''Malaysia Today'' is a

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

n news

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...

founded in August 2004.

Founding

''Malaysia Today'' was launched about two weeks before the release of

Anwar Ibrahim Anwar bin Ibrahim ( ms, انور بن ابراهيم, label= Jawi, script=arab, italic=unset, IPA: ; born 10 August 1947) is a Malaysian politician who has served as the 10th Prime Minister of Malaysia since November 2022. He served as the 12 ...

from

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...

on 2 September 2004; Anwar was once

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president ...

, but fell from grace after his actions during the

1997 Asian financial crisis The Asian financial crisis was a period of financial crisis that gripped much of East Asia and Southeast Asia beginning in July 1997 and raised fears of a worldwide economic meltdown due to financial contagion. However, the recovery in 1998–1 ...

, and was sacked by then

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Mahathir bin Mohamad Mahathir bin Mohamad ( ms, محاضير بن محمد, label= Jawi, script=arab, italic=unset; ; born 10 July 1925) is a Malaysian politician, author, and physician who served as the 4th and 7th Prime Minister of Malaysia. He held the office ...

. 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.

Censorship by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission

On 27 August 2008 the ''Malaysia Today'' website was blocked by the Malaysian government, allegedly in response to unspecified reader comments to a 16 January 2008 article. 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. After he was freed Raja Petra went into exile. The editorial stance of the ''Malaysia Today'' blog also notably changed from an anti-Barisan Nasional stance to one that actively defended the ruling regime and attacked the opposition. This led to a sharp decline in credibility and readership with many questioning the reasons behind his U-turn.

References

External links

* {{official, http://www.malaysia-today.net/ Malaysian political websites Malaysian political blogs Malaysian blogs

Founding

Censorship by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission

See also

References

External links