News portal The Malaysian Insider (TMI) will shut down at midnight, the portal announced in a Facebook post this morning.
Its editor, Jahabar Sadiq, who has led the portal since it first began operations on Feb 25, 2008, said that The Edge Media Group has decided to shut down the portal for ‘commercial reasons’.
“I hope we have served you well since our first day of going live on February 25, 2008. And I hope others will continue to serve you in our absence,” Jahabar wrote.
“We worked as impartial journalists to inform Malaysians and other readers so that they make informed decisions. We worked to make all voices heard in this marketplace of ideas.”
“I won’t put down my pen, I won’t lay down my camera, I won’t shut up and I won’t be blinkered or turn a deaf ear to what goes on in Malaysia and the world. And I urge all of you to do the same.”
The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) had blocked the website last month for publishing “content that leads to a violation of Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.” [Full story here].
The group had acquired the popular news site in September 2014 to boost the its presence and reach in the digital media space.
However, in January, it was reported that TMI was up for sale following staff retrenchment within The Edge group and a three-month suspension on the group’s publishing permit by the Home Ministry in July last year.
The KL High Court however, had on Sept 21 quashed the ministry’s decision to suspend the group’s two publications.
TMI’s closure comes weeks after The Rakyat Post closed operations after just over two years, citing funding issues.
