More Harassment Towards Bloggers?

Student Blogger in Trouble

KLANG: A young blogger caused a storm in her school after she wrote that some fellow students had exchanged notes during a recent examination.

The Form Four girl said the copycats were unfair to others, adding that those who cheated eventually scored high marks while those who did not, got low grades.

She further claimed that the teachers who knew what was going on during the examination deliberately ignored the incident.

Her grouses prompted the school authorities to order her to remove her entry in the blog.

A schoolmate of the 16-year-old girl said she broke down and felt she had been victimised merely because she wanted justice to prevail.

The friend said the blogger had named the alleged copycat students and the teachers, and this had probably upset the school authorities.

It is learnt that the matter came to light when the named students told their parents about the blog entry.

The parents then went to the school, demanding action against the young blogger.

“The school authorities called her up for questioning and asked her to remove the entry in front of them.
“They told her what she did would damage the image of the school and the students,” said the girl’s friend.

The school’s senior assistant, Adilayah Ramli, said they did not mean to punish the young blogger or victimise her.

“We asked her to remove the entry from the blog as it was slanderous and damaging to the teachers and students who were named.
“She is a good student and she scored straight As in her PMR exam last year. We understand her frustration,” Adilayah said, adding that the postings were mere allegations.

However, she said the school was investigating the girl’s claims and would seek an explanation from those named in the blog.

“We want to know their side of the story before resorting to any action.”

Written by M. Krishnamoorthy 4/10/2007 @ The Star

Here's a typical example of how whistle blowers get harassed by authorities for using their blog to expose injustice that are happening within an organization. Instead of giving protection to the person for speaking out, they prefer to prosecute the individual first to ensure their reputation is not tarnished.

By doing so, effort is being put in to prove the allegations false instead of finding truth within the allegations. Most of the time in movies, the criminal gets remanded in jail for questioning while the informer/undercover tries to provide as much evidence as possible to prove that a crime actually takes place. But NO, instead here the informer/undercover/whistle blower is put behind bars while the criminal roam free whining and pressuring to authorities to drop the charges.

If found guilty, a cover up will be done and the perpetrator will be given a light punishment so that it won't cause a public uproar. However if there's lack of evidence due to the incompetent investigators or corruption the whistle blower is being punish severely by both the organization and the accused.

I can only wish good luck and all the best to that girl and hopefully the school authorities do justice rather than protect its reputation.

Written by Evilbunny "The best ideas comes from the worst minds" 4/10/07