NUJ Backs Bloggers Alliance (Posting One)

I consider the article ‘NUJ backs bloggers alliance’ to be speaking the truth about the many bloggers in Malaysia. This is due to the factor that the vice president from the Registrar of Societies says that Technorati, tracks 55 million bloggers worldwide, and only a minority of bloggers addressed current issues.

In my perception, I think that the Malaysian bloggers are not given a chance to express themselves proper enough because of the restrictions from the Printing Presses and Publications Act, and Official Secrets Act (OSA). According to Malik Imtiaz author of Defamation, Blogging and Nation Building, he said that “The reality is that press freedom in Malaysia is limited. The need for permits and the threats of closure and prosecution are not conducive, even where there is editorial will for freer publication.”

Thus, by saying things as such, the public do not have a chance to view their opinions freely and their opinions are limited. However, I also do agree with Encik Imtiaz when he mentioned that “Freedom of expression, however, did not mean one could go around slandering others”. In my interpretation, the public needs to know what information needs to be written and what should be kept in silence such as religion issues. I mean who would want to disrupt the peace and harmony of our country? By blogging without thinking, it is only going to provoke the anger of some such as the fanatics.

In addition, Mr Jeff Ooi, the vice president of the Registrar of Societies said that “The progress of ICT had changed the way people got their news, no longer only from newspapers but also online.” I choose to agree with this statement because according to Kevin Hunt, ‘usefulness and popularity of web pages is based on how well individuals and organisations use the technology to establish an online presence’. What he meant by this includes, the characteristic attitudes, habits and beliefs of an individual or group. (Bartell, 2006)

In my opinion to what both of them meant was, people no longer search the printed material for news. Thus, they choose to opt for online materials where the web pages play an important role as well. This might make it easier for users to ‘click’ when they choose to navigate into a certain page rather than searching for the pages through printed materials.

Source: http://star-techcentral.com/tech/story.asp?file=/2007/5/5/technology/20070505131217&sec=technology