The harassment began on 22 October, when officers from the commission viwebsited the offices of online news site Malaysiakini.com, recording a command from the editor-in-chief, Steven Gan. According to the word site, the officers were investigating Malaysiakini's reporting of the annual general meeting of the UMNO, one of the parties that take up the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition. This was followed up by examination of blogger Wong Choon Mei, who writes the blog Malaysia Chronicle. The question took office on Monday 25 October, and centred about a place where she reproduces some quotes from the Malaysiakini articles. While Wong was told that she was being investigated for possible rupture of Section 211 and 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, she was denied admission to sound counsel during the form of the questioning. Her lawyer, Latheefa Koya, was told that she would simply be allowed to stay present if she likewise gave a witness statement. This is a clean breach of Clause 5 of Malaysia's Constitution.The hand of the MCA According to one study by a Malay-language daily, political party and BN member the Malaysian Chinese Association lodged a law report against Malaysia Chronicle, but it is unclear whether the MCMC investigation is a consequence of this report. There are no reports that the Prime Minister's Office has issued any clarification or rebuttal of the reports.
'Protecting' Umno at the disbursement of the Chinese These investigations are a violation of the consitutional guarantee of freedom of look and are clearly designed to restrain the Malaysian online community, targeting certain news and information sites, given that similar articles and headlines have appeared in other publications with no problems from the authorities. In a state where print and broadcast media are tightly controlled by both ownership and legislation, the Net provides an important place for political discourse and expression, a space guaranteed under Clause 3 of the Communications and Multimedia Act. CIJ recommends that the MCMC drop all investigations into both Malaysiakini and Malaysia Chronicle. We also remind the direction of the constitutional guarantees of both legal representation and freedom of expression, and trust that in future it will go to continue these important legal principles. To guarantee that it does not take in future violations of the good to legal representation, we recommend it take an investigation into the behavior of the officers who denied this right to Wong. cijmalaysia.org
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