Malaysian blogger’s suit kicks off

Ahirudin Attan, who started blogging in the middle of last year, has applied to strike out the libel suit on grounds that the suit's allegations were ambiguous.

Last week, the New Straits Times Press group and its leading executives sued Ahirudin for allegedly defaming them on his Rocky's Bru blog.

The court will hear Ahirudin's application to dismiss the suit and the NSTP's application for an injunction against 48 postings on his blog, on February 22.

Ahirudin, a former senior editor within the NSTP group for over 20 years, before volunteering for a severance package last year, said his online journal had become a local media watchdog which also offered political critiques.

"I started the blog to share my views," he said outside the court in Kuala Lumpur.

"When you start something, you write something you know… something you're knowledgeable about and that's what I think I've been doing.''

Edmund Bon, Ahirudin's lawyer, said he had applied to strike out the suit because the NSTP's allegations were unclear.

"We do not know which article and which plaintiff is being referred to in the suit," he told Al Jazeera.

The NSTP claimed in its suit that Ahirudin had published 48 defamatory posts on his blog.

Storm of protest

On Monday, a court will hear whether additional comments on the lawsuit posted recently on Rocky's Bru should be included in the defamation suit.

The libel suit by the publisher of Malaysia's oldest English-language daily, the New Straits Times, has stirred a storm of protest by commentators who have said the action is a blow to free speech and an attempt to intimidate government critics.

The NSTP has sued another blogger, Jeff Ooi, on similar grounds.

The lawsuit against Ooi, who is alleged to have had 13 postings of a defamatory nature, starts on Tuesday.

Most of the mainstream media in Malaysia is controlled by political parties or by the government, heightening fears that the freedom of the country's alternative news medium may be in jeopardy.

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Malaysia's prime minister, has backed the company's right to sue the bloggers, saying that bloggers are not above the law and have to be responsible for their content.

"They cannot hope to cover themselves or hide from the laws. What is freedom without responsibility?" he said.


BUSINESS journalist Ahirudin Attan, 45, is a former senior editor with the New Straits Times (NST). He left the company in May last year, under a voluntary retirement scheme for employees.

While at the NST, he had headed the Business Times and later, the Malay Mail. Both are publications owned by the New Straits Times Press.

He started his blog, Rockybru, after he left the NST, and it soon became a source of information and gossip about the NST and its management.

Mr Ahirudin told reporters yesterday that he started the blog to share his views, and 'when you write something, you start with something you know'.

He said he had no negative agenda.

He is currently the president of the National Press Club, and works as a media consultant on freelance projects.

Information technology expert Jeff Ooi, 45, shot into the public eye after he started his hard-hitting Screenshots blog several years ago.

It became well read after popular web newsportal Malaysiakini began carrying a link to it on its page.

He was one of the first bloggers in the country to focus on current affairs, and caught the public's attention for his fearlessly direct opinions.

His blog was singled out for commendation by the Paris-based Reporters Without Boundaries in 2005 for promoting freedom.

He was employed by an IT company in Kuala Lumpur, and was also a columnist with the Malaysian Business magazine.

The plaintiffs, New Straits Times Press (M) Berhad, its deputy chairman, chief executive officer, group-editor-in-chief and Brendan Pereira raised the issue before High Court judge Datuk Hishamudin Yunus and wanted the postings removed.

Ahirudin's counsel, Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, told reporters that NSTP told the court that after it had filed the suit, four postings were still posted in Ahirudin's weblog and NSTP claimed that it was subjudice to the trial.

However, Malik Imitiaz said it was very unclear which posting in particular affected NSTP and the counsel needed to get instruction from Ahirudin.


Rocky Bru : Court hearing, 25th Jan

Dear bloggers and readers,

Thank you for all your support and encouragement.

Without going into the merits of the case, here is a brief update of what happened in Court:
1. Today was set for hearing of the injunction against me.

2. My lawyers filed an application to strike out the suit yesterday.

3. On the request of both parties, the Court set 22 February (230pm) to hear the striking out application. It is to be heard before the injunction application which is also set for mention on the same day.

For clarity, there is no injunction order against me.

4. Further, the lawyers for the Plaintiffs this morning raised the issue of comments by readers made on this blog in respect of my postings of 18 and 24 January which may be seen as prejudicing the case. My lawyers asked for time to look at the said comments.

The Court set 29 January (900am) for both parties to inform the learned Judge of my position.

In view that the case is before the Court, it is for the Court to decide on all matters pertaining to the same. We must respect the judicial process.

As such, I have no alternative but to decline comments related to this case to ensure that the proceedings run smoothly and fairly.

I will continue to update you on developments as they happen.

Malaysia blogger NSTP