Bloggers Defence Fund
May 9, 2008
In RPK’s latest posting today entitled ‘Thank you so much and sorry for letting you down’ , he says :
‘On the money collected thus far, if all you donors can agree to it, I am going to propose that the surplus be put into a BLOGGERS DEFENCE FUND so that any blogger who may in future suffer persecution from the powers-that-be will have financial support to stand and fight. The bail is of course refundable and can be put back into the fund for future use. And the fund can also be used for legal costs whenever we can’t find lawyers who will defend bloggers on a pro bono basis’
Let me first say, Pet, that you owe no-one any apology. I thank God that He guided you to that wise decision.
That’s not what this post is about, though.
As I sat in the patrol car last night headed to the police station, I thought about the charges brought against Pet and Syed and the interference of my own liberty and wondered if this was indicative of what we should expect in the days and months to come.
If so, we should ready ourselves to defend our own.
By ‘our own’, I mean those who make up the blogosphere.
Take this blog.
I am the moderator, but without you, the readers and, more importantly, the commentators, lending for healthy, constructive discussions on issues that are of concern to us all, my postings would be no more than monologues of one who was disenchanted with the state of things in this country.
If I have never said it before, let me now say thank you to all of you who bring your valuable thoughts to this forum.
As I travelled in the patrol car last night, I too thought that it was time to put in place a defence fund for bloggers, but such a fund should extend support to both the moderators and the commentators.
In the case of the recent sedition charges this week, such a fund should extend support to both Pet and Syed.
I fully support Pet’s call to set up this fund and his suggestion that this may be kicked off with the surplus that was collected this week.
I would urge all of you to go to Pet’s latest posting and send in a comment in support of this proposal.
May 9, 2008 at 9:54 pm
You deserve our thanks, too, Haris. And yes that fund is much needed preparation.
May 9, 2008 at 9:57 pm
The word Sedition has been cropping up rather regularly these days. YM Raja Petra was slapped with it and now YB Karpal Singh seems to be next on the list. I really don’t understand the double standards and hypocrisy of the Police and the BN/Umno regime on the issue of sedition.
Just last month, we had Umno politicians making all sorts of unkind remarks against the King and the Raja of Perlis. During the Constitutional crisis, Umno politicians made plenty of what can be termed as Seditious remarks against the Malay Rulers. Then, we have the seditious remarks made by the likes of Hashim Suboh and the Umno clowns during last years Umno General Assembly. Let us not forget DPM Najib just before Operasi Lallang, wanted to bathe the Keris with the blood of Malaysian Chinese.
All these does not seem to be seditious to the government and the impotent IGP and his goons at PDRM! I don’t see where YB Karpal has insulted the Monarchy. The questions he raised is of public interest. It is the idiot Bodohwi and his racist goons in Umno who are trying to stir up racial sentiments by suddenly championing the Malay Rulers and Malay rights. By asking the oxymoron Tengku Adnan to lodge a police report against YB Karpal, Badawi has really demonstrated to the world what kind of a moron and racist he is.
I see a real danger here that as Umno is sinking, low life’s like SIL, MMT, Tengku Adnan, the MP of Batu Pahat etc. may use this issue to stir up racial tension just to be seen as the Knights of Shining armor in the eyes of the Malays
May 9, 2008 at 10:26 pm
We were told that you were held by the fuzz for whatever reason, last night. We need you to expand on the “Patrol Car Diaries” for us to understand what happened to you last night.
May 9, 2008 at 10:30 pm
Let us NOT waver. Let us ALL, one way or another, push forward together. The March 8 election was a ray of light for all malaysian. This ray of light must broadened until ALL malaysians is free of the greed of those in power. Greedy politicians must be kick out of the malaysian power structure.
May 9, 2008 at 10:43 pm
Haris,i am back for this in your column.
lets me refresh u,i shouting in everyones blogs accept to u (i Email to u and sms but u blacklist me by not replying).
Your bloggers gang miss out when the iron still hot on rpk issue.alots of donors miss out because some cant get the accounts no.
Its not i blame but somebody among your group never listen or take the pain to highlight the accounts number.(maybe u all panicky)
Blogs owner none,only the blogger put in the accounts number.
how to justfy the accounts is correct until some times its true.
I dont donate pennies,so i have all the rights to varify and my friends is nomads like me.They are waiting for green lights but by the time the green lights given the accounts closed.
You and your bloggers lost a golden chance to have easily more than 100k from the public.Buts its not late,please start the fund.
Malaysiakini also fails to notify the accounts number.
You do contribute to the readership of malaysiakini without any pennies in return(i assume ).
So your gang of blogs owner and bloggers must given free adds by malaysiakini in form of prime spots of flikers to donate to bloggers defence fund.
The fund also can be use not only for bloggers but also to sue the goverment for abuse of power and also for some charity.
Raj Raman.I CAN AFFORD THE BAIL BUT CANT AFFORD THE HARRASMENT BY THE MAFIA POLICE.SO I NEED A PROXY TO FIGHT FOR ME.DONATION I HOPE YOU WILL GIVE ME THE HONOUR TO BE THE FIRST.
anyway,its cool to be excorted by police and you are the next legend in the making(just carry your balls)
May 9, 2008 at 10:47 pm
Set up an account. Let us all, the readers and the bloggers alike, contribute in it.
Lip service just ain’t enough anymore.
May 10, 2008 at 1:56 am
I agree.
May 10, 2008 at 7:00 am
Get it going immediately. I support it wholeheartedly. We needto show the authorities that we have a defence arsenal to protect our rights.
