Nexnews Group and The Sun daily's executive editor P Gunasegaram has lodged a report against the blog Screenshots over a reader's comment in the latter that allegedly incited people 'to kill' Gunasegaram.

His complaint was lodged with the Communications and Multimedia Content Forum (CMCF) agency under the energy, water and communications ministry yesterday over the comment which read: 'Somebody, please shoot this Gunasegaram for good'.

The comment by a Screenshots reader known as 'Imran' on Wednesday was in response to an article written by Gunasegaran entitled 'The myth of Mahathir's invincibility' which appeared in The Sun on the same day.

The journalist had argued in his article that no one, including former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad, was invincible. He had earlier written another critical piece called 22 questions for Dr M which appeared in business weekly The Edge , also owned by Nexnews Group.

The comment was deleted after Gunasegaram wrote to Screenshots operator Jeff Ooi yesterday asking for action to be taken over Imran's comment. Gunasegaram then proceeded to lodge his complaint with the CMCF, the body which regulates content of the Internet media.

Owner apologises

Ooi, when contacted today, said the controversial comment was deleted within an hour upon him receiving an e-mail from Gunasegaram. The blogger said he also wrote to 'Imran' asking for the latter's perspective on his 'shoot' comment.

In his reply, 'Imran' wrote: 'What I meant by 'shoot' is shut this guy up'. 'Imran' also declared himself as a Mahathir supporter and wanted Gunasegaram 'to stop digging dirt' on the former strongman.

Ooi stressed that a scan of all comments on the concerned blog thread did not show any inflammatory messages that were tantamount to threatening the life of Gunasegaran.

He noted that before he could relay the reader Imran's clarification to Gunasegaram, the latter had chosen to make his grievance public.

"Screenshots and its one-man blogger who has to work for his three square meals, apologises for not being able to stay glued to the computer 24/7 and make a total surveillance of readers' remarks around the clock.

"But let it be stated in no uncertain term that I shall endeavour to moderate whatever offensive remarks to the best of my ability, or upon alerts by the readers," said Ooi.

No attempt claim

In an immediate response, Gunasegaram told malaysiakini his complaint has already been lodged and could not be withdrawn, adding the posting was 'extremely irresponsible'.

"In a sensitive situation like this (just after Mahathir's pepper spray attack ), the blogger should be careful. The meaning of 'shooting Gunasegaram for good' in normal language is to kill him," he said when asked to respond to 'Imran's' explanation.

He declined to comment on whether the incident was maliciously motivated.

"I don't know (whether it's malicious) but Jeff has my contact number and on top of that my e-mail address but there was no attempt to get in touch with me (to clarify the situation)," Gunasegaram said.

"I'm not comfortable with the posting and that it was allowed to be published [..] he had the chance to block it but he did not. If the posting's language is ambiguous, then it should be removed."

Gunasegaram argued that Ooi had time to remove Imran's controversial comment as Ooi left his own comments in the blog after Imran made his posting.

On his general view about blogs, Gunasegaran said: "Everyone is subject to the laws of the country. Whether you say it on the Internet, on paper or through other mediums, it is still considered as a threat."

Fine, reprimand

CMCF executive director Mohd Mustaffa Fazil Mohd Abdan when contacted said the agency will investigate and assess the grounds of the complaint.

"Our complaint bureau chief is empowered to decide the next course of action including the need to convene a complaint bureau meeting. No specific time frame is allocated," he said.

The body, set up under the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, can issue a written reprimand, impose a fine not exceeding RM50,000 and require the removal of content in question once it finds there is a breach of CMCF's Content Code.

It can also refer the offending party to the Communications and Multimedia Commission for further action.

This is not the first time Screenshots - which has a hyperlink on malaysiakini 's front page and is dubbed the Malaysia's 'most influential blog' - has run into trouble.

In February last year, Ooi was investigated by the police after a reader posted a comment which analogised Islam Hadhari and money politics in disparaging terms.