The assurance given by Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi last Saturday that the government would not censor the Internet was a reinforcement of Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamed's commitment to make the Multimedia Super Corridor the next engine of growth, said the managing editor of MSC Times.com, Shufiyan Shukur.

"Any efforts to censor or control the Internet would be impractical and next to impossible," he said, commenting on contradictory statements made last week by Deputy Home Minister Chor Chee Heung and Deputy Energy Communications and Multimedia Minister Tan Chai Ho.

The Sun newspaper last Friday quoted Chor as saying that the government would take action against PAS-owned newspaper Harakah if it published more than two online issues a month, as is the condition attached for its printed version under its just renewed publication permit.

Chor however, the next day, denied making such a statement, saying that he was misquoted and the government will not censor the Internet.

Tan, on the other hand, was on Friday quoted by Chinese daily Nanyang Siang Pau as saying that a meeting between his ministry and Internet service providers (ISPs) in the country had been scheduled for tomorrow to formulate a code of ethics for website contents in the Internet.

"Any attempts to limit or control online editions of publications such as Harakah , for example, would give rise to all kinds of problems, as legislation on many Internet operations is still open-ended," Shufiyan said.

"Even if the Energy, Communications and Multimedia Ministry formulated a code of ethics through a consultation with ISPs, any attempt to regulate Internet contents of news providers like us or malaysiakini is unworkable as websites can rely on servers located overseas and not through local ISPs such as Jaring," added Shufiyan.

The server of Shufiyan's MSC Times.com, which provides news on IT companies in Malaysia, is located in the United States.

"Anyhow, all these measures talking about controlling what goes into the Internet are ludicrous and impractical; the only way for them is to completely shut down the Internet," he added.