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The Forum on Blogging & Defamation Laws


Last Thursday the Information Technology Committee hosted its first Forum for the Term. It is part of our Legal awareness campaign which we hope will culminate into a Law Reform Unit. 

The speakers were our very own Foong Cheng Leong, making his maiden appearance as a speaker in a Bar Forum. Next was Nizam Bashir who was so kind to travel all the way to KL from Melaka (on his own expenses) on our invitation to speak. The final speaker is Jeff Ooi. He needs no introduction.

The 2 lawyer speakers were poignant and systematic. Their slide presentation was informative and interesting. There 100 odd people in the auditorium were clearly impressed. 

When Jeff took the mike, the attendees were pretty keen to hear him speak. He was clearly the attraction for the night. But what he had to say, was well complimented by our 2 lawyers. 

Basically the Forum speakers were clear on one point, that a Blogger is not free from the clutches of Defamation Laws. One must be prepared to face the consequences of writing defamatory statements in one's Blog. The Speakers agreed that the Freedom to speak out on the blogsphere is fundamental, but that freedom must be tempered with responsibility. 

The Q and A which followed were lively, and at one point, it looked like the 2 lawyers were giving free legal advise on the laws of defamation. (haha)

The IT Law Committee was very pleased to organise the Forum, and in November, another Forum on Identity Theft Laws will be organised. Watch out for that.

Richard Wee