Thursday, August 28, 2008 | By: babedevil

Malaysia Today, blocked...?

I read on The Star online that the government has issued an order to block the website Malaysia Today, whose editor is the infamous Raja Petra Kamaruddin. So I decided to check it out if it was true.

Guess what? I could still access the site. Was wondering why...Did someone botch the job up? Was the plan put hold? Or was the order retracted completely? Then I read CincauAaron's post...it was mostly geek talk but I got the gist of why I could still access Malaysia Today. Maybe it was due to the fact that I was on my college's wireless and not TMNet. Not really sure though...couldn't put the theory to the test coz I couldn't connect to Streamyx.

Personally, I don't read Malaysia Today, but this whole blocking order thing is such a load of crap. Like, hello...they have a different opinion than you and therefore you want to censor it?Whatever happened to zero Internet consorship? Whatever happened to freedom of speech?

The same goes for the recent Bar Council forum on the conversion to Islam. The forum was forced to end early because of the demonstrators outside the Bar Council building (which was a private premise by the way...). So that whole episode demonstrated the rule of the mob. As long as you rally enough people, you will get your way, even though how unlawful it is.

Like, come on...It's not like the forum were condemning any religion or anything like that, but it was to discuss the plight of people who were caught in between when someone converts. This are relevant issues that should be discussed, not just swept under the carpet!

Sigh, I seriously don't know where this country is headed. I'm not pro-government nor pro-opposition, I think they both have their own issues to deal with...but I think the recent support for Pakatan Rakyat could be a good thing, because now Barisan Nasional is forced to get out of their comfort zone and start listening to the rakyat; what the rakyat wants and needs, not what BN wants and needs. Hopefully, things will start to change for the better.

So in the next General Election, which way should I cast my vote? I'm still not sure...but I have around 4 more years to decide right? So political people/parties out there, you have that much or little (depends on how you look at it) time to prove yourself to me and the rakyat.



Wow, a post about Malaysia Today turned out to be a rant-y post about Malaysian politics...Sorry, couldn't keep it bottled up anymore.

2 comments:

Jeffro said...

well what i can say is that, people nowadays "mou hao chi" especially "those" people..

only us victims know about it..

MalaysianToday said...

In the event that MCMC decides to further implement a full blocking of websites or blogs not friendly to UMNO/BN, the followings can be used as an effective way to circumvent internet censorship:

1. Accessing a mirror site
2. Using a non-censoring DNS-server
3. Using a non-censoring proxy server


1. Access a mirror site
For instance, Malaysia Today can still be accessed at this moment at http://mt.harapanmalaysia.com . Using mirror sites may not be effective as they may start blocking these sites too.


2. Using a non-censoring DNS-server
Change your DNS to OpenDNS server 208.67.222.222 or 208.67.220.220 .

Click http://www.opendns.com for more info on how to set DNS.


3. Using a non-censoring proxy server

(i) Proxy Sites
More effectively, this blocking can be circumvented by surfing through a proxy sites, such as:
http://proxychina.org
http://proxy4china.com

There are many proxy sites available, just google for them.


(ii) Proxy Tunnelling Software
Another better and most effective way to circumvent internet censor is by using Ultrasurf. It is developed by the people against internet censorship in China. It enables users inside countries with heavy Internet censorship to visit any public web sites in the world safely and freely while it automatically searches the highest speed proxy servers in the background.

Download Ultrasurf software from:
http://www.ultrareach.com
http://www.wujie.net/downloads/ultrasurf/u.zip

Then extract the file and run, that's it.

If you are using browser other than IE, then you have to manually change your proxy IP address to 127.0.0.1 with port :9666 .


(iii) TOR and TOR based browsers
For those who are more IT savvy, they can try TOR. TOR based browsers are also available, such as xb Browser and OperaTor. But TOR solution tends to give slower internet surfing experience.



Say NO to internet censorship.