MCMC Bans The Malaysian Insider On Its 8th Birthday
The Malaysian Insider is a part of The Edge media group, that was suspended last year for publishing exposes on 1MDB scandals.
By Nandini Balakrishnan — 25 Feb 2016, 07:08 PM
In a sudden turn of events, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has issued a ban on local English daily, The Malaysian Insider today, 25 February, which also happens to be the news site's 8th anniversary
A notice by the MCMC that says The Malaysian Insider cannot be viewed in Malaysia as it has been found to have breached national laws
Image via The Malaysian InsiderSeveral readers alerted The Malaysian Insider when they discovered they were unable to access the news portal as it had been "banned" by MCMC.
Some readers using Celcom and Unifi, both provided by state-controlled firms, complained about the block. They were greeted with a note that said the news portal had flouted Malaysian laws.
themalaysianinsider.com
When asked on the credibility of the information, MCMC chief, Zulkarnain Mohd Yasin confirmed that the ban has indeed been issued for "national security" reasons, through a text message to The Malaysian Insider team
However, no notice was sent to The Malaysian Insider about flouting any laws.
"This is an unpleasant surprise. MCMC has replied to my query and said they will issue a statement," editor and chief executive Jahabar Sadiq said today.
themalaysianinsider.com
Malaysian news portal, The Malaysian Insider was established by journalist Png Hong Kwang and ntv7's former Chief Operating Officer Sreedhar Subramaniam.
The popular news portal is now being run by veteran journalist Jahabar Sadiq, who is both the Chief Executive Officer and Editor of the news site.