Who Decides What’s “Disrespectful” and “Insulting”?

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) is demanding that the news site MalaysiaNow amend or remove articles reporting on the chaos in Dewan Rakyat last week. According to MalaysiaNow, MCMC gave them two hours to do so or face "further enforcement actions.” The articles in question are two reports titled “Blok PN keluar, 'Tambun peliwat' bergema di Dewan Rakyat selepas PM serang Radzi" and the English version. According to MalaysiaNow, MCMC said the articles "do not reflect the true context of the speech in question", adding that the headlines were also "disrespectful and insulting."

This move by the MCMC has been met by backlash by members of civil society, including the likes of Lawyers For Liberty and the Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ). We unpack everything with Wathshlah Naidu, Executive Director, Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ).

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