Gov't fine with bloggers' criticisms but not 'twisted facts'

For the third day running, newly-minted Information, Communications and Culture Minister Rais Yatim warned bloggers that they will face the full brunt of the law if they "twisted the facts" in their writings.

He added that these bloggers will be prosecuted under the Communications and Multimedia Act.

He however tempered his warning by stating that the bloggers have the right to criticise and voice out their opinions - as long as they were not twisting the facts and affecting the public.

He said that his ministry would function as the investigative body in looking for these ‘offending' bloggers who were responsible for lies in the Internet.

He also said that the communication department under the ministry would continuously monitor the blogging trend in the cyberspace.

"We shall establish the mechanism to assure the public so there's no abuse of communications in the country..." Rais said after attending a ministry event at Jalan Sultan Abdul Samad in Kuala Lumpur this morning.

"And this is not like we are looking for fault all the time. We would just like to guard the public safety.

"If there are twisted facts and intentions to do so, we'll refer them to the authorities," he said.

He further assured the public that the ministry will help those who have been "deemed to be maligned by the web or the bloggers".

"They have the right to report to us and we will see whether the bloggers or the news in the blogs contain the truth or not," he said.

The warning to the bloggers is an ongoing theme undertaken by Rais.

On Tuesday, his first day as the minister, Raid revealed that legal action would be the government's last resort when dealing with errant bloggers.

He revisited the issue again yesterday by advising bloggers against writing untruths and touching on personal matters, adding that the errant ones would be penalised under the Communications and Multimedia Act.

Bloggers should prove their allegations

And today he was at the same issue again.

Rais said that the bloggers should prove their claims when it comes to alleging someone with either corruption or murder for instance.

"Let's say, this person claims that the other person is involved in corruption, then he should prove it. Same goes when he accuses someone of murder, then he should come up with evidence," he explained.

"Otherwise, they will have to answer to the authorities because this is concerning the public's personal lives and they have to be careful with this," said Rais.

Rais also said that Malaysian bloggers living overseas too would be monitored for their contents.

"But we will forward our findings to the attorney-general for the next course of action as the ministry has no power to act outside the country," he said.

Rais also defended his ministry's proposed tight grip against errant bloggers and denied that it was a form of government-imposed online censorship.