Anwar govt takes flak as another news website is blocked ahead of state polls

KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia has blocked another news portal without offering any reason, the latest in a string of websites that have experienced alleged state-ordered outages days ahead of

a crucial vote to elect six of 13 state governments.

Users of various Internet service providers in Malaysia have not been able to access the UtusanTV site, whose TikTok account has a following of over 2.9 million, since Monday morning. Some who tried to log on to UtusanTV.com were instead shown a page with the standard government notice that “this website is not available in Malaysia as it violates the national law”.

The Communications and Digital Ministry has yet to respond to queries on the block, while a spokesman for regulator Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) said the matter was being investigated.

UtusanTV is not run by the Utusan Malaysia news group but by former staff who launched the site when their former employers ceased operations temporarily in 2019.

Previous news portals and blogs that had been blocked had run content critical of the Anwar Ibrahim administration, although the authorities have refused to comment on any of these cases.

The administration has also clamped down on alleged incitement of 3R – race, religion and royalty – sentiment as it seeks to fend off Malay-Muslim nationalist campaigning by the opposition Perikatan Nasional (PN).

Nearly half of Malaysia’s 21 million-strong electorate are voters in the six states.

Selangor, Penang and Negeri Sembilan are controlled by Prime Minister Anwar’s Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition, and Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu are helmed by PN’s largest outfit, Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS).

The vote on Saturday comes after a two-week campaign that has generated far

more interest online than at physical events.

The elections are widely viewed as a referendum on Datuk Seri Anwar’s so-called unity government that brings together former bitter foes, especially PH and the Umno-led Barisan Nasional (BN), which are campaigning together for the first time.

Independent press freedom watchdog Gerakan Media Merdeka called on the MCMC to “explain the Internet regulator’s mechanism with regard to access blocks enforced on any website, particularly online news portals”.

It noted how readers of another portal MalaysiaNow – widely viewed as pro-PN – were also denied access in June without any explanation on the matter.

“In the two reported cases, the respective media organisations were not formally informed of the imposed restricted access, nor were they given an official reason for the block.

“It is quite puzzling when MCMC instead took actions to ‘investigate’ complaints lodged by managements of the media organisations, when there should have been a clear reason for the blocks, and there are no other authorities with power to take such actions,” the press freedom watchdog said on Monday.

Electoral reforms group Bersih also chimed in on Tuesday, saying the blocks on UtusanTV and MalaysiaNow were “reminiscent of censorship undertaken by (former premier) Najib Razak against news portals and Bersih’s own website that were critical of his government”.

“Bersih calls on the government of PM Anwar Ibrahim to honour his pledge, as laid out in his coalition’s manifestos, to defend free speech and protect media freedom. UtusanTV.com site must be unblocked immediately,” it said in a statement.

Malaysia Today, which is run by fugitive blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin, as well as the personal site of former MP Wee Choo Keong, have also been barred in recent weeks.

“Big Brother Fahmi is watching us,” read a Twitter post by Mr Wee, a former lawmaker from Mr Anwar’s Parti Keadilan Rakyat, of which Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil is the information chief.

Mr Fahmi and his colleagues from the ruling coalition have repeatedly warned the public and politicians alike of stern action against the proliferation of fake news and attempts to stir up ethnic strife. PAS’ popular caretaker Kedah chief minister Sanusi Md Nor was

charged in July with sedition.

The government has also taken to task various social media platforms and mobile messaging apps for not sufficiently moderating content. Several users of Twitter – now known as X – have claimed that the micro-blogging site refused MCMC requests to take down their tweets in recent weeks.

A slew of defamation suits have also been filed between government and opposition figures in disputes over government policy and allegations of corruption.

Malaysia’s longest-serving premier Mahathir Mohamad, who is locked in

a civil suit with Mr Anwar,

said on Monday that “during an ongoing election, historical truth can be seen as incitement. With the ban on 3R, the people’s mouths are sealed”.

“When PMX was outside government... among reforms sought were freedom of speech and the press. Now freedom of speech is limited to supporting the government,” wrote Tun Dr Mahathir.

PMX is a widely used abbreviation that refers to Mr Anwar, Malaysia’s 10th premier.