Is Abdullah strictly liable for seditious postings on PMO website?

“Watch your blogs, warns PM” was the headline of Sunday Star on the warning by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in Kuantan on Saturday that bloggers are not immune from the law, whether their websites are hosted overseas or otherwise.

Does this warning apply to the Prime Minister himself, in view of disclosures on the blogosphere that the Prime Minister’s official website had hosted a very incendiary and seditious article inciting racial hatred, ill-will and animosity among the Malays and Chinese in the country?

This article, written in Bahasa Malaysia and purported to be by one “DR. NG SENG”, clearly an “agent provocateur” camouflaging as a Chinese, had been on the Prime Minister’s Office website for more than 20 months since Nov. 14, 2005 on the “ucapan takziah” for the late Datin Paduka Seri Endon Mahmood archive.

Blogger Ronnie Liu will be lodging a police report on the seditious and inflammatory “DR. NG SENG” article today.

Although the seditious article, together with the entire “ucapan takziah” archive, has been removed from the Prime Minister’s Office website this morning, the fact remains that the seditious article had been publicly available on the website for over 20 months and a grave crime had been perpetrated.

Who must be held responsible for the seditious article on the official website of the Prime Minister?

Is Abdullah strictly liable for seditious postings on the Prime Minister’s Office website to the extent that he could be charged and tried for sedition?

This would appear to be the implication from the comments of Abdullah, who appears to be declaring the principle of strict liability for bloggers and website principals. Is this the position of the Prime Minister and the government?

Will the Police haul up Abdullah to record a statement following Ronnie’s police report? I am not suggesting that Abdullah should be arrested, charged and tried in court for the seditious “DR. NG SENG” article on the website of the Prime Minister’s Office, although these would be the logical results if under the law there is the principle of strict liability for the seditious materials which are posted on the official website of the Prime Minister’s Office.

Apart from the Prime Minister, is there anybody else who should be held liable under the principle of strict liability which seems to have found favour with the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, Cabinet Ministers and Umno leaders who have made public statements in the current “blog war” between Umno and Raja Petra Kamaruddin’s Malaysia Today news portal.

Or shouldn’t there be different degrees of responsibility between articles posted by the webmaster and principal of the blogs and websites, and comments left by visitors — with a mechanism allowing inflammatory and seditious comments to be removed when they are brought to the attention of the webmaster/principal so as not to dampen the robustness and vibrancy of Malaysian blogosphere?

Or will Ronnie’s police report just be ignored completely — in contrast to the police report of the Umno Information chief, Tan Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib against Raja Petra, which saw the police swinging into action within 48 hours — subjecting Raja Petra to eight hours of questioning without asking a single question about his articles?

57 Replies to “Is Abdullah strictly liable for seditious postings on PMO website?”

  1. ‘Sang Liang Pu Chen Sia Liang Why’ a Chinese saying.
    Umno is the true culprits who like to bring up seditious and sensitive issues as well as behaving like anti other races. keep on emphasizing on special right, and religion issue are the factors that affect the feeling of other races.
    Just like you could put up fire on to the forest but disallow others to light up the candles.

  2. The first reaction from Sleeping Beauty will be: Nothing like what you have said has happened. All are lies.

    The second reaction when you furnish the evidence is: All the evidence is manufactured.

    The third reaction when you prove that the evidence is true: So what ?

    Time to vote out the thieves, the liars and the cheats.

  3. Won’t work. Less than half an hour into his questioning, he would have fallen asleep.

    Jokes aside, why not? Why the double standards? If the Govt. plans to hold blog masters responsible for postings by visitors to their sites, by the same token, AAB should be held responsible for postings to his site.

    Likewise, on the same basis, he should also be responsible for the seditious comments made by members of his party if there is no attempt on his part to distance himself from their actions or remarks. By maintaining his “elegant silence”, he is sending a message that he condones such actions and remarks and thus should be charged accordingly.

  4. What agent provocateur one Dr Ng Seng has done is to give a clear message to the PM & the government that one cannot reasonably hold a Webmaster or Blog Owner responsible under “strict liability” for seditious or defamatory postings, one such even escaped the PM’s notice having been in Prime Minister’s Office website for more than 20 months since Nov. 14, 2005.

