Leaking state secrets in Germany and why it’s relevant to Malaysia
If Clare Rewcastle Brown was leaking or selling her country’s secrets, she’d be in prison by now. If she was attempting to take down the Prime Minister of Britain, she’d be lynched.
Rocky’s Bru
“We will proceed with applications to place her on the Aseanpol wanted list, as well as the Interpol red notice.” – CID director Mohmad Salleh on the Arrest Warrant obtained against Clare Rewcastle Brown, the banned Sarawak Report founder
Puchong, 5 Aug: Some people accuse the Malaysian Government of paranoia. So Third World, they say. But that’s the curse of ignorance. When the truth out there is not what they thought it should be, they embrace the half-truth and even a lie. Out there, politicians and civil servants clash all the time and undermine each other, even in the First World. And blogs can be a nuisance, not just a blessing. In Germany – your Mercedes (or BMW) country – bloggers leak state secrets and their politicians behave much like ours, too!
Germany sacks Chief Prosecutor
BERLIN — August 4, 2015: Germany’s justice minister on Tuesday fired the chief prosecutor in an escalating row sparked by a controversial treason case against a blog accused of revealing state secrets.
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Justice Minister Heiko Maas said he had lost confidence in the chief prosecutor, Harald Range, who had hours earlier accused him of interfering in the judicial process.
The unusual public clash centres on a treason probe Range launched against the blog Netzpolitik.org (Net politics) for publishing classified plans by Germany’s domestic security agency to expand its Internet surveillance.
News of the probe against Netzpolitik.org, which calls itself a digital civil rights blog, last Thursday set off a storm of protest and vows of solidarity from journalists, bloggers and politicians, who charged it was an attempt to silence investigative reporters. – AFP
Read about the chilling effect [yes, a favourite phrase of one Opposition leader] and the rest of the story at The Mole, h e r e.
If Clare Rewcastle Brown was leaking or selling her country’s secrets, she’d be in prison by now. If she was attempting to take down the Prime Minister of Britain, she’d be lynched. If she had bought stolen data to promote her blog agenda, she’d been prosecuted already. But she’s only trying to wreak havoc in a Third World country and that should be okay – even to some of us Malaysians! She failed to take down Taib Mahmud and Musa Aman but now she has had a great deal more success in trying to topple Najib Razak, not because the PM is corrupt or more corrupt but because he has more formidable enemies than Taib and Musa who have become her friends. The-enemy-of-your-enemy-is-my-friend triangle.
So, for all her trouble – and ours – Clare gets issued only a Warrant of Arrest. She may or may not be listed as a fugitive on Aseanpol and Interpol. Read Malaysia obtains arrest warrant for Sarawak Report founder, Straits Times Singapore, 4 August.
Her worshippers will call this an attempt to silence her, to suppress freedom of the media, to cover up. But is it? The confession of international blackmailer Andre Xavier Justo by the Thai police, the admission of Malaysian tycoon Tong Kooi Ong to buying stolen documents to accuse the Malaysian PM of crimes, the ongoing investigation into leaking/selling state secrets by the Malaysian authorities, the purported meeting of co-conspirators in Singapore: what do you think those are?
