Malaysia Today

Malaysia Today is a popular Malaysian news blog. It is known for being critical of both the governing Barisan Nasional coalition and opposition parties such as the Democratic Action Party, Sarawak National Party, and Parti Keadilan Rakyat. Its founder and chief editor is Raja Petra Kamarudin, a former political detainee.

Founded in August 2004, it has claimed that it has received almost 100 million hits since then, and alleges it has a readership larger than that of the New Straits Times, a major English language daily newspaper in Malaysia.[1] According to The Star, Malaysia Today receives 1.5 million hits a day, and is one of the top ten political sites in Malaysia.[2] The website is currently hosted in neighbouring Singapore.

Founding

Malaysia Today was launched about two weeks before the release of Anwar Ibrahim from prison on 2 September 2004; Anwar was once Deputy Prime Minister, but fell from grace after his actions during the 1997 Asian financial crisis, and was sacked by then Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad. Anwar was imprisoned in 1998 after he was allegedly found guilty of charges of corruption and released in 2004. Raja Petra, who was the webmaster of the Free Anwar Campaign website, decided to form Malaysia Today shortly before Anwar's release as part of a "Free Malaysia" campaign. Raja Petra took credit for predicting that Anwar would be released several weeks before it actually occurred.[3]

Ever since Raja Petra's son was arrested by Malaysian authorities for bike theft, Malaysia Today has become a pro-government blog.

Censorship by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission

On 27 August 2008 Malaysia Today website was blocked by the Malaysian government,[4] allegedly in response to unspecified reader comments to a 16 January 2008 article.[5] The censorship was removed on 12 September 2008, but Raja Petra Kamaruddin was arrested the same day under the ISA (Internal Security Act). On 7 November 2008, he was freed from detention by Malaysian authorities after Shah Alam city High Court Justice Syed Ahmad Helmy Syed Ahmad granted his habeas corpus petition and ruled that his 12 September detention was illegal.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Kamarudin, Raja Petra (2 January 2006). "The pen is mightier than the sword" Archived 9 February 2006 at the Wayback Machine.. Malaysia Today.
  2. ↑ Tan, Joceline (14 January 2006). Petra survives the bad press Archived 11 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine.. The Star.
  3. ↑ Kamarudin, Raja Petra (20 February 2006). Didn’t I tell you so? Malaysia Today.
  4. ↑ "Plans for action against Malaysian bloggers". Daniel Chandranayagam. Global Voices Advocacy. 27 August 2008. Retrieved 27 August 2008.
  5. ↑ Kamarudin, Raja Petra (29 August 2008). "The 'offending' article that got MT blocked". Malaysia Today. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
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