This is pretty harsh..If you want to see a translation of the article (If you don’t understand Malay), you can check it out from Sashi here.
Oh wow, look more sensationalist journalism, more picking on someone that has done more good than bad?
Let’s look at this a little objectively though, from both sides of the story as that’s what we should do to be fair right?
I would say I know HB[/url] in passing, we aren’t close, but we are supposedly bloggers that in the ‘same circles‘ or something. I do read his site regularly, I do link to him and I do enjoy his site (When he’s not taking pictures of canned drinks/biscuits and writing a sentence about them like “This is an awesome biscuit”).
I think he has done a greater good educating about drugs, winning an award for writing a VERY good post about HIV testing in Malaysia and posting well researched, medically sound posts about drugs and using drugs.
He has posted risque things like videos of illegal activities and pictures of himself doing things, really any sensible person wouldn’t post pictures of themself doing on a public site.
Even in more liberal countries like UK, US and Australia (Notably the last where growing 5 weed plants for personal use in certain areas is allowed), people still don’t post such things, people don’t post videos of themselves smoking ice and making joints..
They might do so, but they would do it under the guise of anonymity.
I seriously think HB made a mistake mixing castitas and sixthseal, he should have kept the drugs and the food/travels/personal things seperate and given himself a bit of leeway against the law. Seriously don’t taunt the law, they will catch up with you later.
And to be honest, from my previous online experience, I have been waiting for this to happen to sixthseal.com for quite some time..
It’s a sad day for HB and his fans, but well, maybe it’s a good lesson learnt.
Be a little wary online, it’s not as ‘free’ as you think, you are accountable for what you write and someoe will report you one day being the ‘responsible citizen‘ they are, and the media will jump on it like a hot cake, because they have nothing to write about it and this makes good sensational baseless journalism (They love it in Malaysia don’t they).
I hope HB get’s out of this without any serious repercussions, the good thing with the web is if you take stuff down before you get a legal letter, you are usually pretty safe, and even then you usually get a letter first saying you have objectionable/illicit material and that you should remove it, if you do, it’s all good and well.
I just hope it doesn’t pass over into real life, and the police go after him for the chemicals he imbibes in.
Technorati tag: Sixthseal, Drugs, Bad Journalism, Huai Bin
they (journalist) are just trying to pick on us bloggers, once we touched some so-called sensitive issues, especially stuff concerning social and political issues.. which i think it’s not fair (injustice).
in plain words, these folks have “small” brains
Malaysian journalists are famous for sensationalising ( did i get this word right?) trivial things like this. When i first visited sixthseal, i’ve already had this thought in mind that this guy’s gonna be pulled in for questioning…. just a matter of when… hope things turn out well for him. Seems that he cant pull those archived posts off his site.
He can pull them from his site, but that won’t stop them being cached by services like The way back machine and Google cache.
The Internet has a memory now.
of all ppl.. why HB? I think i know why.. damn journalists. Which malay paper was tat?
You make a good point when you mention, ‘ you are accountable for what you write’ .
I get tired of seeing this explained to people and I get tired of having to explain it myself.
Too many ppl think that CyberSpace is some magic zone free from laws and regulations. Too many times I’ve seen ppl make threats, slander others and just plain say and do stupid things. Then they wonder why they get into trouble.
One of my friends had a guy threaten her with physical violence if she didn’t go out with him, so she logged it and sent a copy to the police. Within days the Aussie Federal Police turned up at his doorstep … and he wondered why!!!
Bloggers need to know their local laws before they post anything which might be considered illegal. If you have to write something controversial, you have to be able to at least be ready to accept the consequences of your own actions.
err.. is there anyone else in Malaysia doing drug post?
by the way, it’s Metro Ahad
he’s such a cutie, i read his blog to check out his cute pics ;P hahaha
anyways personally i agree with u ST that he could have separated the food review posts and the druggie posts. but i never understood why would he want to post up pics of him getting high…
not like i’ll post up pics of me having sex… hm… that’s a thought 🙂
anyways the good thing that got out of this is, at least he’s famous now 🙂
online is just as “free” as it is in real life
there’s no anarchy through TCP/IP
He really screwed up this time. First time i saw his articles, i thought, no shit man. How did he survived writing all these in the net without getting caught. He showed his identity which is a big mistake. I really wish him well because his writings are my solemn followings. I read almost all the stuff he wrote. It’s really a waste to see him waste his life imprisoned, if that’s one harsh thing the government would wanna impose on his wrong doings. We should do a petition thingy for him or something to help him out, dont you think..
Once you get listed in a search machine you’re cached and by all means, Screwed. No matter how HB clean his site off, they still have prove down the database. He’s too famous, or should i say, notorious. But to me he’s popular because people like his writings, not his drug practise. I read, but i don’t practise drugs or even smoke.. The “concerned citizen” is such an ass. They should just go and get whamped over by a truck or something..
Agreed. He should have kept both blogs separate. I’m wondering can they just charge him based on photos and blog posts? Don’t they need something more concrete like ACTUAL physical evidence (drugs, urine test)?
Oh God,Malaysia is going to be famous again.
Even Chinese newspaper, Nan Yang Siang Pau had this article on the main page (28/11). I really hope HB can get out of this deep shit without serious problem.
Not like Paris Hilton! 😉
Sorry – that last comment was in reference to this comment:
‘not like i’ll post up pics of me having sex’
It’s about time that people learn freedom of speech does not mean the freedom to say anything you want…
he is slowly deleting his blog entry, but do all of us here know that whatever that is written is actually cached?
here: Google Cache
his entry about ah kua’s and E pills.
I have to say, you’ve been waiting for this to happen? How mean-spirited can you be? Surely you meant you knew it was coming and not that you were hoping it would.
I think that if he had been in a more liberal place like the US he could have gotten away with it.
You are responsible for what you write and pretty much anywhere the drug related activities he did are illegal, I just don’t think in the United States he’d be having to remove the stuff.
In the US, as long as he wasn’t found in possesion or driving under the influence, he wouldn’t be arrested.
If I walked up to the cops and said “Hey I smoked some weed” they wouldn’t arrest me. They might want to search me, but as long as I’m not in possession, they wouldn’t do anything.
Drug abuse simply sinful, blog and proud about it just won’t help.
Bloggers sensationalise, even the influential ones, because they lack real content. Sixth Seal at the least spoke about his experiences. Can’t say the same about the others who are trying their level best to be hit whores.