PETALING JAYA, MALAYSIA - An expert on East Asian affairs has argued for the use of mechanisms to check unlimited freedom of speech over the Internet as well as to curb child pornography and children's access into inappropriate websites.

National University of Singapore's East Asian Institute senior research fellow Dr Bo Zhiyue said the use of such mechanisms was healthy as it would filter out any communication which might harm the interests of others.

"Freedom of speech has its limitations. You cannot have unlimited freedom and impinge on the freedom of others. There should be boundaries," he said after presenting a talk on "China's Model of Democracy" in Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman here yesterday.

Dr Bo, who was commenting on the Government's preventive measures against the Internet, said moves to implement a filter were also justified in an effort to curb child pornography and children's access into inappropriate websites.

Asked whether the Government's plan to censor the Internet would be an impediment to freedom of speech, he said the move would be able to block out negative behaviour but cautioned that this must be done in moderation and not be completely restrictive.

The talk is the first of a series of public lectures jointly organised by the Asian Centre for Media Studies, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (Utar) and Universiti Malaya's Institute of China Studies.

The following talk, titled "The Xinjiang Riots: Challenges to China's Leadership", will be held at 10am today at Menara Star, Section 16, Petaling Jaya.

To register, send an e-mail to events@asianmediastudies.net with contact details.

The third talk, "Obama's China Policy", will be at 10am tomorrow.

For details, visit the website at http://ics.um.edu.my or call Susie Ling at 03-7956 5663 or e-mail chinastudies@um.edu.my.