Malaysian police have arrested a blogger for allegedly posting seditious articles on his website, less than a week after they detained another blogger under a draconian security law, reports said Thursday, reported dpa.
Police arrested Syed Azidi Syed Aziz, who uses Kickdefella as his blogger name, under the Sedition Act, said Ismail Omar, deputy inspector-general of police.
However, police declined to give details of the reason for his arrest, saying he was under investigation for allegedly posting seditious materials.
Syed Azidi, 38, had suggested in one of his articles that all bloggers fly the Malaysian flag upside down on their websites to signal a protest against the current government's leadership and rising corruption.
A team of three plainclothes police officers had picked him up late Wednesday from his home in the north-eastern Terengganu state, his wife Bariah Ishak was quoted as saying by the official Bernama agency.
She said her husband would be brought to the national police headquarters in Kuala Lumpur Thursday, adding that the family would be employing a lawyer soon.
Last week, police detained popular blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin under the draconian Internal Security Act, which allows for indefinite detention without trial.
Raja Petra, whose popular Malaysia Today website, has many times in the past come under fire from the government for his articles pointing out alleged wrongdoings by the government.
Critics slammed the move as an attempt of the government to stamp down on dissent, and members of the public, rights groups and opposition parties have been holding candlelight vigils to call for Raja Petra's release.
Bloggers have also come out in defense of Syed Azizi, calling for the government to make clear the charges levelled against him.
"Here in Malaysia, we have limited freedom of speech because the internet does not work in a legal vacuum, and therefore it is very easy for bloggers to be punished," said blogger Joshua Chin, a retired lawyer.
Others defended Syed Azizi, saying the call to fly the flag upside down was not tantamount to insulting the country, but rather a sign of the country in "distress."
"It was very clear in his posting that the call to fly the flag on the anniversary of our independence was to show that our country's leadership has caused this nation to be in distress," said another blogger Joanne Khoo.
"The government is using excuses to stamp down on those critical of the leaders," she said.
