Irony: yer doin' it right!

It's not surprising to see a journalist in Malaysia complaining about freedom of the press. It was surprising to me though to see that the "journalist" in question is Mahathir Mohamad, aka Dr. M, the ex-authoritarian leader of the country well known for repressing news and opponents.

Dr. M is now a blogger and has apparently come full circle:

Now, a convert to free speech, Mr. Mahathir is using his blog to champion the most recent victim of government censorship, Raja Petra Kamaruddin, the country’s most prominent blogger, who posts on www.malaysia-today.net, his Web site. The site has been blocked, but readers are redirected to another Web site, which continues to be updated.

The government has fallen back on the kind of tactics that Mr. Ooi faced. It charged Mr. Petra with sedition and jailed him for two years without trial for comments he had posted.

Mr. Mahathir sounded almost like Che Guevara when he said in his blog that the arrest showed “a degree of oppressive arrogance worthy of a totalitarian state.”

Furthermore, jailing people is futile, he said in an interview in his office. There is no way the government can arrest all the bloggers, even if it wants to.

At least, he said, “I hope so. Otherwise I’ll be in, too.”

Somehow I doubt that people like Anwar Ibrahim can truly enjoy the irony of Dr. M's conversion.

hat tip to Mrs. Angus