By now, what Screenshots mentioned yesterday about RPK’s Malaysia Today being blocked by TM Net has turned out to be something more sinister.

We know by now the reason for Malaysia Today being unaccessible to TMnet subscribers since Tuesday evening is actually a result of Internet censorship. Malaysia Today is inaccessible to Malaysia readers because the website is placed in what is known technically as ‘DNS blackhole list’. [ SEE EVIDENCE HERE ]

The Star says all 21 Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in the country have been ordered by the MCMC to block Malaysia Today.

For that, MCMC should be hanged for stifling Internet. The head honchos, who are not dissimilar to SUHAKAM who take orders from Putrajaya instead of acting as an independent Commission created through a Parliamentary Act — had erred. The had invoked Section 263 of the Communications and Multimedia Act (CMA1998) without reading it together with Section 3.

Most importantly, the MCMC people are not our final judge to decide what is good and what is bad for Malaysians in the access to information. Malaysians who are online are mature enough to discern what’s good and what’s bad. It’s only idiots — yes, I D I O T S at MCMC — and those who are not online who are fearful of Internet.

RPK can be penalised if he missteps any of the Malaysian laws. He knows that as he is now facing various police harassment over alleged seditions and civil suits from what he wrote about the Police Force and about the C4 murder of that Mongolian woman, just to quote a few.

But MCMC cannot prosecute RPK while these cases are being disposed by the Bench. By so doing, MCMC is sucking up to their paymasters at Putrajaya.

Therefore, I ask all Malaysian bloggers — and editors from the mainstream media — to stand up to this challenge, hang the MCMC in the international arena. Because of the S T U P I D I T Y at MCMC, Malaysia is now a banana republic.

UPDATES: Wong Chun Wai asks MCMC not to be silly. I say hang them.

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Suthan M

Reading from the modus operandi of Umno and on how it strategise to fish for votes along racial lines, the elite party for Umnoputras and menantus hasn’t changed since GE2008. The August 26 results of Permatang Pauh by-election only further affirms how Umno finds itself hard to change and stay relevant.

There are emerging write-ups that attempt to piece together the message eliciting from the Permatang Pauh results. Here are some of them:

1 ) theSun: Permatang Pauh: What happened?

He had an oft-rehearsed refrain: “Anak Melayu anak saya, anak Cina anak saya, anak India anak saya.” (The Malay child is my child, the Chinese child is my child, the Indian child is my child.)

It brought applause wherever it was uttered. Intriguingly, while multi-racial crowds roared with joy, audiences in the Malay heartland also reacted with approval.

2 ) The Star: Anwar returns – as the alternative

It should also be awkward for Rembau MP Khairy Jamaluddin who had declared in grand Shakespearian style that Umno had gone to Permatang Pauh to bury Anwar in the by-election.

Instead Anwar has arrived in Parliament as the new Opposition leader.

3 ) The Star: An impressive comeback

At the moment, failure appears to be stamped on the BN’s every step and success on the Pakatan’s.

This doesn’t please me, because like all Malaysians I want competition in the political arena not a walkover.

Still, this dreary succession of failures will not be halted until the old Umno/BN formula has been tossed out and new policies adopted.

Sadly the BN with the sole exception of Tengku Razaleigh (whose frankly worded press statement comes as a relief) appears unaware of how hopeless the situation truly is.

Permatang Pauh was always going to be an uphill battle, but the damage caused by Anwar’s return could have at least been minimised.

The leadership of the ruling party has failed miserably at both.

4 ) Canberra Times: Anwar’s popularity adds to ruling party’s fear and loathing

UMNO’s ideology of ”Ketuanan Melayu” or Malay Supremacy has meant open and blatant racial discrimination against the non-Malay population.

One senior Chinese minister described UMNO’s relationship with its non-Malay parties in the BN parties as akin to a ”master-slave” relationship. Race relations are now much worse after 50 years of independence.

Anwar has promised to replace the NEP with the Malaysian Economic Policy, or MEP, which does not have racial criteria. The overwhelmingly majority of the younger population sees this as the only real long-term solution to racial polarisation.

5 ) Ooi Kee Beng: Malaysia’s voter revolt continues

Permatang Pauh represents the first occasion after the March 8 elections that voters have had to express any regret they may have had about voting so strongly against the government. The increased margin for Anwar shows that voters have no regrets, and are in fact continuing their revolt against the federal government.

This means that the pressure on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s administration increases further. His schedule to stay in power until mid-2010 — which has locked his deputy, Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak, into a continued position of loyalty — looks less likely to be entertained by his dominant party, Umno, in the coming months.

Furthermore, the fact that Najib was so strongly involved in leading the campaign against Anwar makes the BN’s defeat a personal one for him. The loser in this by-election is not Umno’s candidate, state assemblyman Datuk Arif Shah Omar Shah. It is instead the Abdullah-Najib team. They will now have to answer to the party.

6 ) Ong Kian Ming: By-election: PKR gets more Malay votes

If it were a more regular by-election, it would be natural to expect that the linguistic abilities of a Malay Umno candidate would appeal to Chinese voters and would presumably sway at least some of them to switch their vote to him or her. But this was not a regular by-election.

The voters here were possibly voting for the next prime minister of Malaysia and the non-Malay voters were well aware that a government under Anwar would very likely introduce policies which would be beneficial to them, not to mention the public expenditure he would bring to this constituency. Hence, the linguistic appeals of Arif came to naught. [...]

Should Anwar be worried that he managed to win ‘only’ 62% of Malay support in Permatang Pauh? Probably not. After all, his 67% share of the valid vote in Permatang Pauh compares very favourably with Abdullah’s 66% share of the valid vote in Kepala Batas in the March general election.

7 ) Straits Times, Singapore: After Anwar’s win, is real change probable?

Umno as the linchpin of BN has also been grappling with the issue since it got shaken out of its slumber in March. Its difficulty has been how to protect Malay interests without making non-Malays feel like guests in their land of birth. It has to do a better job of it.

MORE!

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Suthan M

Two anecdotal experiences by Oon in Permatang Pauh capture, in a nutshell, the main takeaway points from the ‘mother of all by-elections’.

The first was Oon’s morning visit to a wet market in Seberang Jaya, Arif Shah Omar Shah’s state constituency. When Anwar Ibrahim arrived at the same wet market, he was mobbed by well wishers and supporters who wanted to shake his hand and to take pictures with him. Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak and Arif also made appearances there but their reception was lukewarm at best. They didn’t stay for long.

The second was Oon’s walkabout with Jelutong MP Jeff Ooi of the DAP. Ooi’s entourage was greeted warmly by PAS supporters who exchanged party flags with them and proceeded to proudly wave the DAP flag. Later on, a PKR van would come by and hand out some biscuits for both DAP and PAS supporters.

The first anecdote reflects the stark contrast between the levels of support for Pakatan Rakyat on the one hand and for Barisan Nasional on the other. The second reflects the level of genuine cooperation and the feeling of ‘muhibbah’ between the component parties within Pakatan, a level of cooperation that had not existed as recently as the general election in March.

The Permatang Pauh by-election gave us lower echelon leaders a golden opportunity to work as brethren to fight the common foe.

May God give us strength to continue this endeavour as brethren.

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Many people, especially TM Net users, think that it’s intentionally done to frustrate online readers.

Perhaps you should get around the TM Net sentry by trying this URL: mt.harapanmalaysia.com.

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Suthan M