There will need to be clear ground rules from the start though, to avoid future confusion and disagreements. Will the fund cater only to those who blog or will it cover those who comment as well?
Will it be used only when we are hauled up by the authorities or can it cover those who are harrassed by commercial conglomerates, as in Rocky and Jeff’s cases?
Whatever the parameters are, we need to go ahead and get the fund going to show solidarity, protect our rights and to let the authorities know that the participants of the blogsphere are not helpless individuals. They have access to both moral and financial support.
Way to go, Haris. This is a brilliant idea that will eventually contribute to moving the local blogsphere and individual rights to a new level.
May 10, 2008 at 10:09 am
I fully support the establishment of the Blogger Defence Fund. In fact, this fund should also be available to support the defence of people who comment responsibly on blogs.
However there are many who abuse the anonymity of the Internet and write comments that are inflammatory and ofttimes seditious. By so doing, they are putting their host blogger at risk. RPK specifically said this to one of the commentators on MT.
Freedom of expression notwithstanding, such persons should not enjoy protection paid for with public funds. As to who should decide which ones are deserving, I suppose the prerogative would lie with the host blogger.
May 10, 2008 at 10:27 am
‘..no more than monologues of one who was disenchanted with the state of things in this country’
Better to be aware of the state of things in this country than to be ignorant about it. And I think to have monologues out in blogosphere is better than to just have them in the head.
I have monologues too, but it feels better than to know nothing at all.
Keep up with this, People’s Parliament. We’re with you.
May 10, 2008 at 11:10 am
The slight, if any, by Karpal on the Sultan of Perak would be a slight and seditious, maybe, if the Sultan so admitted or complained that he had been slighted or seditiously blighted!. But so far he has stayed out of the fray. So what are the rest of the people complaining about?
In comparison to what Karpal is supposed to have said, Badawi himself, has threatened the subjects of this Sultan when he warned of chaos and instability if the Sultan’s subjects were not to vote for Barisan Nasional in the last General Elections. I would reckon such threats to be a of greater slight to the Sultan that what ever it was that Karpal said. Indeed it would be challenging the Sultan himself since the Sultan is seen as the focal point of the harmony his subjects are promised when they look upon him as their ruler.
Maybe it is about time, some people start filing police reports of sedition and threatening the peace for what Badawi was quoted as saying on the eve of the last General Elections.
Badawi and UMNO should know that it is not only them who have the right to define or interprete things. As much as Karpal may have been seditious, it is not like as if Badawi or Najib or any number of UMNO leaders have not crossed that line before.
UNfortunately the institutions of state are in a worse state of denial and comatose that they cannot seem to see that at any time their masters can change and they can be called upon to answer how it was that they failed to abide by their own charter.
May 10, 2008 at 1:40 pm
Haris
I fully support your call for the Bloggers Defence Fund to be used not only for bloggers but the moderators and supports or commentators.
I will contribute further for this fund.
Thank you
May 10, 2008 at 2:08 pm
I support the BLOGGERS DEFEND FUND and will readily give towards it again. It’s the least I can do for you bloggers who stick your necks out for the masses.
May 10, 2008 at 9:10 pm
Bloggers Defence Fund is a great idea and it should be something ongoing such that supporters can donate towards the fund anytime. No price is too great for the truth.
May I dedicate this quote to RPK, you and all the truth defenders out there:
“The greatest reward to a man’s toil is not what he gains from it, but how he has grown by it.”
Sorry I couldn’t recall whose words these are.
Thank you for all your effort and struggle for a lesser despotic, stiffling and corrupted Malaysia.
kattan
May 11, 2008 at 6:06 am
Brother Haris,
First, I would like to consider myself as neutral. It’s in the sense that I uphold the rule of law (which has to be read repeatedly to understand what exactly I mean by that). And I don’t want to dwell into the predicament of prominent blogger and editor MT, YM Raja Petra as my two-cent will just add to an already overwhelming opinions against the detention under Sedition Act.
But what I want to suggest is the need for the donation monies to go elsewhere, not to the proposed Bloggers Fund. Let me try to explain my argument.
While the proposed tabung sounds good to protect bloggers in need, I would think that it will be counter-productive, at least in terms of philosophy.
If there exists a special tabung to protect and bail bloggers, it would mean that they are ever-vulnerable and to a large extent, ‘irresponsible’ that they need to be bail out upon receiving any pressure from any quarter. This should *not* be the philosophy of any bloggers. That’s why, in my view, YM Raja Petra had initially and conveniently declined any donation for his release by bail. I think he understood the underlying philosophy of it. Alas, he was under tremendous threat that he had no choice but opted out.
About his call for the Bloggers Fund, perhaps he is now thinking of others who might be as vulnerable.
Therefore, the issue of ‘bail’ or ‘protection’ should be treated as and when necessary, like what happened in his case.
As such, I would propose that the balance of the donation could be used to benefit for other causes such as Rumah Yatim (preferably YM Raja Petra himself donate this money to the House.) Another cause would be the victims of typhoon in Burma, with thousands in dire needs.
Just a suggestion and didn’t mean to provoke anyone or creating any issue against the current discussion.
Kind regards.
Proposal,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts
May 11, 2008 at 9:11 am
once properly constituted, the fund must be re-opened for donations so that the pool is big enough to provide future assistance.
go for it, pete and haris. me, i will chip in for sure.
May 11, 2008 at 7:35 pm
Yes. Fully support that. Someone must make this official and rest assure I will donote to the account monthly. Let’s also make it auditable, to keep others mouth shut when there is doubt.
May 13, 2008 at 10:05 am
Thank you, Haris Ibrahim.