Malaysian Blogger Really Miss Freedom

Minister for Communications and Information Mohammad Nuh declared today National Bloggersâ€™ Day when he opened the Pesta Blogger 2007 at Blitz Megaplex in Jakarta.

Communications and Information Minister Muhammad Nuh (blue shirt, center) and Director-General of Telematics Applications Cahyana Ahmadjayadi (batik shirt) together with the Steering Committee members of Pesta Blogger 2007 Photo takn from fistorizaâ€™s Flickr account where you can see more photos.
He said this was to motivate bloggers to keep on improving their content and even offered a special prize if the bloggers could come up with the lyrics and songs which could reflect the theme of Pesta Blogger 2007, â€œThe New Voice of Indonesia.â€
The Minister was so supportive that on his way out, after delivering his speech and staying on for a talkshop-format discussion, he donated, on behalf of his ministry, an Asus laptop for the Best of the Best Blog award at the gathering.
Throughout the event Unspun could not help but marvel at the contrast in relationships between Government and bloggers in Indonesia and Malaysia. If only the Malaysia Government could learn how to engage this vocal segment of the population, its job could be so much easier. Then again, can one imagine Malaysian Ministers saying that they have much to learn from Indonesia? NOT.

Source : The Unspun Blog

While it is National Bloggers day in Indonesia it is being rubbished here and the latest attack comes from no other than defacto Law Minister Nazri himself in his exlusive interview with NST (28 Oct 07) which covers the controversial video clip, the judiciary, the Bar Council and bloggers. His coments:â€few pieces that people print for me are just rubbishâ€ ..â€ when the standard of our bloggers is upgraded, then probably I will look at what is writtenâ€. And the Minister of propaganda on the video clip â€œturned to information communication technology (ICT) to make the gimmick look real. “We should be in control of IT (information technology) but it appears that IT is controlling us”

More details at:

http://powerpresent.blogspot.com/2007/10/nazri-transcript-interview-with-new.html

Source : Jeffooi.com

Image Above : Indonesian Blogger Party 2007

Pesta Blogger Kuala Lumpur 2007 ?â€¦. Can you envisage such an event takes place in Malaysia? And can you imagine the photo above where Pak Lah and Zam sit together with orgainizing committee members such as Rocky, Jeff Ooi, Nat Tan and so on?
No you canâ€™t? Well you are not alone and I donâ€™t blame all of you because it is unlikely to happen here in Malaysia. Not after two Malaysian bloggers were sued for defamation, minister calling bloggers liars, son-in-law calling Malaysian bloggers monkeys, blogger arrested for no apparent reason, strange police report against a prominent blogger and other blogophobia by the Malaysian authority.
And I donâ€™t think they will change their mind either to provide supports to Malaysian bloggers as such act will be deemed as admitting defeat on the Government behalf. But I donâ€™t mind if I can be proven wrong in my hypothesis here.
What you saw above is the overwhelming attendance and supports at the Indonesiaâ€™s Pesta Blogger 2007â€¦ both from the bloggers themselves as well as the Indonesian Government officials. So open the Indonesian government to this new media and blogging phenomina in Indonesia, the date 27th October was instantly declared a National Bloggers Day for the country. Bravo to the Indonesian Government and congratulation to Indonesian bloggers.