Dear Minister, The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned about the future of Tamil-language daily Makkal Osai after your office, according to news reports, rejected its publishing permit renewal. We call on you to reconsider your decision, to allow the newspaper to continue to serve the Indian minority community in Malaysia, and to review the licensing regulations that stifle the publication of independent news.
JANUARY 26, 2008 Posted February 1, 2008 Syed Jaymal Zahiid, Malaysiakini DETAINED, BEATEN Police arrested Syed Jaymal, a correspondent for the online news provider Malaysiakini, while he was covering demonstrators protesting high food costs in Kuala Lumpur. He was charged with obstructing a police officer, a criminal offense punishable by two years in prison and…
JANUARY 26, 2008 Posted February 1, 2008 Syed Jaymal Zahiid, Malaysiakini DETAINED, BEATEN Police arrested Syed Jaymal, a correspondent for the online news provider Malaysiakini, while he was covering demonstrators protesting high food costs in Kuala Lumpur. He was charged with obstructing a police officer, a criminal offense punishable by two years in prison and…
JANUARY 4, 2008 Posted January 18, 2008 The Herald CENSORED Catholic weekly newspaper The Herald was banned from referring to God by the name “Allah” in its Malay-language articles, according to international press reports. Abdullah Mohammed Zain, a minister in the prime minister’s department, reiterated late last year’s ban in a press conference on January…
New York, November 15, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned for the safety of two journalists with the Tamil-language daily Malaysia Nanban. One was beaten and is now in a coma, and another received death threats after reporting on local Malaysian Tamil schools facing closure, according to Gayathry Venkiteswaran of the country’s Centre for…
AUGUST 24, 2007 Posted August 29, 2007 Makkal Osai CENSORED The government ordered the month-long closure of Makkal Osai, a Tamil-language newspaper, for publishing a picture of Jesus holding a cigarette and what appears to be a can of beer. The Internal Security Ministry suspended the paper’s publication permit after the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC),…
AUGUST 24, 2007 Posted August 29, 2007 Makkal Osai CENSORED The government ordered the month-long closure of Makkal Osai, a Tamil-language newspaper, for publishing a picture of Jesus holding a cigarette and what appears to be a can of beer. The Internal Security Ministry suspended the paper’s publication permit after the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC),…
New York, July 25, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists expresses its grave concern about today’s police interrogation of popular Internet-based writer Raja Petra Kamarudin, founder of the Malaysia Today news Web site. According to Malaysia Today, Raja Petra was summoned to the Dang Wangi Stadium police station in Kuala Lumpur in response to a police…