The following are the immediate reaction to the government's threat to use ISA against bloggers.

Gayathry Venkiteswaran, executive director of Centre for Independent Journalism

The Centre for Independent Journalism objects strongly to the government's threat to use the Internal Security Act to silence critical bloggers. Detention without trial, as stipulated under the ISA, against a blogger is grossly disproportionate and alarming.

The government's willingness to use the draconian law seems to affirm the speculation that it fears the freedom of speech over Internet. It also shows that the government takes the easy way out to punish a blogger without going through an open court process, besides violating the

fundamental rights enshrined in the Federal Constitution.

CIJ is deeply concerned that the government's tough warning is aimed at spreading fear across the blogosphere, the media industry and the public in the wake of the impending general election. CIJ is suspicious about the government's obsession with bloggers and the swiftness in considering the use laws like the ISA and Sedition Act.

Yap Swee Seng, executive director of human rights group Suaram

We are seeing a trend of the government becoming less and less tolerant to criticism of cyber dissidents in the Internet, the only free media available to dissidents in Malaysia due to the tight control of all traditional mainstream media by the government.

It is regrettable that (Umno information chief) Muhammad Muhammad Taib refused to pin point the alleged article or posting on the excuse of the sensitiveness of the issue (in lodging his police report against Raja Petra Kamarudin's Malaysia Today).

The excuse raises doubts whether Muhammad Taib could actually substantiate its claim with concrete evidence or merely using it to silent the website who has been very vocal in exposing allegations of corruptions and abuse of powers by the ruling parties and its leaders, especially recently on the alleged corruption of Inspector General of Police Musa Hassan, Deputy Internal Security Minister Johari Baharom and Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman.

The Raja Petra incident will undoubtedly have a further chilling effect on the freedom of speech in the cyberspace.

We believe the recent spate of attacks on the Internet users are politically motivated to silent criticism against the government in Internet before the general election.