Yoursay: Go after errant commenters, not news portals

YOURSAY | 'Users must own their comments and be responsible for whatever that is posted.'

Gobind: Not about curtailing free speech, but encouraging responsible use

Cogito Ergo Sum: Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo, you have very cunningly shifted the onus onto the owners of the news portals. If a comment that is allegedly inappropriate slips through the net, will the hammer fall on the news portals?

They say that you can guard against a thief or kleptocrat for 1,000 nights but he turns up on the 1,001st night and everything is gone, including the nation’s coffers.

Each individual commenter must be held personally responsible for their comments. If the comment is so adverse, the portal’s administrator can suspend the individual for a certain period. But to ask the news editors to moderate comments is Orwellian, after we voted it out on May 9, 2018.

Be reasonable, Gobind. You are known to be a fierce defender of the freedom of the individual. Don’t change that.

Anonymous_edcc5376: About time. Users must own their comments and be responsible for whatever that is posted. What’s even worse is when comments are made by fake account users.

Malaysia is a melting pot of cultures, races and religions. All it takes is an irresponsible person to make comments that are inflammatory and walk away. This is then followed by the exact and expected response from the targeted group. It doesn’t end.

The right to post and comment should never be taken away, but I believe each person posting must be a real person or account holder, and be responsible by owning the comment and dealing with repercussions, should there be any.

Eric C2: Gobind said that his statement concerning sensitive comments in news portals is to enhance the responsible use of social media. This should be targeted at people making the comments, not the owners, administrators, or editors of news portals.

Hands off our media freedom and don’t think of ways to punish and muzzle news organisations.

Anonymous_23746492729178: If Gobind has his way, it would be easy for anyone to take down pesky media organisations.

Get some commenters to post a few insulting comments. Report it to the authorities. And instead of taking action against these errant commenters, they go after the media organisations.

Frank Auger: Let this be a lesson to you, Gobind. Malaysians are sick and tired of being policed. Hands off our freedom to make any comment.

If you want, go after those making the comments, but hands off the media organisations. If you want to censor and muzzle everything, how else are you going to gauge the public's sentiment on issues? Through fake and doctored surveys?

Malaysians were sick and tired of BN's nonsense. If you take the same route, you and Pakatan Harapan had better watch out in GE15.

Alan Civic: Dear Gobind, people in Malaysia, no matter the race and religion, are angry and frustrated with both BN and Harapan.

Ranting, insulting and the freedom to make all kinds of comments are like having a safety valve on a pressure cooker. At least we get to let off steam.

If you plug up the safety valve, the cooker – i.e. the country - is going to explode.

The Wakandan: Readers’ comments are just that - comments. If you cannot take the heat, do not read them, just confine yourself to the news proper.

There are millions of readers, how are you going to control what they think? You either have freedom of opinion, or you don’t. There are no two ways about it.

Brave Malaysian: It is imperative that people understand that freedom must come responsibility.

Total freedom without any responsibility is a recipe for disaster anywhere in the world. My freedom is justified, as long as it does not impinge on the freedom of others.

This is where responsibility starts, and people need to learn that while people need to allow others with differing thoughts to speak out, there is a tendency to conclude that whatever another party doesn't agree to, is an insult to the person or his religion.

People should not be arrested merely on that. There are laws against defamation and libel. Now we need to enact clear laws on anti-hate speeches and writing.

Once the limitations on absolute free speech are clearly defined, then free speech is possible without the fear of being accused of some of the most ridiculous charges.

So please work on clearly defining the limits of free speech, instead of coming out with impromptu solutions, and piecemeal solutions in reaction to many situations.

Shibboleth: Gobind is right. Portals should supervise what is posted. Malaysiakini is showing the way. You can type a four-letter word, but it can't get posted.

The next step is to issue warnings to subscribers who are rude and use inflammatory language.

TCM: People are responsible for their own comments, no doubt, but sometimes in the heat of the moment, one might type something offensive. Regretting it later is too late, as others would have highlighted and forwarded the comments to their 20 Whatsapp groups.

The next thing you know, you are looking at 10 years and 10 months in jail.

On one hand, this is not fair to all who are consistently considerate, but on the other hand, even considerate persons could have bad days.

Take this as a positive step to have a proper moderator for the comments. It is not a perfect solution, but I believe that if we prevent even one person in this group from being disproportionately punished, then this is worth it.

Quo Vadis: Gobind, it is critically important to be able to discuss and to address, unfettered, policies, implementation, multifarious issues and problems, and comment on shortcomings and broken promises with the objective of moving the conversation forward to resolution, and providing helpful feedback.

There should be absolutely no room for abuse, foul language, personal attack, character assassination and disguised four-letter words with asterisks.

Such expressions are nauseating as well as an abuse, and reveal an utter lack of respect for people following the development reported in the portals concerned.

Those creating and circulating false information should be dealt with the utmost severity, for the effect of fake news and unverified scandal is not a joke; they have very far-reaching harmful effects, undermining the security of the country and threatening the peace.

Harapan, stay out of the comment section

The above is a selection of comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers. Only paying subscribers can post comments. Over the past one year, Malaysiakinians have posted over 100,000 comments. Join the Malaysiakini community and help set the news agenda. Subscribe now.

These comments are compiled to reflect the views of Malaysiakini subscribers on matters of public interest. Malaysiakini does not intend to represent these views as fact.