Rack up another country likely to start censoring the Net (or trying to, at least). What degree of Internet connectivity does Malaysia have, anyway?
_________________________________________________________________ Centura _________________________________________________________________ MALAYSIA SAYS WEST SPREADING SMUT AND VIOLENCE __________________________________________________________________________ Copyright © 1996 Nando.net Copyright © 1996 Reuter Information Service
UNITED NATIONS (Sep 28, 1996 02:12 a.m. EDT) - Malaysia's prime minister accused the West Friday of spreading smut and violence, particularly on the Internet.
And what, pray tell, is wrong with this?
In his speech to the U.N. General Assembly, Mahathir bin Mohamad said that although the information age facilitated worldwide knowledge, it also demeaned moral values.
"Smut and violence gratuitously distributed by criminals in the North is no less polluting than carbon dioxide emissions nor less dangerous than drug trafficking."
All three of them things that probably shouldn't be limited, noticeably, and things that are classically used to discourage human freedom & progress.
In a reference to the United States he said if one great power could apply its laws to citizens of another country for drug trafficking "why cannot countries with different moral codes extradite the traffickers of pornography for legal action?"
"Before the whole world sinks deeper into moral decay, the international community should act. Abuse of the ubiquitous Internet system must be stopped," he said.
Politically, he said the monopoly of the West's electronic media should be broken on so-called world news networks.
"Not only are distorted pictures of our countries being broadcast but our own capacity to understand what is happening is being undermined," he said.
Translation: people are finding out true information that local governments don't like - such as what goes wrong.
"In the past, Western missionaries spread the gospel. Today the media has taken over and all our cherished values and diverse cultures are being destroyed," he said.
Translation: our culture that promotes censorship and other civil liberties violations is being destroyed. [...]
The prime minister also lashed out at U.N. forums where nations lamented poverty, debt, human rights abuse, conflicts and war without doing much about them.
"It is boring almost. And yet nothing much has been done which could bring about amelioration of this sad state of affairs," he said.
Translation: Give us money.
Copyright © 1996 Nando.net