Malaysiakini

Malaysiakini is a Malaysian political news website published in English and Malay. Since its launch on November 20, 1999 it has been widely considered to be one of the leading independent news agencies in Malaysia. Malaysiakini claims to attract 50000 visitors a day and three million page views a month, substantial figures by Malaysian standards.

Controversy

Malaysiakini has attracted its fair share of controversy. In March 2001, police in the Malaysian state of Selangor lodged a report against the website for quoting comments questioning the official death toll from racial rioting in the city of Petaling Jaya. In July of the same year, a university student leader filed a report claiming that a letter published on Malaysiakini bearing his name was not written by him.

Related Topics:
Selangor - Petaling Jaya

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However, the most serious incident occurred on January 20th, 2003 when Malaysiakini was raided by the Malaysian police. Four servers and 15 central processing units from its office worth RM150,000 (US$39,500) were seized during the raid. The police raid was instigated after the right-wing cadres in UMNO Youth, an arm of the ruling United Malays National Organization (UMNO), complained that a letter written by "Petrof", a reader, and published on Malaysiakini's website was seditious. In its police report, UMNO Youth claimed that the letter had questioned the special rights and privileges of the Bumiputras that are enshrined in the Constitution. Additionally, UMNO Youth claimed that the letter also contained false allegations that the Malaysian government was unfair to other ethnic races in the country. The seizure of the hardware temporarily silenced Malaysiakini, though it was eventually resumed normal operation.

Related Topics:
Servers - Central processing units - United Malays National Organization - Seditious - Bumiputras

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On April 1, 2005 Malaysiakini published a fake news report alleging that four unnamed senior government officials were being charged for corruption. The report turned out to be an April Fool's joke, albeit published with the intention of casting the spotlight on official corruption, a problem still rife in Malaysia. This caused quite a stir in Malaysia with the government's response exhibiting no sense of humor, going as far as ordering a probe on the news organization.

Related Topics:
April 1 - 2005 - April Fool's joke

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