Posts Tagged ‘Malaysia’
January 20th, 2012
Political cartoonist Zunar (Zulkifli Anwar Ulhaque)
appeared at the Kuala Lumpur High Court this week for the first hearing of a civil suit in which he challenges the Malaysian government and police for his
arrest and detention on 24 September 2010. Zunar is seeking the return of confiscated property as well as aggravated losses and damages incurred in the raid of his office, during which police seized copies of his latest work, Cartoon-O-Phobia, and arrested him for sedition. The raid occurred just hours before the book’s launch.
January 9th, 2012
Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has been
acquitted of charges of sodomy after a two-year court battle. A judge
ruled today that DNA evidence used by prosecution was unreliable. Anwar was first prosecuted after a former male aide
accused the politician of sodomising him in 2008. Anwar has long
denied the charges, calling them ”a vile and desperate attempt at character assassination” in a statement to the High Court in August of last year.
September 23rd, 2011
As the Malaysian prime minister implements change and moves to create a “functional and inclusive democracy,” the future of freedom of speech in the country looks brighter. But Malik Imtiaz Sarwar believes it’s still too soon to celebrate
(more…)
July 14th, 2011
Authorities are intent on stifling calls for free elections, says Malik Imtiaz Sarwar
(more…)
July 11th, 2011
Police in
Malaysia made 1600 arrests at the weekend, as protesters ignored government warnings to cancel
anti-government action. Leaders of the opposition coalition, Bersih, who have led the campaign for a “free and fair” election system, were amongst the thousands detained. An estimated 10, 000 police officers used tear gas and batons against the 50, 000 people who took to the streets of Kuala Lumpar. Crowds chanting, “Reformasi!” (“Reforms”), ‘”God is great” and “Long Live the People” were successfully prevented from gaining access to the to the king’s palace to hand over a memorandum detailing their demands.
June 28th, 2011
Malaysian authorities
arrested and detained 30 opposition members for planning a protest rally to be held on 9 July. The Malaysian prime minister, Najib Razak, claimed the activists were communists conspiring to overthrow the government.
April 18th, 2011
On 15 April, a number of opposition and news websites were subject to attacks by hackers causing them to
crash. The distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack came in the run-up to elections in Malaysia’s eastern state of Sarawak. An online Malaysian news portal, Malaysiakini, was
forced to get its news stories out via Facebook, WordPress and other free websites.
March 21st, 2011
Radio broadcasters have
censored lyrics to Lady Gaga’s song “Born This Way” to avoid contravening the country’s strict decency laws. Broadcasters have distorted the line “no matter gay, straight or bi, lesbian, transgendered life, I’m on the right track, baby”. AMP, one of the biggest private radio networks in Malaysia, said that lyrics had been censored as a precaution because they “may be considered as offensive when viewed against Malaysia’s social and religious observances”.
