Is Malaysia getting its own version of China's so-called 50-centres, the legions of Chinese bloggers who monitor websites and reply to criticism of the government for money?

NONE Ahirudin Attan, the Kuala Lumpur-based pro-government blogger who writes under the name ‘Rocky's Bru', says last September he pulled together friends to set up what he calls a small news portal called The Mole with the idea "to give certain balance to the reports of Malaysiakini, Malaysian Insider, Malaysia Today ."

In Ahirudin's view, "there are too many anti-establishment, anti-government sites in Malaysia."

The Malaysian Insider reported last year that the government had provided US$10 million (RM30.2 million) for the project.

Other reports circulating in Malaysian political circles say the bloggers have been provided with US$10 million by Umno, the country's biggest political party, and another US$10 million from billionaire Syed Mokhtar al Bukhary to follow the proliferating anti-establishment news organisations that are thronging Malaysia and state the government's viewpoint.

But, Ahirudin said in a telephone interview: "That US$10 million is totally crap. There is no truth at all in it. We are really small."

A former editor of a variety of Umno publications including the Business Times and Malay Mail , he says he derives his current income from his continuing directorship at the Mail , a Kuala Lumpur-based daily tabloid.

To reports that he had bought a Harley-Davidson motorcycle with his new-found wealth, he snorted. The Harley, he said, is 12 years old.

Despite Ahirudin's denials, other sources insist that at least 10 to 15 people are involved in the effort, with government support.

Because all of Malaysia's mainstream media, including newspapers and television, are owned by its ruling political parties, the country has generated perhaps the most vociferous opposition Internet news portals in the region, with some, including Malaysiakini and the Malaysian Insider , providing professional coverage of the government.

Although government officials grit their teeth over what the news portals publish, they have adhered to a pledge made by former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad to leave the Internet censorship-free.

Mahathir made the pledge in 1995 to promote the international development of his Multimedia Super Corridor, which was designed to attract high-tech industry across the globe. In 1998, the government allowed Malaysiakini to begin operations.

The result, along with the proliferation of news sites, most of them anti-government, has been an explosion of readers who gather their news from the Internet.

Half a yuan for each entry

According to Freedom House, a whopping 55 percent of Malaysians had access to the Internet in 2011.

And, the NGO said: "In the watershed elections of March 2008, the ruling National Front coalition lost its two-thirds majority for the first time since 1969. In addition, opposition parties won control of five of the country's 13 states, including those with relatively high Internet penetration rates.

"Together with the growing popularity of independent online news outlets, the use of the Internet for political mobilisation was widely perceived as contributing to the opposition's electoral gains."

Ahirudin however dismissed talk of a blog war room in Malaysia.

"Any blog that is registered, we will pick up their story automatically, we only pick up some stories to follow up, to do follow-through," said the Mole founder.

The so-called ‘50-cent party' arose in China in 2005 when Nanjing University officials hired students to search bulletin boards for undesirable information and counter it with comments friendly to the Communist Party.

The price for each entry was said to be half a yuan (24 sen) although varying prices have been paid by different Chinese organisations.

The result has been a deluge of comments, not only on Chinese bulletin boards but almost any Internet publication across the globe that contains stories about China.

Any even-mildly negative story about China on the pages of Hong Kong-based Asia Sentinel is certain to generate swift and angry replies charging a pro-US bias, calling attention to the once-dominant history of western colonisers in China and decrying US interference in international affairs.

- Asia Sentinel