Malaysian government warns citizens about Uncyclopedia: Difference between revisions

Tuesday, January 15, 2008 

Satire site Uncyclopedia, a parody of online encyclopedia Wikipedia, has been labeled by the Malaysian government as dangerous. The Internal Security Department of Malaysia issued the warning today, saying that the site has "messages and information insulting Malaysia".

The warning notes the creation date of the website as being 5 January 2005, and hosted by Wikia, Inc., both of which are correct. However, it claims Wikia owns Wikipedia; Wikipedia is a charitable non-proft website owned by the non-proft Wikimedia Foundation, while Wikia is an independent, for-proft company.

The report apparently mentioned how Uncyclopedia covers Malaysian "history, culture, the political leaders, the government, the national song and the name / history of the national flag," none of which is "correct". They accuse the website of helping to reinforce a bad international image of their country.

There is no reports of the site being blocked from access in the country, only this statement, which urges Malaysians to not circulate the content.

Uncyclopedia's article on Malaysia begins:

Essentially the penis of Asia which is located to the north of their cousins who live on an even smaller island Singapore, Malaysia (also known as Bolehland) is a young nation of diverse cultures and races such as F1 Formula-1 and Nascar. The timezone of Malaysia is unique because it follows the system of +1/+2 PMT (Predetermined Meeting Time) which is 1 or 2 hours later than PMT. Most foreigners have difficulty adjusting to this new timezone as they tend to show up 1 or 2 hours earlier than the local counterparts. The nation is moving forward with a vision towards becoming a developed nation by the year 2020, 3030, 4040 or whatever catchy number. ... Another common state that Malaysians have is denial (no lah, where got?), which incidentally, is a river in Egypt.

The site has fired back, and a parody article is posted at the site under their UnNews section titled Uncyclopedia Internal Security Department warns on Malaysia. The article suggests that the "Internal Security Department of the Uncyclomedia Foundation," a fictitious parent organization of Uncyclopedia. It identified Malaysia "as a dangerous country... It warned its people not to use the country today."

There are at least 22 "foreign language" editions of Uncyclopedia, including "Tolololpedia", which is written in Bahasa Melayu, the Malay language. Other "language" editions include "Oscar Wilde", "Newspeak", "N00b", "White Supremacist", and "Re: PharmaccgRy".

This article mentions the Wikimedia Foundation, one of its projects, or people related to it. Wikinews is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation.

Sources

• "Malaysia Internal Security Department Warns Its People on Anti-Malaysia Websites" — Kwong Wah Yit Poh, January 15, 2008
• Lemak Lemang. "Alert over Uncyclopedia on Malaysia" — CNET Networks, January 15, 2008
• "Malaysia", Uncyclopedia. Retrieved on 2008-01-15.
• "List of Uncyclopedias". Uncyclopedia. Retrieved on 2008-01-15.