The Malaysian police and Inspector General of Police (IGP) Khalid Abu Bakar's active policing of Twitter posts has been reported by New York Times and Wall Street Journal, following the arrest of cartoonist Zunar.

Zunar, whose real name is Zulkiflee Anwar Ulhaque, was arrested for Twitter posts criticising the Federal Court judges who upheld the conviction and jail sentence against Anwar Ibrahim.

In a Twitter post of his own, following Zunar's tweet, Khalid ordered the police to take action against the political cartoonist.

The New York Times described Khalid's 'arrest' antics on Twitter as expanding the reach of a paternalistic government.

"The government for decades has been accused of using draconian and archaic laws to sideline and intimidate its critics.

"But the latest cases come with a modern twist: The country’s highest police officer, Khalid Abu Bakar, is using his Twitter account to issue warnings to government critics and to order his subordinates to track and investigate dissenting voices," it added.

It also quoted Human Rights Watch Asia deputy director Phil Robertson, who described the IGP as "a shark in open water."
 
"Khalid’s online policing is creating a marriage of modern technology with archaic, repressive laws," the report stated further.
 
Meanwhile, Wall Street Journal reported Zunar's arrest, saying that there are fears on how far the "recriminations" against dissent will go, now that Anwar is in prison.
 
"His (Zunar's) detention could also further undermine the government’s attempts to portray Malaysia as a moderate Muslim democracy," Wall Street Journal said.