Malaysia

Malaysia's Ministry of Home Affairs should stop threatening to close opposition party newspapers, reverse bans on politically sensitive books, and end harassment of independent journalists, Human Rights Watch has said. The government should also repeal the 1984 Printing Presses and Publications Act, which gives the Home Affairs Ministry effective censorship over all publication content, Human...

The Malaysian Islamic opposition party newspaper has escaped closure and won a new publishing permit from the government which had accused it of violating laws, an official said Thursday, according to an Agence France-Presse (AFP) report. The government has in recent weeks also refused to immediately renew the licences for two other opposition newspapers in what critics have said is a crackdown...

Press freedom groups have condemned the Malaysian government’s decision to suspend the distribution of three opposition newspapers – Suara Keadilan, Kabar Era Pakatan and Rocket – since June 30 and restrict the distribution of a fourth, Harakah, since Thursday. “This is the second time since Prime Minister Najib Razak’s election in 2008 that the opposition press has been subjected to this kind of...

Malaysia has suspended the publication of a main opposition newspaper, in a move political rivals criticised Friday as a crackdown on dissent. Suara Keadilan, run by opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's Keadilan party, ran into trouble after the authorities said it violated publishing laws with a report this month which claimed a government agency is bankrupt, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP)...

The Malaysian home affairs ministry has issued to leading English-language daily, The Star, a warning about an article criticising the caning of three Muslim women under Sharia law, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has said. “As one of the country’s most widely-read newspapers, The Star should have a free hand to provide its readers with the broadest range of news and views on social issues,” Paris...

The government’s decision to prosecute the company that published the new cartoon magazine Gedung Kartun for not having a permit is a setback for press freedom in Malaysia, Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) has said. The decision was announced by Jamilah Taib, the head of the interior ministry’s communication unit. The company insists it did get a verbal go-ahead. “We urge the interior ministry to...

Official harassment of Malaysiakini, a widely read online news site in Malaysia that has faced persistent threats from government authorities over its 11-year history, has increased in recent times, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. Officials from the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) entered Malaysiakini’s offices on September 8 and videotaped its...

Journalists in Malaysia are being restricted from covering the parliament proceedings by seemingly sudden and unannounced tightening of security rules, the Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) has reported. As the parliament is first and foremost a public institution, restricting journalists from its proceedings is tantamount to restricting the public's right to know, CIJ feels. Online news...

Three-month bans have been imposed on two opposition party newspapers in Malaysia— Suara Keadilan of the Keadilan party and Harakah of the Islamic party PAS—just days ahead of Najib Razak’s expected installation as Malaysia’s new prime minister on March 28. The two newspapers were notified of the bans in fax messages that gave no reason, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. “There is...

Malaysia has withdrawn a ban on a Catholic newspaper's Malay-language edition imposed in a row over the use of the word "Allah", an official said Thursday. The decision was made after the Herald weekly threatened to sue the government, the Home Ministry's publications control unit secretary Che Din Yusof told Agence France-Presse (AFP). "We received their letter. We have reviewed the decision and...