What has the ban on TMI achieved?
Has this latest persecution of the media by Putrajaya made a difference in the way Malaysians comprehend the many controversies implicating the country’s top leadership?
Jeswan Kaur, Berita Daily
‘Shooting the messenger’ seems to be an obsession with Putrajaya, going by the ruling government’s determination to kill dissenting voices, be they verbal or written.
The latest casualty is online news portal The Malaysian Insider which the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) claimed breached Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, publishing “untrue” reports and threatening “national security”.
The online portal was banned on Feb 25 with the MCMC going on to push the envelope when it warned other media against publishing unverified reports.
But why attack the ‘messenger’ when the root cause of the problem lies elsewhere? Would punishing news organisations help improve the current morose status quo affecting the Barisan Nasional government?
Also, has this latest persecution of the media by Putrajaya made a difference in the way Malaysians comprehend the many controversies implicating the country’s top leadership?
If not, then what exactly has the ban on TMI achieved?
DAP member of parliament Charles Santiago for one is left wondering whether the move had anything to do with Putrajaya’s desperate attempt to continue the “information blackout” on 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
“It’s an unscrupulous move by the Malaysian government. And banning The Malaysian Insider on grounds of national security, without giving any concrete explanation, is even more ridiculous.
“But it’s everyone’s guess that the clampdown may very well be because of an article quoting a source, saying that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) Operations Review Panel has recommended proceeding with charges against Prime Minister Najib Razak for the billions of ringgit that was transferred into his private bank account and the dizzyingly complex financial transactions involving the 1Malaysia Development Berhad sovereign fund that has amassed billions in losses.
