How A Bungled Attempt At Promoting Tourism Leads To Malaysian Bloggers Needing To Register With The Gov't
from the following-the-bouncing-ridiculousness dept
Mark & Tiara write in with a bunch of links outlining the bizarre story of how Malaysia may end up requiring bloggers to register with the government. It apparently started earlier this year when Malaysia tried to increase tourism with a campaign called "Visit Malaysia Year 07," which included inviting a bunch of foreign journalists to come check out Malaysia. An Indonesian TV crew that was invited as part of this found that the trip was not at all what they expected, and one of the women on the trip blogged about her poor experience, basically highlighting how difficult the tourism board made it for the journalists to actually do anything (including film parts of the trip). Malaysia's Tourism Minister wasn't particular pleased and made disparaging remarks about bloggers in general and women bloggers specifically (saying they were liars). That made some bloggers angry (surprise, that) and he was forced to clarify his remarks, and he didn't think all women bloggers were liars -- he was just referring to the particular Indonesian journalist woman blogger -- which again set off a bunch of bloggers. Next step? Go to the press and tell them not to quote blogs or use them as sources of information. He claimed that anyone who quoted a blogger would be disgracing themselves. This certainly seems like someone not knowing when to stop digging his own grave. Honestly, the only person disgracing himself has been this particular minister... but the end result loops all the way back around and the Malaysian government wants bloggers to register themselves. It's not clear how this stops foreign journalists (and bloggers) from mocking bad tourism attempts and dumb statements. Luckily, it sounds like other politicians in Malaysia recognize how idiotic this whole series of events is, and don't seem willing to support the attempts to force bloggers to register. In the meantime, a bunch of bloggers have now formed their own group to help protect bloggers in Malaysia.
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Wow!
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I believe it
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I can't feel more sorrier
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Re: I can't feel more sorrier
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Bloggers
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SAAD
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11133
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My own piece of generalization right there ...
I'd love to visit Malaysia. It would be good to know what I could do to avoid the beaurocratic bungles, if there's anything one can do.
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great!
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Malaysia
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It's politicians like this that made me leave
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The country is a bed of suspicion
This is a trend in the world. With the internet becoming more prolific, governments that have traditionally been protective and secretive, are suffering. These gov'ts are generally the same ones that end up on the top of the corruption list as well.
Thailand is struggling as it tries to ban websites that insult the king, the gov't, etc. They have blocked access to over 85,000 sites by last mention. They will learn, as will Malaysia, that in today's world, you must be transparent and honest. If you are, then what do you have to hide?
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Sigh...
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There is no hell, there is only France
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Distraction...
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Personally,
Path A
Physically and digitally isolate the people of a nation. Make it a crime to say anything negative against the government. Never allow foreign press in. Send out millions of pamphlets and brochures showing how great everything is. And last but not least eliminate all radio stations except, Radio Disney. It may be hell on earth.
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Path B
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New reactions from the government
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/4/6/nation/20070406140904&sec=nation
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journos who blogs
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Malaysia is a great place, and I have chosen to live here, despite its many warts and deep abscesses.
The reason why the Malaysian government has had a knee-jerk reaction to, first websites, now blogs, is because it is an arena which it has little control over, compared to, say, the mainstream print and electronic media.
In fact, most Malaysian blogs do not have a socio-political slant. But it only takes a few to make the government jittery, primarily because they point to uncomfortable facts, apart from reporting on news that don't make it to the mainstream media.
Whether or not it has an impact in governance or opening up more democratic spaces remains to be seen. But at the very least, we should try.
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Welcome to the machine.
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those bloggers are citizen-journalists
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