“Take note of what’s been happening in Malaysia these past few days since popular blogger and political commentator Raja Petra Kamarudin, 58, was imprisoned on Tuesday after a trial which saw him charged with sedition for having written a blog post.

If the Malaysian government was truly worried about bloggers effecting social unrest, now they have it. Remember, this is a country where any politician worth their mutton—Jeff Ooi was one of several Malaysians who rode their blog and calls for reform to Parliament in recent elections—has a blog, and even the old goats now blog too.

Ex-Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has a highly-read blog, as does PM hopeful Anwar Ibrahim.

“They set up their blogs, and they try to close down our blogs.”

Raja is one of the sharpest voices both online and off in Malaysia, so it’s highly suggested you check out his statements to the public right after his sentencing, lbogged by Malaysian citizen media stronghold, Malaysiakini.

More at Global Voices Online

Comment:

Over here in the US, there’s always a chorus of voices in defense of every moron’s right to exhibit his moronity (yes, it is a word) in public….in defense of spam, porn, and of course the non-stop invasion of the privacy of the privates of the Brittany-Paris posse…..which is presumed to have no rights, least of all to sympathy, being made up of the rich, the blonde and the giddy.

But the real defense of free speech usually has few cheerleaders.

On Iraq, on Palestine, on racial issues, on the war between the sexes, on religious belief and the state, on terrorism, on any of the most important issues around, the rule in the mainstream media is doublespeak and slogans. And it’s not much better in the alternative press.

Abroad the threat of jail time lends some dignity to political bloggers. Here we only get sentenced to not being read.