THE plan by Information, Communications and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim to develop an Internet filtering system targeting pornography, has not gone down well with many people.
Many feel that this could be misconstrued as curtailing freedom of information. Although such censorship has been refuted by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, several people are not convinced.
Various NGO’s and parties familiar with the dissemination of information online questioned the effectiveness of filtering online pornographic sites.
Malaysian Insider chief executive officer Sreedhar Subramaniam said if people chose to look at such content, “filtering such sites would only force them to look for other channels to access such smut.”
Instead, he said the authorities should look at what made people seek such sites and address the issue there.
“It is not a simple problem to address. They must see what can be done at home, schools or even study people’s religious beliefs,” he said, adding personal censorship at home was another option.
While Sreedhar acknowledged people can be addicted to porn and it can affect one's relationship with his spouse or family, he stressed that filtering websites may be easy but is not the best solution.
Malaysiakini chief executive officer Premesh Chandran also reiterated that parents should be left to install firewalls in their home computers to monitor their family members’ use of the Internet.
He felt this would allow the government to censor other issues besides pornography due to the temptations of political demands for broader censorship.
Writers Alliance for Media Independence (WAMI) chairman Wong Chin Huat said :“There is no need for the state to decide what we can or cannot see. There has been a lot of porn censorship in the broadcast media but has it been helpful?”
Wong said the government should instead heighten enforcement by going after pornographic DVD sellers or those who own child pornography as there is the danger those who own such materials could be paedophiles.
He also questioned how the government defines pornography.
“What may seem like porn to one person may be art to me and what may seem like art to some may seem like pornography to me,” he said.
“Do not impose (restrictions) on all. It is their life and everyone has the right to sexual privacy. We are not supposed to watch porn in public but it is one’s own life should one choose to watch porn in his own bedroom,” he said.
Author of biography The Reluctant Politician: Tun Dr Ismail and His time, Dr Ooi Kee Beng said such filtration was dangerous for Malaysia’s democracy.
He said the call by Rais was not about pornography. “You can’t help but think that that is just an excuse. Once a filtering system is put in place, it can be used for anything. It is not a technology meant for filtering pornography but technology meant to filter what the authorities want to be filtered.”
Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) executive director V. Gayathry said CIJ’s stance was that the government had no right to decide what individuals can access both offline and online.
“To us, any decision to filter is a form of censorship. Today, the government will try to justify filtering content that is pornographic and tomorrow it could be political or social.” She said the government has already installed filtering software for the Internet in government offices and questioned its effectiveness.
“Globally the debate on pornography online and offline is still unresolved. Pornography has always been
used as an excuse to justify controls, but the government ought to realise that controls have failed.
“Offline, people are able to access materials on nudity and sex anywhere despite bans on such publications. What makes the government think it can control it online?”
Malaysian Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) commissioner, Datuk Dr Denison Jayasooria said the government could work on increasing public awareness on the negative implications of pornography, such as how it affects marriages or cause women to be seen as sex objects.
However, he was personally not against filtering such sites, saying that people should not mistake freedom of information to include freedom for pornography.
“It is not something that should be encouraged, along with other sites that promote violence and terrorism,” said Dr Denison.
On Saturday, Rais confirmed he had requested authorities, such as the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission to look into the possibility of implementing an Internet filtering system for pornography.
It had been reported Malaysia had called for a tender to develop a filtering system, akin to China’s controversial Green Dam project.
These were however denied by Najib later the same day, who said the government would not impose any form of Internet censorship as it would not be effective and would cause much dissatisfaction.
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