and you will see how you contradict yourself!

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written by macakmy, October 30, 2008 22:56:08

indianputra and densemy. I have no problem with your comments. After all, they are YOUR opinions and everyone is entitled to their own. I even agreed with you on some occasions.

About the - or votes, I've just voted for both of you and yes, it was counted. So, I doubted very much that super admin has anything to do with it (vote rigging ect). With SPR however, its a different matter. So, don't worry too much about and -. Just keep sending your thoughts. Cheers.

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written by macakmy, October 30, 2008 22:58:17

Err... somehow the plus sign is not showing up in my comments. But, I am sure you people can work it out.

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written by temenggong, October 31, 2008 00:14:54

Today my post was censored again! There was no profanity in my post. If it is not Vineeth Menon or ST Low, then who is it may we know?

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written by indianputra, October 31, 2008 07:29:20

I think there is an UMNO Cybertrooper amongst SuperAdmin staff who is censoring our comments. Anything is possible!!!

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written by batsman, October 31, 2008 10:58:57

There are many types of censorship, even TDM suffers from it. Unfortunately the authorities are too cowardly to take action on his blog which is growing from strength to strength while they weaken MT by detaining RPK under the ISA. This is also a form of censorship by "unequality" of discrimination.

Islam too suffers this "unequality". In a way, it is a body of knowledge that is easily identified and attacked while the attackers assume various forms and switch as they please, sometimes taking the Hindu or Bhuddist point of view, other times taking the secularist point of view, etc. Such attackers present no fixed target, so the debate is already by form unequal.

It is sad to see that too often such attackers are given free rein while those who try to put counterpoints are not treated similarly. It becomes an unequal debate.

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written by renoir, October 31, 2008 16:48:42

Censorship again!

FFT asks:
> has the standard of English deteriorated so much in Malaysia?]

As Casper says, "painful." But that's the way it is. The quasi-government local univ I taught after retirement was allegedly the best here, but even the profs couldn't write proper English on our staff bulletin board. One reason I participated in some local blogs was the hope that somehow some youngsters might be exposed to English as it ought to be. But I think it's probably a waste of time.

LChuah

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written by ahmadneil, November 01, 2008 13:44:36

Censorship is getting worse in MT every minute.That's is why it's getting boring and 'boringner '.
That's is the very reason I 'm getting out of MT.BYE!
THIS WILL BE MY LAST COMMENTS.

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written by renoir, November 01, 2008 14:33:30

Folks, I don't know whether you guys are serious or not. I was merely talking about a missing article, with all its comments. I've never been censored - hahaha! - and I don't think the newcomers helping RPK are censoring anyone. Didn't one of them say something like that above? I'm refraining from commenting in case another article go missing again. Not really censorship as we really mean it. I've decided not to comment under any article here - as I said this topic on censorship is an exception - until RPK returns to fix whatever needs to be fixing, but I still ***** M-T for the news (how else to know whether there's any change in the schedules for the vigils and RPK's court sessions?). You'll disappoint RPK if you simply leave the website. So don't leave and please help by *****ing on the ads!

Cheers
LChuah

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