From Straits Times, Singapore
22nd January 2000
New online paper tests KL press limits
Radio Australia says the paper, called Malaysiakini, is safe from government interference because only a tenth of Malaysians have Internet access
KUALA LUMPUR -- An online newspaper called malaysiakini.com http://www.malaysiakini.com/ is testing the limits of the freedom of the media in Malaysia as mainstream newspapers toe the official line.
Radio Australia, in its broadcast on Thursday, said that Malaysiakini, or Malaysia Now, was safe from official interference because only a tenth of the Malaysian population had access to the Internet and that the Malaysian government had promised not to censor the Net.
The government's stand was that it did not want to frighten away investors from the Multimedia Super Corridor, Malaysia's version of Silicon Valley.
But critics of Malaysiakini have accused the newspaper of being a mouthpiece for ousted Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and his reform movement.
Dismissing the claims, editor Steven Gan told Radio Australia: "We would also report on the opposition in cases which we consider are of public interest.
"We have reported a number of issues that, in fact, the opposition is not very happy about."
The online newspaper was initially aided by a US$100,000 (S$167,000) grant from the South-east Asian Press Alliance.
Extra revenue is generated by advertisements and designing websites for small businesses, said Radio Australia.
Malaysiakini's Internet server is in the United States, but the website is run out of suburban Petaling Jaya, just outside Kuala Lumpur.
The website, which says it gets about half-a-million hits a month, had visitors from both sides of the camp.
Former New Straits Times columnist Amir Muhammad, who writes for malaysiakini, told the radio that he left the NST late last year as he was no longer wanted by the company.
"I think I was seen as too outspoken," he said.
During his four years as an NST columnist, he said, he received warnings to tone down his writings by various people, "a lot of whom would say they are passing on messages from other people".
Mr Gan said that The Sun, where he once worked, was more outspoken than the other mainstream newspapers.
"There is always a line there and it's a very grey line that you cannot cross and in that sense while The Sun is still a bit bolder than the other two newspapers, it cannot be too bold.
"Otherwise, their licence will be pulled," he told the radio. He also agreed that there was a lot of self-censorship on the part of the newspaper editors.