Guess who’s coming for dinner? Well, I’ve listed a few items as categorized below so as we’ll try to have an intellectual discourse on the matter.
ZM the politician :

Zainuddin proposes classification of Web bloggers.

Isn’t this another way of saying “register” which AAB said the government have no plans of doing.

..classify web bloggers as professionals and non-professionals as a mechanism to prevent mis-use of blog sites.

Hey, I know a 16 year old blogger who has a better understanding, analysis and suggestions for our economic woes than some cabinet ministers. Heck, he can’t even vote yet. Where do we put him?

..classification will also facilitate the action to be taken against those found to have violated the country’s laws.

So you’re trying to regulate blog content through legislative means. Btw are you giving monetary rewards to bloggers who write supportively for the administration?

We have to control this….By right, there should be a mechanism to control this phenomena.

See, there you go again with this control mechanism thingy and by right does not mean it’s your right alone. I thought you people believe in concensus as building blocks for a vibrant democracy.

..important in enabling the people to determine whether they could trust a certain matter and whether the blog content was the truth or a rumour.

There are people who really want to trust the government and they read blogs to verify the news reported in MSM. Are you suggesting that these people should read blogs first and then, confirm the facts with MSM reports? And if you decide to pass a law on this matter, can you trust the people to abide?

ZM the journalist :

Placing trust in news based on rumours was a practice that existed before the advent of newspapers but the situation is different today when we have newspapers and television stations to disseminate information.

Geewhiz! How did the people, back then, know about independence day being held on 31st August’57. Most of them, I believe, were illiterate, hence would have relied on word of mouth to know about such an event or fact. Hmm..it would be embarassing to be ‘merdeka’ if nobody knows about it.

ZM the businessman :

..blog sites having an impact on newspaper circulation and the buying of advertisements….

Ahh! I see it now. It’s about the money, isn’t it. Well, I happen to have these statistics which were published in the Star on 3rd April ’07 showing the Q4 numbers for 2006 :

Star – 1,474,000/1,136,000

NST – 512,000/339,000

Sun – 336,000/176,000

Malay Mail – 135,000/61,000

Source – Synovate’s Media Atlas/Nielsen Media Index

ZM ad nauseam :

Read last para – http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v3/printable.php?id=260283

Don’t get classified but please get registered to vote in the next GE.