  5. The PMO website created the “ucapan takziah” segment which is supposed to gives the rakyat a space to send condolence messages to the PM. Well…in this case, it just shows that all the supposed condolences and emotional messages for the PM sent by the rakyat just went down the drain. If the PM or any of his staff or the website administrator has ever read those messages, then the article wouldn’t have stayed on the website for so long. What a waste of resource!!
    I wonder if the PM ever browse his own ministry’s website at all??

  6. the elite and connected will be able to get away with anything be it corruption, slanders, seditious remakrs, murder, thieving, etc. They are the lords of Msia.

    Welcome to Msia. Happy 50th whatever.

  7. AAB says: “…bloggers are not immune from the law, whether their websites are hosted overseas or otherwise.”

    Obviously there is more than one set of laws in Malaysia:
    1) The laws of Parliament
    2) The laws of UMNO
    3) The laws of the PM.

    It’s confusing as the people would never know which laws apply to whom, when, where and why.

    The PM says: “…bloggers are not immune from the law, whether their websites are hosted overseas or otherwise” probably qualifies as one of the PM’s laws or UMNO’s laws. We see then how the police will hurry and scurry to interrogate people like YM Raja Petra Kamaruddin. Let’s see whether they arrest him under Parliament’s laws because that is the only law that the courts respect and enforce.

    The PM’s laws and UMNO’s laws can be challenged in a court of law and then debunked. The danger, often enough, is that the PM’s laws and UMNO’s laws get enacted by a compliant Parliament where other component parties sit and gape sheepishly, holding out their rubber-stamp, with their arms outstretched and propped up by UMNO stalwarts for the seal of approval.

    This is why such a Social Contract is untenable. So right-thinking Malaysians with a sound mind and an appropriate sense of decency must deny BN victory in the next GE.

    BN must go. Vote DAP/PKR.

  8. Decades of damaging politics of race and religion had done enormous damage to the country and her ordinary people with permanent, long term and far reaching consequences.

    It is unfortunate that a lot of time and resources would be required to improve trust, understanding and goodwill between the various races grossly damaged by the politics of race and religion instead of focusing on preparing the country and her people in a globalised and competitive world.

    As a result of decades of bad leadership and governance of the country with rampant corruption, abuse of power, short sightedness in policies and etc., the country ability to move forward in many areas is significantly limited.

  9. It is an interesting question whether there should be different degrees of responsibility between (say) a webmaster/blogger (in sense of owning and operating a blog) like RPK and a principal of a website like say the PM’s office.

    The difference between the blogger and the principal is that the former invites comments and is interactive whereas the principal does not and is passive. But is this difference material?

    It seems what is important is the effect of what is published and the harm that it has inflicted. Seen from this perspective there is no material difference to treat a passive principal of website different from an interactive blogger in terms of responsibility.

    On the next question whether there is a duty for either principal or blogger to delete an offensive posting, should it not depend on whether he is aware of its existence? Otherwise for someone like RPK getting 5 million hits and a couple hundreds postings how he is he going to ferret out an offensive posting – would it be searching for a needle in haystack?

    And the next question will be whether peer moderation if encouraged by blogger will be a mitigating factor.

    And what happens if it were brought to the attention of the blogger or principal web master of an offensive posting in terms of being seditious or defamatory but the blogger or principal web master refuses to delete or moderate because he genuinely believes that the posting is neither defamatory or seditious: who will be the arbiter on the law of sedition or defamation?

    Will the Communications and Multimedia Content Forum Complaints Bureau take on the role of arbiter and if so is it qualified to usurp a judicial function of the courts?

    And even if the Communications and Multimedia Content Forum Complaints Bureau were to be an arbiter and advises the blogger or principal of web site to delete a posting, which he fails to do so, is he, in light of his fauilure to take action, liable or guilty of defamation and sedition or abetment of it or is he just liable for some lesser offence of neglecting to delete an offensive posting?

