Nathaniel Tan, or Nat as he is widely known, has two blogs -- jelas.info and bangkit.net. The latter is a portal for Malaysian civil society groups. According to online news site Malaysiakini.com, Nat is also the webmaster for the same opposition party as Tian Chua, Parti Keadilan (PKR), and the secretary for the non-profit Foundation for the Future, chaired by PKR's advisor and former deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

When contacted by CIJ, DSP Victor Sanjos, the investigating officer for Nat's case confirmed that he had been detained at 5:00pm on 13 July and has since been held at the Dang Wangi Police Station, located at the centre of capital Kuala Lumpur. He said that Nat's detention has to do with articles in his blog but did not specify which postings. No charge has been brought against him to date.

Malaysiakini.com reported that Nat was asked by the police to bring along his notebook when they took him away. He was not allowed access to legal counsel and police only confirmed the detention at 10:00pm that day.

CIJ is deeply worried that the detention is a form of intimidation against a blogger who has differing views from that of the government's. We are concerned that the arrest is a sign of the beginning of a clampdown on freedom of speech in cyberspace, as the government is seen being increasingly uncomfortable about content over the Internet. The government is bound by its promise in the Multimedia Bill of Guarantee not to censor the Internet but Nat's prolonged detention sends a chilling effect to other bloggers and is a form of indirect censorship.

We urge the police to immediately release Nat and stop taking action against bloggers. The police and the government should not renege on its duty to protect Malaysians' right to freedom of speech as guaranteed under the Federal Constitution.

Issued by

Gayathry Venkiteswaran
Executive Director

For more information, please contact Wai Fong at 03 40230772