Communications and Multimedia Minister Salleh Said Keruak said today his ministry’s decision to block public access to a news portal marked for legal action by the government, before a charge can be levelled against the news site, was a matter of necessity.
Then he compared objectionable news articles to pornography.
According to a report by The Malay Mail Online‘s Mayuri Mei Lin, Salleh defended the policy by saying authorities could not wait for an investigation to run its course before blocking a news site, as the site would continue to provide undesirable content to consumers, just as a porn site would continue to provide smut if it weren’t shut down preemptively.
“If we wait for, as Sepang MP said, we wait for them to be charged before acting, there will be a lot of websites with pornographic content that we need to act on,” Salleh said in the Dewan Rakyat today.
He referred to Sepang member of Parliament Hanipa Maidin of PAS.
“If it violates the law, of course the relevant authorities will take the necessary actions.”
The issue of the Federal Government acting against independent news sites is particularly relevant following the blocking of public access to The Malaysian Insider, one of the few local news portals investigating allegations into the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandals and the transfer of RM2.6 billion into the personal accounts of Prime Minister Najib Razak in 2013.
Exactly one week has passed since TMI shuttered its operations for good, with former CEO and editor in chief Jahabar Sadiq citing “commercial pressures” forcing the company to cease its operations. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission’s (MCMC) blockade against the site was still in place when the company folded.
Speaking specifically on TMI‘s closure, Salleh commented that government actions had nothing to do with the company deiding to call it a day, and cited another recently-shuttered news portal, The Rakyat Post, as proof.
“The Rakyat Post also ceased operations, because it was a commercial consideration on their part,” he said, as quoted by Bernama.
He added that the Federal Government would not block access to news sites arbitrarily, and would only act if a violation of the law had occured.