    What are the rights and obligations of a blogger or a principal of a web site in relation to disclosure of the Internet Protocol of his visitors without consent to the authorities?

    Is a blogger/blog owner to be treated like a cyber on line journalist in certain news he posts and if so does he have any privilege in terms of protecting his source?

    Any cyber lawyer out there who knows answers to some of these questions?

  10. Justice would be seen to be done even if PM AAB spends just 8 minutes of interrogation by the Police rather than the 8 hours of ignominy RPK suffered. 2 reasons:

    1) It’s unbecoming of a nation to subject it’s PM to any oral torture particularly on something so ‘remote’ because he has not visited his own blog in 2 years! PM’s blog must be so lonely (perhaps zero hits in monthly terms) because nobody discovered this scandalous posting until a good 2 years later; YB LKS included. HA, ha.

    2) SO far as I understand there is no applicable law under a strict liability principle relating to bloggers in Malaysia. The question of any liability at all is even arguable based on RPK’s argument which seems to be in accord with the common laws in the Commonwealth unless….we like to cut our moorings to those sanctified ties that have kept our nation’s sanity.

    BUT seriously, YB LKS, the people should just spare our beloved PM the ordeal. After all we all know he is no lawyer and is perhaps a friend of letters rather than a man of letters; he is possibly computer illiterate; and certainly there is no intention to be seditious at all. We should all be quite happy that, as penance for his oversight, the PM declares that all bloggers are free to blog and all comments within reasonable bounds of decency and fair comment are acceptable. Political commentary is fair game too. Gossip is inevitable when personalities choose to hush up even though challenged, as in RPK’s blogs. Those who feel victimised have all the avenues to seek redress through due process of the courts such as libel actions.

    Society must be free to rout out evil camouflaged in religious skins or political colours. Blogs serve a wonderful role in this regard; RPK deserves special thanks for his investigative work. Nobody has yet come forward to sue or prosecute him or provide proof that he had perpetrated malicious lies. The AG cleared the IGP and former ACA Chief perhaps, as it appears, with the wave of a hand. Is the AG not obliged to say more on their exculpation considering that so much public heat and interest have been generated. The Malaysian people have been longsuffering and simply wants to know the truth. And if these VIPs are not guilty – how are they not guilty? Then why isn’t RPK prosecuted for such abject lies? RPK has said he is prepared to face any judicial challenge or something like that.

    So where does the ball lie – on whose court?

  11. Jeffrey:

    The answers to your questions must rest with the courts. The UMNO clowns won’t take us to court, because that would mean giving us our day in court, which they have primed the courts to deny us locus standi in the first instance.

    Therein lies the dilemma faced by the crooks – how to take us to court without facing all the dirty linen that is likely to come up in cross-examination.

    I suspect that the compromise on their part is to continue to go on the offensive, and to threaten through the mainstream press – their endless chants of “insults against Islam and Agong” are getting to be nauseating – and perhaps even to charge one or two bloggers, but without any intention of showing up in court.

  12. johnnypok,

    RPK had answered your question in Malaysia Today.

    “the point is: the government says that the website owner must be charged/indicted for whatever comments are posted on his/her website by any parties known or unknown.”

    So, AAB is liable.

  13. When Ronnie Liu lodges a police report in Dang Wangi station, then how does the AG file a charge against RPK for his visitors’ trangessions of the laws without having to also file one against the owner of the Prime Minister’s Office website for the similar transgression by one of its visitors? The laws must be applied equally. Equal protection of the law is constitutionally guaranteed. For one to treat Malaysia Today in a different class from that of PM Office website, it will have to be shown that between the two there is a rational differentiating factor. But what is it?

  14. Excellent developments, this Dr Ng Seng fiasco.
    Now lets see if M2 has balls to carry out his threats to charge RPK. Otherwise, this latest episode will end up as another confirmation that Malaysia’s elected leaders are a bunch of hypocrites and leeches.
    Great to know that the PM is now implicated. Surely he now needs more spin doctors to get him out of this latest b/s and guess what? I think more sh*t shall be uncovered, and confirm that the current leadership are IRRELEVANT and HARMFUL to Malaysia’s progress.

