MERSING, MALAYSIA: The Government has always been liberal towards bloggers and has no plans to clamp down on them.

However Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak reminded bloggers and Internet users that there were laws pertaining to sedition, defamation and libel.

"Just because you operate in cyberspace does not mean that you are absolved from having to comply with the nation's laws," he said Wednesday, when asked to comment on the recent case involving Raja Petra Raja Kamarudin.

Asked about the timing of the arrest, which made the Government look unpopular, he said: "I do not think so. We have to draw the line between what is right and wrong".

Najib said that in any case, it was up to the Attorney-General to see if there was a case.

"This is not politically-motivated," he said Wednesday after accompanying Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah during a one-day working visit to the military's special forces base here.

Asked about calls for DAP chairman Karpal Singh to be charged under the Sedition Act, Najib added that the A-G would look into the matter as to whether to prosecute or not.

"I believe that the A-G can act if there is an action which poses a threat to public order," he said when commenting on Karpal Singh's statement that Sultan of Perak Sulatan Azlan Shah did not have jurisdiction over the transfer of Datuk Jamry Sury.

"This is like an attempt to belittle the institution of the rulers," Najib said, adding that this has been a practice since independence, why question this now.

On Sultan Hassanal's visit, he said the visit showed the warm relationship enjoyed by both countries.