No Plan To Compel Bloggers To Register

This is a more sensible after the remark made by the learned Deputy Energy, Water and Communications Minister Datuk Shaziman Abu Mansor, when PM Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said that the Government has no plan to make it mandatory for bloggers to register

BERNAMA

April 09, 2007 -- The Government has no plan to make it mandatory for bloggers to register, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said Monday.

He said existing laws and regulations were adequate to take action against bloggers who crossed the limits.

"Existing laws are sufficient to deal with them. The laws will be invoked when the need arises," he told reporters after opening the Akademi Seni Budaya dan Warisan Kebangsaan (ASWARA) campus.

Abdullah, who is also Internal Security Minister, said he did not believe requiring bloggers to register would solve the problem of posting baseless information in their websites.

The prime minister said many people were unhappy and had voiced their displeasure over the bloggers posting unverified information in their websites.

"Even if they are ordered to register, some of them may not comply and resort to using other channels through foreign servers," he said.

Asked to comment on a foreign wire agency report on a timber transaction implicating Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud, Abdullah said he was not aware of the report.

A foreign wire agency reported on March 29 that Taib has been implicated in a 1.1 billion yen (RM32 million) timber export kickbacks.

It said nine Japanese shipping companies, which transported timber from Sarawak, had allegedly failed to report some 1.1 billion yen in income over a period of up to seven years.

The report claimed the money was paid as kickbacks to Sarawak officials via a Hong Kong agent linked to Taib and his family.