  15. Sidetrack a bit…since the PM already back from holiday, pls check with him how many pages he had read on the 632pgs report submitted by GERAK Ezam Mohd Nor on the 29 June 07. What is the outcome and whether the answer of “I don know” become “I don care”?? Its already past one month and there will be silence throughout many moons and slowly and quietly all will be forgotten.

    There is a philosophy from PM that we must walk the talk and work with him. So if he is on holiday, can we also go on holiday mode?? sic..

  16. AAB, you cannot plead ignorance, neither can you claim diplomatic immunity. Your Assistant just said that “No one is above the law.” And don’t forget, the whole is watching you.

  17. What has Mohammed son of Mohammed has to say now? Mohammed, now you have ‘tahi’ on your face!!! If you are a jantan, go and lodge a report against Pak Lah just like Ronnie!!!

  18. Dear AAB,

    When you says something, you almost always bite yourself. Why do you stay on and continue to reinforce your antics is just beyond comprehension. We know we will have double standards from now till god know when, but we rather have it from someone other than you. Maybe, just maybe, the new PM might take heeds of our plights and CAN do something about it. Pleading ignorance is getting rather stale. Is there another tale?

  19. “Then why isn’t RPK prosecuted for such abject lies? RPK has said he is prepared to face any judicial challenge or something like that.” HORNBILL

    “So where does the ball lie – on whose court?” HORNBILL

    Jeffrey says Raja Petra has “balls of brass” for daring the authorities to charge him with sedition. Now you’re asking on whose court is the ball in, and who has right to play ball.

    This is an entirely different ball game.

  20. Uncle Kit,

    I would say that this is a very good move to counter Tan Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib police report on Malaysian Today. This would also expose the fact that they are applying “double standards”. If raja petra were to be charged by a comments left on his blog. Using this logic, the PM should be charged too. Let us see what happen next.

  21. Well…AAB needs to show that he is still incharge after all this fiasco.
    But back to the question pertaining to the PMO website………….obviously it is inaccessible right now hehehe……..but lets wait and see what the cops gonna do with all this report made against him.Lets see if he is indeed above the law and at the same time that chap that made a report against RPK should be slapping his own face right now.

  22. i think someone pulled a fast one on AAB lah.

    First they tell him bloggers/website owenrs are liable. Then someone from within pointed out to the whole world that our PM’s website has the same seditious remarks just right afetr someone taught Pak Lah to warn the bloggers/website owners.

    Zam,

    Are u one of the planners to bring down Pak Lah? He is my beloved PM u know. Why are u doing this Zam? All becos of Rm1000?

  23. sometimes i do wonder…
    could someone have make him a scapegoat!
    too many power struggle in BN especially UMNO. it seem everybody is trying to bring him down. yep, he might not be a good leader. but there might be someone who is worse than him.
    i will always remember this tag line… “to bath keris with chinese blood”.
    this guy can never be accepted as a leader for all malaysian. this include the other minister, who love to raise the keris during their party gathering…
    we have to many clowns in parliment, except DAP!
    malaysia parliment should rather be turn into circus.

  24. What goes around comes around or as Malcolm X once said, the chicken has come home to roost. If I were the PM, DPM or any of the UMNO underlings, it is better they keep their big mouths shut for you will never know what is coming around the corner. I would like to quote this from Linus of the Peanuts cartoon fame: “It’s better to shut your mouth and look like a fool then to open it and remove all doubts.” Now the joke is on PM and UMNO.

  25. I was watching SImpsons the movie and the President of the USA said this, “I am here to lead, not read”. Same goes for our PM. So ill informed and hv no idea what’s happening to our country. We need Homer to rescue us.

  26. Our own brazillion-dollar-pm
    http://maverickysm.blogspot.com/2007/07/pak-lah-trillion-dollar-pm.html

    Donald Rumsfeld is giving the president his daily briefing. He concludes by saying: “Yesterday, 3 Brazilian soldiers were killed.”

    “OH NO!” the President exclaims. “That’s terrible!”

    His staff sits stunned at this display of emotion, nervously watching as the President sits, head in hands.

