On April 24, 2011, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had promised Malaysians that his administration would never censor the Internet.
The Malaysian Insider has on 24 April 2011 reported that the Prime Minister , when speaking at the 1st Malaysian-ASEAN Regional Bloggers Conference held in Kuala Lumpur, declared that Malaysia has one of the most liveliest and one of the freest, “if not most free”, blogospheres in the world.
The Prime Minister was reported to say “Malaysians have to thank Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad for this. When he was the Prime Minister, and Malaysia was developing our Multimedia Super Corridor, Tun made the promise to the world that Malaysia would never censor the Internet. My government is fully committed to that wisdom — we intend to keep his word”.
The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC)’s action to block The Malaysian Insider (TMI) has therefore violated Prime Minister’s promise and has also tarnished the nation’s international image.
The blocking is most unnecessary, unacceptable and unjust.
If the articles published by TMI are wrong or without basis, there are many ways for the authorities to deal with TMI. The rush in punishing the newsportal without any prior warning or before the completion of a full investigation is unacceptable, what more when the action was the drastic measure of blocking the portal.
Whatever the motive or reason for such drastic action, it cannot be justify the MCMC’s action which has gone against the Prime Minister’s 2011 “ No internet censorship “ promise.
Yesterday, the Police had questioned five TMI journalists, including its chief editor Jahabar Sadiq, concerning an article relating to the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission which the police said had caused “ confusion”.
After the questioning, Jahabar had told the media “we stand by our story “.
While the investigation is ongoing, the Prime Minister should uphold his 2011 promise and direct MCMC to immediately and unconditionally lift the blocking of TMI.