Freedom of speech cuts both ways, RPK

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PETALING JAYA: Fugitive blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin has hit out at the Opposition for condemning those who criticise them as traitors.

He said criticism in the name of freedom of speech should work both ways, and not just targeted at the Government. He said many within the Opposition did not seem to understand this.

“To them, freedom of speech or to express their opinions merely means freedom to criticise the Government,” Raja Petra wrote in his latest blog posting “The Opposition’s Understanding of Freedom of Speech”.





He said those who disagreed with the Opposition were accused of “treachery” or being “a traitor to the cause”.

Elaborating, the blogger popularly known as RPK said those who expressed unfavourable opinions about the Opposition were regarded as a “trojan horse”, Government agent or somebody who was paid to sabotage them.

“The Opposition supporters have to grow up. They have to be mature and understand that freedom cuts both ways,” he said.

He questioned the Opposition’s thinking that any criticism directed at them was based on ulterior motives and not freedom of speech.

“This is a very primitive and immature thinking of many within the Opposition – some leaders included.
“You cannot ask for freedom to criticise the Government but do not wish anyone to criticise you. This is not what freedom of speech is all about,” he said.

Raja Petra said he had criticised not just the Government but the Opposition, too. “Because of that, I’m seen as a traitor and not a friend of the Opposition.”

China Unicom to take on Apple, Google with OS

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China Unicom, one of China's three largest wireless operators, plans to introduce its own mobile operating system to compete head-to-head with Apple's iPhone and Google's Android OS in China.

The Wall Street Journal reported today that the wireless operator, which is building a third-generation wireless network that competes with China Mobile and China Telecom, is developing a new mobile OS brand known as "WoPhone."

The new operating system is based on Linux, and it's geared toward mobile handsets and tablets. Companies that plan to build devices using the new OS include China's ZTE, Huawei Technologies, and TCL. South Korea's Samsung Electronics, U.S.-based Motorola, and Taiwan's HTC are also building devices using the new OS, China Unicom's parent company, China United Network Communications Group, said in a statement today.

The company said in its statement that it hopes the new software will help the company develop 3G wireless devices more rapidly, thus getting them into the market more quickly. This is important because the Chinese 3G wireless market is just heating up with the major carriers battling for new 3G subscribers.

China Unicom has a long way to go in terms of winning new customers and trails behind larger players, such as China Mobile. As of January, China Unicom had 169.7 million mobile subscribers, including 15.5 million 3G customers. Meanwhile China Mobile had 589.3 million subscribers, including 22.6 million 3G customers.
Late last year, China Unicom launched WoStore, a mobile-application storefront that it said would support "all open smartphone platforms."

Apple's iOS and Google's Android operating systems are starting to gain market share in China. But they are not as prevalent as they are in other markets, such as the U.S. or Europe.

In China, Nokia's Symbian platform still garners the greatest market share in the smartphone market with 60.1 percent of all smartphones, according to Analysys International, a Beijing-based market research firm. Windows Mobile has the second highest market share with 13.1 percent. Google Android is third with 10.7 percent of the market. And Apple's iOS has about 5.4 percent.

Other wireless operators in China have also said they'd build their own operating systems for wireless devices. China Mobile launched its Android-based OS called "Ophone" in 2009, but the platform hasn't been a hit with customers.

A China Unicom spokesman told The Wall Street Journal that the China Unicom WoPhone platform will not be based on Android. But he declined to comment on whether that is because of Google's dispute with China's government last year. Google moved its search servers to Hong Kong from mainland China because it was worried about hacking and censorship.

by Marguerite Reardon

Full Profile E-mail Marguerite Reardon

Marguerite Reardon has been a CNET News reporter since 2004, covering cell phone services, broadband, citywide Wi-Fi, the Net neutrality debate, as well as the ongoing consolidation of the phone companies.

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Will Libya be going the way of Iraq or Afghanistan?

Midweek By BUNN NAGARA

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THE situation in Libya is fast deteriorating, but not as much as the diplomatic environment abroad concerning Libya.

Over the weekend the UN Security Council (UNSC) slapped an arms embargo on the country. The US itself imposed sanctions on Libya as soon as the last American nationals left last Friday.

US officials have since pressured its allies to act similarly. Germany has suspended oil payments for 60 days to stem the funding of Tripoli’s anti-revolt actions.

The US also blocked the international flow of US$30bil (RM91.3bil) in assets belonging to oil-rich Libya. It is the largest amount ever blocked by the US, and among the swiftest actions of its kind.

The US and British governments have also prepared their military forces for action. This week warships and fighter aircraft from the US Sixth Fleet began moving closer to Libya, supported by Australia.

However, Canada, France, Germany and Russia are less keen on another invasion of yet another oil-rich Third World nation. If this looks familiar, it is something of a replay of Saddam Hussein’s Iraq in early 2003.

All vested interests aside, there are some facts and realities that are irrefutable and certain issues that cannot be ignored.

Among the facts is that Libya has seen the worst violence out of all the troubled states in North Africa and West Asia. This has involved virtually every political sector: government, military, opposition groups and the general public.

A fact that follows is that Libya is now embroiled in civil war, despite the denials of Col. Muammar Gaddafi and his aides. After defections in the military, civil service and government departments, elements of a civil war were confirmed with the attacks by Gaddafi forces on rebel troop outposts.

However, the fighting consists largely of sporadic exchanges of gunfire apart from a few aerial attacks on munitions dumps by government forces. Fighter jets for example have hit military stores in Ajdabiya in the east and Rajma to the south.

Gaddafi has denied such reports, while Western sources tend to overplay them. Undeclared interests on each side are in evidence yet again.

Another fact is that Libya’s oil production has been cut by half, which amounts to just 1% of world output. A feared oil crisis resulting from Libya’s troubles has not happened and may never occur.

Pressure on Gaddaffi to expedite his own exit is being applied mostly by the US and Britain. The US-UK axis has much to gain from a Western-friendly post-Gaddafi Libya, along with their ally Israel.

Among the realities is that neither Gaddafi nor his Western opponents possess the moral high ground. The Libyan people opposing Gaddafi know too well what happened in Iraq, and hope Libya will avoid a similar fate.

Add to this the reality that the spiralling violence cannot possibly end in the favour of “M. Gaddafi and Sons,” militarily, politically or diplomatically. There can no longer be “business as usual” whatever happens in the following days and weeks.

The situation continues to worsen in heading for the inevitable showdown. Yet however serious the consequences, they are an internal matter for the country requiring domestic political solutions.

Another reality is that parts of the country continue to ebb and flow between the government and its opponents. There is no clear distinction in territorial control, adding to an already murky situation.

A basic reality that the government needs to accept is that the official institutions of state are broken. They can no longer sustain, much less protect, Gaddafi’s hold on power.

Among the issues is that there is still no basis for anyone to claim global oil shortages or to act accordingly by raising prices. With countries like Saudi Arabia pledging to raise production to offset any shortfalls, self-seeking claims of a global crisis are premature if not spurious.

Politically, there is no clear successor to Gaddafi once he quits the scene. The situation is not unlike Egypt’s, where a shapeless revolution is aimed primarily at removing an incumbent rather than installing a successor.

In the interim confusion, Gaddafi has played the al-Qaeda card and indicated that allowing his government to fall could permit the influx of Islamist extremists. His authoritarian regime brooked little opposition, but his formula of an “Islamic socialism” also kept out militants.

As Western intervention looms, the question is whether a new Libya will be like Iraq, busy with mayhem and militants, or like Afghanistan, where an ineffectual government oversees little other than the prospect of more mayhem and militants.