    Finally, the President looks up and asks, “How many is a brazillion?”

  27. You will just have to conclude that Abdullah is the one who is behind all these racist problems. He is the mastermind to destroy Malaysia by inciting racial hatreds among Malaysians so we will kill each other. Abdullah is Dr. Hadahri Evil.

  28. I call on the PM or the operators of PM’s official website to do the appropriate cyber forensics to ferret out who is behind this “Dr Ng Seng” and trace his Internet Protocol so that he could be discovered, caught and charged for sedition or at least made to render a public apology in the same web site to all Malaysians for posting such divisive and seditious statement. If he or she was one of Azalina’s Cyber troopers as alleged by Raja Petra that person should be sacked for sabotaging the PM official website, and Azalina hauled up for employing such troopers.

  29. “If raja petra were to be charged by a comments left on his blog. Using this logic, the PM should be charged too. Let us see what happen next.” Chong Zhemin

    “Let us see what happens next”? Nothing. You should be brave enough to go and stand with a placard in hand, in front of his Putrajaya Office demanding that he be accountable for what he does.

    Raja Petra has apparently overstepped his boundaries but for his connections to the royal house of Trengganu and Selangor he would have been detained under the ISA and not just be the latest victim of ‘catch and release’ policy of the UMNO government.

    Why the double standards in both cases??

  30. Brown said this in US Congress just yesterday:

    “I believe Winston Churchill came here, to the House, and said many years ago that our joint inheritance is a belief in liberty, a belief in opportunity for all and a belief in the dignity of every individual,” he said.

    Can PM AAB say the same in PArliament:

    “I believe ……..our joint inheritance is a belief in liberty, a belief in opportunity for all and a belief in the dignity of every individual,” he said.”

    And then do something sensible about all those complaints of second-class citizens, policies of divide-and-rule, discriminatory practices that mocks at all those claims of egalitarianism, police excesses that batters human dignity, press control and censorship that undermines fundamental principles of liberty and more.

    It doesn’t take a Bush or a Brown to enunciate these fundamental rights. They are right there in the human heart and psyche. SO AAB should be aware that these are inalienable rights planted in our souls by the ALMIGTHY.

  31. I wonder those ministers BN members are ashame of their despicable act. They can see the beam in their own eyes but they could see a splinter in others!
    Pak Lah, I am really ashame of you and the whole bunch of good for nothing BN members.
    Pak Lah, my frank advice to you is that if you can’t keep your own house clean, please do not go around telling others that their houses are dirty!!!
    It is best you shut up and continue your honey moon with your new found love!!!

  32. “The IT experts in the PRDM will not be able to find the article ..”

    And now with the courtesy of a reader from LKS’s blog, PDRM will say even if you can read through all that, how do we know that’s the same one??

    You see, you’re missing the point here! Taking horse to water does not mean you can make it drink.

  33. Dear Grace,

    I noticed you seem to have a great deal of passion to create a ‘Pak Lah bashing’ forum in here… he he he. Whenever you post a comment on Pak Lah you really pour out all your grieviences as though he is like Hitler… ha ha ha.

    Anyway, just give the old man some benefit of doubt though we know his limitations but afterall we can see now that he’s doing some little improvement probably realising now after receiving so much bashings.

    Recently, he has proposed to ban BN ministers from holding any post in any sports organisations which I think is a good move for the betterment of sports in this country. Besides, he was there playing the leading role (and not absent overseas) for the lauching of the NCER … (though we don’t know at this point how successful will the NCER be but at least its good to see the project kick off for the betterment of the rakyat).

    I believe we shouldn’t just judge a person by his failures or limitations only but view it from an overall macro basis as no human is perfect. I’m not siding BN or anyone here but I think the way we comment things in here we sometimes have to give credit as well to anyone for what that has been done in a proper and good way, though he may be our opposition.

    This in fact sets a good example to the rakyat and they will learn to know who is sincere and who is not. If we only want to harp on negativity or wrongdoings of others while ignoring anything positive or good, than we will also be giving the rakyat the wrong message of the kind of people we are.

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