Rais: Govt investigating Radio Free Sarawak

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ATTENTIVE: A section of the people present at the function.

KANOWIT: The government is investigating Radio Free Sarawak (RFS) to determine whether the broadcasters had flouted sedition laws or waylaying the public with innuendos which border on security issues.

Minister of Information, Communication and Culture Dato Sri Utama Dr Rais Yatim said they could simply terminate the signal from any Internet or shortwave source as it would contravene the Geneva Convention on human rights.

RFS is believed to be broadcasting from London. It was said to be instigating the people to go against the Sarawak government.

The persons behind the radio are former Cats Radio announcer Peter John Jaban and British national Clare Rewcastle Brown.

Rais said the Home Ministry had been alerted and the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) had been instructed to look into the security aspect before it could reported to the Attorney General.

“But for critising, we cannot do anything. We should not be too alarmed about it whether they are speaking the truth or otherwise,” he told reporters after launching a Kampung WiFi (wireless fidelity) in Machan, about 30 minutes drive from here, yesterday.

He said so far the content of the broadcast were mainly confined to politics rhetorics against Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud and a few other state leaders.

On allegations by the opposition that the Kampung Wifi project is a failure because its implementation required the availability of sufficiently big power supply, Rais said the reason was illogical.

He said Wifi needed only minimal power as it uses VSAT or Very Small Aperture Terminal, a two-way satellite technology, that could generate communication signals to netbooks and computers.

“This is politics of rhetoric by the opposition. I hope the people will not be hoodwinked by this. The project is a success. If the opposition said that it is a failure, they can show us,” he said.

On a similar matter, he said his ministry was aware of the issue where rural schools with excellent computer labs could not operate properly because they have poor Internet connectivity.

He said his ministry, together with the Ministry of Education, is proposing to the Cabinet and the Economic Council on what ought to be done when the official hub of the broadband facilities become a reality.

“I am certain this will be overcomed within a very short period of time,” he said.

The function was held at Machan community hall.

Also present was BN candidate for Machan Datuk Gramong Juna, MCMC chairman Tan Sri Khalid Ramli and Pemanca Spencer Kudang.