“If I was appointed as the premier again, the first thing I will do is censor the internet. The time has come for us to filter the internet. Although I gave my word to the Multimedia Super Corridor adviser when I was the PM, I did not give assurances the internet would not be filtered. At that time, I did not know what could come from the internet” – Dr Mahathir Mohamad, March 2014
THE THIRD FORCE
On the 23rd of April 2015…
But in March 2014, he told The Malaysian Insider this:
“If I was appointed as the premier again, the first thing I will do is censor the internet. The time has come for us to filter the internet. Although I gave my word to the Multimedia Super Corridor adviser when I was the PM, I did not give assurances the internet would not be filtered. At that time, I did not know what could come from the internet”
Four months later, on the 1st of August 2014, he entered this into his blog:
“I think it is time we stop talking of the freedom of the press. Let us admit that the press needs to be censored. It needs to be censored because freedom, any kind of freedom will always be open to abuse. The worst abuses are in the field of morality.”
So, the conclusion here is this:
1. If Mahathir becomes Prime Minister again, he will censor the internet.
2. However, the target will not be chedet.com, but blogs such as mine, Malaysia Today, Malaysia Outlook, etc.
3. In other words, he will censor blogs that are ‘anti-government’ with the same zeal he arrested 106 activists under the ISA in 1986 for criticising him
4. He gets to decide who gets to irritate whom
And yet, he’s talking about freedom of speech.
