(UPDATE) Malaysian blogger hit with libel verdict
Agence France-Presse
First Posted 12:38:00 03/27/2008
KUALA LUMPUR--A Malaysian court has ordered a top blogger and editors of an opposition newspaper to pay $2.2 million in damages over libel claims by a university head, reports said Thursday.
University Utara Malaysia and its vice-chancellor Nordin Kardi filed a lawsuit against Raja Petra Kamaruddin and the opposition party Keadilan's newspaper, which also published the item, over a piece that alleged Nordin had plagiarized an article.
Raja Petra, who runs the Malaysia Today website, said the offending item was merely a letter written to him by a former student representative and that he would not pay the compensation.
"I am just going to take the stand of civil disobedience," the 57-year-old told AFP after the High Court's decision Wednesday.
The defendants decided not to mount a defense and did not appear in court.
In what is believed to be a legal first, the High Court ordered Raja Petra to pay 4.0 million ringgit ($1.25 million) to Nordin and the university, while two editors of "Suara Keadilan" had to pay 3.0 million ringgit.
Malaysia's blogs and alternative news websites have become popular because of the widespread perception that the mainstream press, which is mostly linked to the government, is biased.
Alternative news sources were read avidly ahead of March 8 elections that handed the ruling coalition its worst ever results in its half-century reign over Malaysia.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said this week that his "biggest mistake" was to ignore cyber-campaigning, and the new information minister has said he will reach out to bloggers.
Previously, they had been vilified as "liars" and threatened with detention without trial under draconian internal security laws.
Ahiruddin Atan, president of the National Alliance of Bloggers, warned the judgement against Raja Petra would send a negative signal to online commentators.
"Now everyone who tries to practise freedom of speech or some form of press freedom would be affected by this default judgement," he told AFP.
Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders ranks Malaysia 124 out of 169 on its worldwide press freedom index.
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