MALAYSIA: Crackdown Follows Electoral Setback

By Baradan Kuppusamy

KUALA LUMPUR, Sep 3 (IPS) - Abandoning a decade-old promise to maintain Internet freedom, the government has closed down the popular and controversial ‘Malaysia Today’ web portal, known for consistently exposing the misdeeds of officialdom and the failings of individual leaders.

The move comes as the ruling National Front coalition suffered its worst ever electoral reverses that saw the resurgent opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim returning to parliament after a decade long absence and formally taking his place as opposition leader.

While the two events -- defeat and the silencing of vociferous critics -- seem unconnected, civil society activists fear that the shut down signals a new era of intolerance for democratic dissent, as a politically weakened government fights to stay afloat against an Anwar-led opposition onslaught.

"I am surprised and shocked at this onslaught against freedom," said Malaysia Today owner Raja Petra Kamaruddin. "They had long wanted to do something and now they have shut down the site."

"I am not cowed in the least, I will press on," Kamaruddin told IPS. "None of this is going to stop me."

Read the full report here.