When a Muslim owned and operated government such as Malaysia’s speaks about freedom of any kind, doublespeak, doublethink and equivocation are sure to follow. And in this case, what the ‘moderate’ Malaysian Muslim Minister of Information doesn’t mention is at least as important as what he does mention. Namely, that criticism of Islam would almost certainly be considered as ‘filth’ by Malaysia’s government–after all, this well-known site critical of Islam (and this lesser well-known one owned by yours truly) have both been blocked in Malaysia (among other similar sites), despite strenuous promises to the contrary. From ‘Blocking filth not censorship’ by Teh Eng Hock, The Star, 6 June 2012:
SHAH ALAM: Enforcing laws to block filth on the Internet does not mean the Internet is being censored, said Information, Communications and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim.
So, blocking websites that Muslims don’t like is not censorship. Got that? And to point out the inherent flaw in this sort of Islamic ‘thinking’ would no doubt be Islamophobic.
“Cheating, gaming or gambling, pornography and child pornography and phishing are offences.
He neglected to mention that criticism of Islam is also an offence under Malaysian law.
“To disregard this purely for freedom of the Internet is not right,” he said after opening the Selangor 1Malaysia Social Media Convention here yesterday.
He was responding to a suggestion by former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad
that Malaysia should enforce some form of regulatory control to block
filth and punish those who corrupt the minds of Internet users.
You mean those controls are not already in place in this country? Doctor Mahathir, who was Malaysia’s prime minister for over twenty years and who is an Islamic apologist and jihadist enabler par excellence, could only be referring to corrupting the minds of Muslim Internet users.
Dr Rais said he was happy to accept Dr Mahathir’s view as the former premier had previously guaranteed freedom of the Internet.
Dr Rais said the Government is seeking to curb users from abusing the freedom of expression.
Allow me to rephrase the right honorable minister: the [Muslim] Government is seeking to curb users from abusing the freedom of expression, and to silence any and all voices of those critical of Islam.