Malaysians work on their laptop computers at a Starbucks outlet providing wireless Internet
© AFP/File Jimin Lai KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - Malaysia's media is tightly controlled by the government, and it has expressed frustration over its inability to rein in Internet news portals which have become popular alternative news sources.
The Star newspaper said the government-backed communications watchdog had ordered all 21 Internet providers in the country to block the Malaysia Today website, whose founder has already been charged with sedition.
"I think we don't intend to curtail people's freedom and right to give information and debate," Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar told reporters.
"But when you publish content that is libellous, defamatory and slanderous to other people I think it is only natural we take action," he said.
"So many warnings and opportunities have been given and it is not heeded, so I am sure they have exercised their authority well under the law."
Raja Petra Kamaruddin, founder and editor of the Malaysia Today website, confirmed that access to his website had been blocked but said a mirror site had been established with a foreign provider.
"I will fight the government action all the way. Their action will not stop me from writing," he said, promising to challenge the shutdown in court.
Raja Petra is already facing a sedition charge and a defamation suit after linking Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife to the sensational murder of a Mongolian woman.
Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders ranks Malaysia 124 out of 169 on its worldwide press freedom index, and says the main media are "often compelled to ignore or to play down the many events organised by the opposition".
The government has previously threatened that bloggers could be punished under draconian internal security laws which provide for detention without trial.
©AFP