Malaysian police have raided the office of popular Internet newspaper
Malaysiakini and taken away its computers in a probe into complaints that it
had published a seditious letter, editor Steven Gan says.
Mr Gan denounced the police move and said it appeared to be an attempt to shut
down the operations of Malaysiakini, which claims a daily readership of
about 100,000.
"They are taking away all 19 computers used by the journalists and our staffers,
our operations will be affected. This is an attempt to close down Malaysiakini,"
he told AFP.
He received immediate support from the Bangkok-based South-East Asian Press
Alliance (SEAPA), a group of independent media advocates in Indonesia,
Philippines and Thailand, which protested the raid in a letter to Malaysian
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.
"The raid was a grave violation of press freedom. It was totally unjustified and
should be viewed as nothing but a crude attempt to muzzle Malaysiakini, which
for the past three years has been a major source of unsanctioned news and
information about Malaysia," SEAPA said.
"Citizens in truly democratic states should be allowed to comment freely on
politics and political parties."
The raid came five days after the youth wing of the ruling United Malays
National Organisation (UMNO) complained to police that Malaysiakini had
published a "seditious" letter on January 9.
The group alleged that the letter, entitled "Similarities between 'new
Americans' and bumiputera [indigenous people]" contained false accusations and
questioned special rights for Malays, thus possibly instilling hatred for the
government.
The letter was also malicious for likening UMNO Youth to the white-supremacist
Ku Klux Klan in America "which was ready to kill other races," it added.
Mr Gan said the online daily's policy was to encourage free and open discussion
on controversial issues.
"We believe that the letter did not carry any seditious remarks that could
incite racial violence but was based on a factual comparative study."
Malays, who make up some 60 per cent of Malaysia's population, receive special
economic benefits over the Chinese and Indian minorities under a government
affirmative action program.
Mr Gan said police had asked him to reveal the name of the letter writer but he
refused and they then took all the computers to facilitate an investigation
which could take weeks or months.
Malaysiakini would have to post a notice to inform readers of the interruption
to its operations, he said, adding that he had not decided on the next move.
This was the third police report lodged against Malaysiakini since it was
launched three years ago.