Second Malaysian blogger detained

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian authorities have arrested a second blogger, this time for displaying an upside down national flag on his website, according to a report Thursday.

Syed Azidi Syed Aziz, better known as Sheih Kickdefella, was picked up by police late Wednesday under the Sedition Act from his home in opposition-held northern Kelantan state, the Star daily reported.

"We were informed that the police were looking for us on Tuesday and waited for them but they didn't show up," his wife Bariah Ishak told the paper.

"We thought the worst was over but they came looking for him and so he surrendered," she added.

Syed Azidi, known for his links to the opposition conservative Islamic PAS party, had recently organised a nationwide Internet campaign to fly the Malaysian flag upside down in a sign of protest over the country's political and economic turmoil.

The campaign caused outrage in the conservative country with Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi ordering a police investigation into the matter.

Syed Azidi is the second blogger to get in trouble with Malaysian authorities over website content.

Prominent blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin, who has targeted government figures on his website, was arrested last Friday under the tough Internal Security Act (ISA).

Raja Petra, founder of the controversial Malaysia Today website, has already been charged with sedition and defamation after linking Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife to the sensational murder of a Mongolian woman.

Rights groups say about 63 people are being held under the ISA, which allows for renewable two-year periods of detention without trial and is normally used against suspected terrorists.

It has also been used to lock up opponents of the government, and last year five Hindu rights activists were detained after mounting an anti-discrimination protest that targeted government race policies.

AFP/yb
Channel NewsAsia
18/09/08