Malaysia

A Catholic newspaper in Malaysia may have just two more weeks in print unless the government backs off a threat to close it down over its use of the word "Allah" to describe the Christian god, Reuters has reported. The newspaper says that it is a victim of politics and that the government that has ruled Malaysia for 51 years since independence from Britain is stoking religious conflict in a bid to...

Malaysian blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin, editor and founder of the Malaysia Today news and commentary website, has been released. High Court Justice Syed Ahmad Helmy Syed Ahmad ruled on November 7 that Raja Petra's detention under the Internal Security Act (ISA) was illegal and that the Home Minister had acted beyond his authority when he sentenced the blogger to two years in prison, the Committee...

The arrest of a prominent blogger and a journalist under Malaysia's draconian Internal Security Act (ISA) is being seen by free speech advocates as the start of a wider crackdown ahead of an anticipated opposition push to gain control of parliament. Malaysia's leading blogger, Raja Petra Kamaruddin, a staunch government critic on his website Malaysia Today, was the first to be taken into custody

Cases of assaults and threats against journalists and photographers in Malaysia used to come and go quietly. It has now become almost a tradition that mainstream print and broadcast media give minimal coverage to issues about the profession, leaving the true gravity of the problem hidden from the public. Since 2007, the Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ), based in capital Kuala Lumpur, has

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has condemned the recent arrest and criminal defamation charges filed by the Malaysian government against prominent blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin, editor and founder of the Malaysia Today news website. Raja Petra was arrested and charged on July 17 at police headquarters in Kuala Lumpur and later released on bail, according to local news reports. The three...

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called for sedition charges to be dropped against Malaysian blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin, who was jailed Tuesday. He is being held in connection with a story alleging that Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife were involved in the October 2006 murder of a Mongolian translator. Najib has denied the allegation. Raja Petra’s online article...

The Malaysian government Thursday lifted the ban on publication of a prominent Tamil daily in the face of fierce criticism by Opposition leaders and pressure from media activists, the Press Trust of India (PTI) has reported. The country's Home Ministry had suspended the publication permit of "Makkal Osai" or People's voice last week on the grounds that the paper had flouted publication guidelines...

An Indonesian reporter who went to Malaysia to write a special report on allegations of abuse and exploitation of Indonesian workers in the country was last week assaulted and raped by a man who tricked her into believing that he could provide her with information. According to reports, the 34-year-old magazine journalist was lured by a man, believed to be also Indonesian, to a rumah kongsi (a

Malaysia on Saturday formally opened an office of its official news agency Bernama in India. “India’s ecomonic growth is being keenly followed by the developing world and Bernama hopes to catch first-hand the country’s unfolding success stories,” Malaysian Information Minister Datuk Seri Zainuddin Maidir said during the launch of the news agency’s office in Kuala Lampur. Union Science and...