BLOGGERS UNITED，NO FEAR 部落客团结起来，不要怕！

部落客有什么好怕的？如果你写的是风花雪月，根本就不必怕。如果你像某大报一样天天自吹自擂，那只是商人推销东西罢 了，当然也不必怕，没有人会告你，他们只会笑你。你的部落如果只是为政客和财主涂脂抹粉而设，更不会有人告你诽谤，还会有人感谢你为他们提供许多写作材 料，让生活增添姿采。部落客没有什么好怕。你只有长期在政客和财主的新闻封锁中突围而出，只有时常在你的部落中揭开政客和财主的真面目，才有被对付的危 险。 (杨白杨, MalaysiaKini)

We, the undersigned organisations and individuals, are deeply worried by the recent lawsuits against two prominent bloggers, Jeff Ooi and Ahiruddin Attan who run Screenshots and Rocky Bru respectively. The defamation suits brought against the bloggers curtail freedom of expression and information. That an established media organisation can engage in this action reflects how little freedom of expression and information are respected in this country, and that intolerance to criticism is prevalent.

Jeff Ooi and Ahirudin are being threatened with legal action by the New Straits Times Press (NSTP) unless they remove allegedly defamatory blog posts.

Jeff Ooi, real name Ooi Chuan Aun, said NSTP legal firm Shearn Delamore & Co delivered the legal notice to his lawyer on Jan 16 that he has been served an ex-parte injunction by NSTP seeking to have 13 posts removed from his blog. Ahiruddin or "Rocky Bru" also received on Jan 16 the notice that NSTP is suing him for libel and cited 48 posts which NSTP alleged are defamatory.

The New Straits Times (NST), Kalimullah Hassan (NSTP deputy chairman), Hishamuddin Aun (NST group editor in-chief) and Brenden Pereira (former group editor) are the plaintiffs.

The inter parte hearing has been set on Jan 25 for Ahiruddin and Jan 30 for Jeff.

We are concerned that Jeff and Ahiruddin are being pitted against a large corporation for expressing their views. It is worrisome that the plaintiff is an organization backed by the government, which has been vocal about taking action against bloggers. Its Malay-language sister publication has previously initiated sedition investigations against bloggers, and this action continues the trend of mass media targetting smaller commentators and websites.

We are disappointed that lawsuits continue to be used to intimidate and muzzle freedom of expression and information in this country. Should NSTP gets its way, many more powerful institutions and individuals will follow suit, and the blogger-sphere will be reigned by fear and self-censorship.

We hereby call upon;
- the government to reform defamation laws so that they provide protection for the weak against large media corporations,
- NSTP and its editors to withdraw the suit, protect and uphold freedom of expression.
- the public to support the bloggers by writing to the NST to condemn the law suits.