Defamation suit

Hi everyone. Sorry I have not posted anything for the past 1 month. I've had my share of problems eg. Internet disruption, faulty wireless router, crashed harddisk, but mostly it was because I was busy and lazy. A lot of things have happened since the new year, most notably the defamation suit against two prominent Malaysian bloggers, Jeff Ooi and Rocky Bru by (the government-controlled) New Straits Times Press (NSTP).

I think such cowardly actions by NSTP have raised concern among all Malaysians in the blogsphere. As Lim Kit Siang wrote,

"the suits will have a chilling effect on freedom of bloggers and citizen journalists as litigation is so expensive that its costs will cripple and paralyze the ordinary individual blogger, making no contribution whatsoever to a healthy process to delineate and define the legal rights of bloggers and citizen journalists."

As for this blog, my attempts to raise consciousness with regards to religion and God, can be easily misconstrued by the myopic powers-that-be to be insulting God and Islam. In my previous posts, I've written almost exclusively on the Judeo-Christian God mainly because it is what I'm most familiar with, but also because I was afraid some over-zealous Malaysian Muslim cannot take the heat and created trouble for me. But I was pleasantly surprised to find that Richard Dawkins' book, The God Delusion isn't banned in Malaysia and is widely available in most bookstores in the country, despite containing sporadic mentions of 'Allah'. It may have taken a bit longer for the books to hit the shelves, but I found them in Borders and MPH. Honestly, it wouldn't surprise anyone in Malaysia if the government banned any non-Islamic book for the slightest mention of 'Allah' or 'Prophet Muhammad'.

I think my posts and my consciousness-raising aren't too different from Richard's so I take it that they are permissible. In any case, let me reiterate that this blog does not aim to insult anyone (depending on one's definition of insult). This blog only seeks to present a different view of the world, one that does not include any omniscient beings. I don't claim to have magical powers and I am not starting my own religious cult. I am merely presenting facts and arguments that are logical, rational, non-biased and consistent. If you disagree with anything I write, feel free to comment on them in a gentlemanly manner so that we can have an informed discussion. But please, do not send me hate-mail, death threats or lawsuits.

Meanwhile, this case will generate quite a bit of interest from the whole blogsphere. We should all lend our support to Jeff and Rocky!

Technorati tags: defamation suit, Jeff Ooi, Rocky's Bru

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