In the name of insecurity
By The Malaysian Insider
Today, it’s Facebook’s turn to face the wrath of an Umno politician.
Umno supreme council member Datuk Seri Dr Shahidan Kassim yesterday called for the blocking of the Facebook social networking website if its contents continue to pose a threat to national security.
“If the website content poses a threat to national security and insults Islam, then it is unnecessary to have Facebook,” he said after the Perlis Facebook Association lodged a report at the Kangar police station on insults against Prime Minister Seri Najib Razak and former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad on a Facebook page.
The Tambun Tulang assemblyman also said the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), the Malaysian Islamic Development Department and the National Fatwa Council should act against the holder of the Facebook account.
There is some irony here. There is a Perlis Facebook Association? Did they condone what the former Perlis mentri besar said? Would they want their raison d’etre to be banned?
Would the prime minister want that too, we wonder? After all, he invited some of his Facebook friends for tea this year.
Would anyone in Malaysia want Facebook banned because an account holder allegedly insulted some Malaysian leaders? Could we ask for television programmes, newspapers and websites to be banned because they insult our intelligence?
Isn’t this all insecurity? To quickly ban something because it is insulting or because it has allegedly insulted our leaders and in the name of national security.
Perhaps Shahidan should consider his views. After all, he has three Facebook accounts and one page where 3,440 supported him to be the Perlis MB after he wasn’t chosen in 2008.
And consider these statistics for both Umno and the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) to mull before thinking of banning in the name of national security.
There are 11,381,193 voters registered up to August 2010.
There are 9,406,780 Facebook accounts registered in Malaysia up to November 2010, up 513,620 or 5.46 per cent from the previous month.
Malaysia is No. 16 or in the top 20 countries with the most Facebook accounts.
