ASEAN Regional Coalition to #StopDigitalDictatorship
Websites that address LGBTIQA+ and religious
allowed to cover the proceedings from inside the
issues are subject to blocking. LGBTIQA+ websites
Parliament. New Straits Times, Malay Mail, The Vibes,
www.gaystarnews.com, www.planetromeo.com, and
The Malaysian Insight and Free Malaysia Today
www.utopia-asia.com were the first ones targeted.
were all denied entry for the Dewan Rakyat sitting.74
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Additionally, 4,068 pornographic websites were
blocked by the Malaysian Communications and
Multimedia Commission (MCMC) from September
2018 to 2021.71 As of December 2022, a total of
217 websites have been blocked in Malaysia, out of
which 24 were on human rights, 18 on the LGBTIQA+
community, 15 news outlets, 7 on religion, and 13
In a prominent case, the news portal Malaysiakini
was fined an excessive sum of MYR500,000
($125,000) for comments made on their platform
by third-party subscribers. Although Malaysiakini
immediately proceeded with deleting the comments,
a proceeding was initiated by the Attorney-General
contained pornographic material.72
against Malaysiakini and its chief editor, claiming
Furthermore, on several occasions, actions to restrict
in the judiciary and are clearly aimed at tarnishing
media coverage were undertaken. In October 2020,
the administration of justice by the judiciary.” On Feb.
the coverage of the 14th Parliament session was
19, 2021, the Federal Court held Malaysiakini liable
limited to 15 media agencies, excluding online news
under Section 114A of the 2012 amended Evidence
portals which operate exclusively online.
Act for publishing the comments.75
that the “comments threaten[ed] public confidence
73
Similarly,
in September 2021, only 16 media agencies were
Portals such as Malaysiakini will be held liable
for third-party comments. It is thus required to
ensure adequate safeguards are in place prior to
publishing to ensure they are not held liable. Not
only will this be resource-intensive to moderate
the sheer volume of comments, but it will also
be a form of censorship and curtailment of the
readers’ freedom of expression.76
–Wathshlah G. Naidu, Executive Director of the Center
for Independent Journalism
Malaysia
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