Malaysia

(SEAPA/IFEX) – The Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) is concerned about a proposed tripartite merger of three media groups in Malaysia and Hong Kong, all owned by Malaysian tycoon Tiong Hiew King, which will create the largest Chinese publication group outside of China and Taiwan. On 30 January 2007, Malaysia-based Sin Chew Media Corporation announced […]

(ARTICLE 19/IFEX) – The following is an ARTICLE 19 press release: MALAYSIA: NEW REPORT REVEALS HAZE OF SECRECY AS CRUCIAL ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION DENIED In the aftermath of the worst floods to hit Malaysia for thirty years, ARTICLE 19 and the Center for Independent Journalism (CIJ) will today launch a spearheading report entitled A Haze of […]

(SEAPA/IFEX) – SEAPA is concerned that the government is subjecting whistleblowers of a government document of high public interest to police interrogation and threatening them with prosecution. On 29 January 2007, police summoned three opposition leaders – Ronnie Liu, Tian Chua and Khalid Ibrahim – to the Bukit Aman police headquarters in capital city Kuala […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is a 30 January 2007 CPJ press release: MALAYSIA: Prime Minister attacks online critics New York, January 30, 2006-The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi’s calling online critics of his government liars, and his support of a civil libel suit brought against two bloggers. In […]

(SEAPA/IFEX) – The Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) is concerned that police in Malaysia roughed up and arrested a blogger at a peaceful assembly, and briefly detained an online journalist covering the event on 21 January 2007. Blogger Tan Han Kuo had attempted to document the peaceful assembly held to protest a recent increase in […]

(SEAPA/IFEX) – SEAPA views with grave concern a landmark suit in Malaysia, filed on 4 January 2007 by a major news group and its top executives against two bloggers for “defamation” and “malicious falsehoods”. “We see this case as going beyond the interests of private entities. It will impact on Malaysians’ access to diverse and […]

(SEAPA/IFEX) – The implication that banning books in Malaysia, or placing restrictions upon their entry into the country, can be reversed or reconsidered upon receiving complaints from distributors or importers, has distressed a local communication rights organisation. “This implies, firstly, a lax attitude toward the banning of books and, second, it puts the onus for […]

(SEAPA/IFEX) – Government officials in Malaysia tore pages from the international weekly, “The Economist”, and blacked out a paragraph whose content they alleged contravened Islamic teachings, according to the Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ), SEAPA’s partner in Malaysia. Missing in the locally circulated 23 December 2006 edition of “The Economist”, which is published by the […]

(SEAPA/IFEX) – The Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) is concerned with the latest interference in the media by the Malaysian government through a directive to downplay news of an increase in highway toll charges. SEAPA joins its local partner, the Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ), in calling for a stop to executive interference in media […]

(RSF/IFEX) – Reporters Without Borders has voiced alarm that Malaysia could introduce repressive legislation on the Internet after the science and technology minister, Kong Cho Ha, said the government planned new rules to block its malicious use and prevent bloggers from posting news jeopardising social harmony. “The government of Abdullah Badawi seems to want to […]

(SEAPA/IFEX) – A communications rights group in Malaysia has raised concerns over the government’s arbitrary and opaque manner of restricting books. SEAPA’s local partner, the Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ), is perturbed that the Internal Security Ministry arbitrarily allows the customs department to stop publications from being brought into the country. The issue came to […]

(SEAPA/IFEX) – SEAPA is greatly concerned by the news that two media groups in Malaysia may be merging. Newspaper reports on 28 and 29 November 2006 said the New Straits Times Press (NSTP) is planning to acquire Utusan Melayu to forge a strong alliance between its Malay-language newspapers, “Berita Harian” and “Utusan Malaysia”, respectively. According […]

(RSF/IFEX) – Reporters Without Borders has condemned the actions of Malaysia’s police in trying to stifle coverage of a murder case in which police officers are among the suspects and expressed concern about protection of their sources. Police have been summoning and putting pressure on journalists while the head of police has told the press […]

(SEAPA/IFEX) – The Malaysian government has suspended a weekend newspaper and its editor for publishing a feature on sex. The “Weekend Mail” and its editor, Mohd Zulkifli Abdul Jalil, have been suspended effective from 6 November 2006, pending an investigation by the Internal Security Ministry. The 4 – 5 November issue of the “Weekend Mail” […]

(SEAPA/IFEX) – A recent ownership change to a near-monopoly of the top four Chinese dailies in Malaysia has galvanised 47 diverse civil society organisations and opposition political parties to jointly demand a review of the laws to ensure media independence and plurality. On 9 October 2006, the political party Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) sold 21.02 […]

(SEAPA/IFEX) – The Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) is more than a little bemused by Malaysia Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s recent claim that “the Malaysian press have freedom” and are “not tightly controlled”. In an interview with CNN aired on 14 October 2006, Abdullah denied that the media are tightly controlled, though he admitted […]