Media Statement by Tony Pua in Petaling Jaya on Tuesday, 30 ^thJune 2009:

Rais Yatim continues to live in colonial times when he said that Malaysia has been “colonised” via the Internet

During the launch of the multi-billion ringgit High Speed Broadband project yesterday, the Minister of Information, Communication and Culture, Datuk Seri Rais Yatim had stated that“We are being colonised. The outside world presents content to us. We should create our own identity with local content. We don’t want to be followers when building society.”

The Minister could not have been more wrong in his statement. Over the past 50 years, after Malaysia's independence from our colonial British masters, Malaysia has been progressively “colonised” by UMNO and Barisan Nasional with its frequent and persistent use of colonial controls against dissent and communication, such as the Internal Security Act, the Printing, Publications and Presses Act, the Universities and Universities Colleges Act, the Official Secrets Act, the sedition Act and more. These are the exact tools of our British colonial masters, which have beenr retained and abused by UMNO and BN for their own political ends, with complete disregard for the interest of Malaysians at large.

On the other hand, Malaysians should be grateful to the Internet for it brought about a new era of seamless communications and openness which in essence, have de-colonise Malaysians from the iron grip of UMNO and BN. Malaysians must fully embrace the Internet for it has allowed us to “free our minds” from the repressive controls inherited from our British colonial masters.

The choice of Datuk Seri Rais Yatim as the Minister to take over the portfolio of both Information and Communications by the new Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak must have been specifically intended to curtail the new freedom found by Malaysian which is channel through the Internet. He has remained one of the many dinosaurs left over from the Mahathir's administration who has failed to understand and grasp the nature of the Internet.

In this new Internet era, the more the Government seeks to curtail and inhibit discussion and communication via the worldwide web, the bigger the backlash it will have against the Government itself. Datuk Seri Rais Yatim is only further catalysing the demise of UMNO and Barisan Nasional by seeking to impose its archaic controls mechanisms in this new globalised era.

* Tony Pua Kiam Wee, DAP National Publicity Secretary & MP for Petaling Jaya Utara