Picture taken from http://stop114a.wordpress.com/get-involved/website-owners-and-bloggers/
Published by BBC News on 14 August 2012.
Malaysian activists and bloggers are staging an online black-out for one day to protest against changes to a law they say restricts free speech online. They have replaced their home pages with black screens critical of the Evidence Act, revised in April, for Internet Black-out Day.
Critics say the law makes people unfairly liable for content published from networks and personal devices.
Officials deny the change is meant to silence critics ahead of an election. The revised law means that Malaysians could get into trouble even if their devices or internet connections have been hacked into, critics say.
The Centre for Independent Journalism in Malaysia said the revision was "a bad law passed in haste and does not take into account public interest and participation", said the Agence-France Presse news agency.
Critics want the law to be changed or scrapped completely. Premesh Chandran, founder of online news site Malaysiakini, said that the burden of proof on internet users was unfair. "In other words, if defamatory comments are posted on a blog, the blog owner is likely to be sued or charged with criminal defamation," Malaysiakini said in a statement on its website.
The internet has been key to helping sway a large number of voters from supporting the governing coalition, says the BBC's Jennifer Pak in Kuala Lumpur. Online media has also exposed corruption scandals among the governing parties, who have been in power for nearly 55 years, our correspondent adds.
Related reports:
Malaysia's prime minister said he would review a legal amendment that critics claim threatens free expression online after they staged a one-day "Internet blackout" on Tuesday. Prime Minister Najib Razak, facing mounting pressure ahead of looming elections, said on Twitter that he had asked the cabinet to discuss the controversial new section of the Evidence Act.
A series of prominent websites, including those of the Malaysian Bar Council, the opposition Democratic Action Party, and news portals Malaysiakini, Free Malaysia Today and BFM Radio, were either blacked out voluntarily or featured a pop-up message: Stop 114A. In the early evening, Mr. Najib responded on his personal Twitter account, saying "I have asked Cabinet to discuss section 114A of the Evidence Act 1950. Whatever we do we must put people first."
The Malaysian Bar appreciates that the problem of anonymity on the Internet is of a different nature to that in the print media. Persons hiding behind the cloak of a false persona can incite racial hatred, incite and organise violent hate crimes and commit fraud and escape being identified. Hence there is a need for some statutory intervention to ensure criminal elements do not exploit the anonymity that the Internet can provide to escape the consequences of their actions. However, the Malaysian Bar is of the view that the recently-introduced section 114A of the Evidence Act of 19501, which came into force on 31 July 20122 , is not the answer to these problems, and should be repealed. Suitable replacement legislation can be enacted later, if necessary, but only after full consultation with all stakeholders.
Deputy Higher Education Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah, Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin, and MCA Senator Gan Ping Sieu added their backing to a growing chorus of protest against the new law.
http://news.malaysia.msn.com/regional/malaysia-to-review-law-after-web-blackout-protest-2
Malaysia has long been known for its authoritarian rule but Najib, who came to power in 2009, has launched a campaign to repeal some repressive laws to gain voter support. However, the opposition and rights groups have dismissed the drive as a sham, saying that various laws introduced to replace the previous legislation have been little better than the old statutes.
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