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Malaysian Insider shuts as political pressures add to commercial woes

KUALA LUMPUR — One of Malaysia’s most popular news portals, The Malaysian Insider (TMI), went offline at midnight yesterday, about eight years after it started in 2008. It cited “commercial reasons” for the abrupt closure, which observers attributed to a media clampdown by the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) government.

On March 30, 2015, police raided the TMI office and arrested its senior editors Jahabar Sadiq, Lionel Morais, Amin Iskandar and Zulkifli Sulong as well as The Edge Media Group publisher Ho Kay Tat under the Sedition Act over the news portal’s report on Islamic criminal laws or hudud. Photo; The Malaysian Insider

On March 30, 2015, police raided the TMI office and arrested its senior editors Jahabar Sadiq, Lionel Morais, Amin Iskandar and Zulkifli Sulong as well as The Edge Media Group publisher Ho Kay Tat under the Sedition Act over the news portal’s report on Islamic criminal laws or hudud. Photo; The Malaysian Insider

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KUALA LUMPUR — One of Malaysia’s most popular news portals, The Malaysian Insider (TMI), went offline at midnight yesterday, about eight years after it started in 2008. It cited “commercial reasons” for the abrupt closure, which observers attributed to a media clampdown by the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) government.

Mr Ho Kay Tat, publisher and chief executive of The Edge Media Group, which owns TMI, said the company has incurred losses of RM10 million (S$3.3 million) in the 20 months since it acquired TMI in June 2014 and “we are no longer in a position to keep it going”.

“Despite the fact that TMI is one of the top three news portals based on traffic in Malaysia because of its courageous news reporting, it did not receive enough commercial support to keep it going,” he said in a statement.

“The closure of TMI should serve as a reminder to those of us in the media industry as well as the public at large that good journalism cannot be sustained without commercial support. And when good journalism stops, society is the loser.”

Before the The Edge’s acquisition of TMI, the portal was owned by a group of investors whose identities are not publicly known. A total of 59 staff have been affected by the closure and Mr Ho said they will each receive a severance package. He declined further comment when asked by TODAY about the timing of the decision.

In his statement, he noted that over the past two months there were offers from three parties in the media business to take over TMI, as well as an offer for a management buy-out after The Edge put the word out regarding its intention to dispose of the news portal as part of its restructuring.

However, talks broke down, which Mr Ho attributed to the company’s run-in with the government and, in particular, the decision by Internet regulator Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) on Feb 25 to block TMI, forcing the news portal to use another website domain name.

“We believe the recent problems TMI had with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) had made it more difficult for a sale to be concluded, even though discussions had started before that,” said Mr Ho.

In explaining the blocking, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Minister Salleh Said Keruak had asserted that the news portal had caused public “confusion” in an article quoting an unnamed source from a Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) advisory panel.

TMI has been critical of the government led by Prime Minister Najib Razak and operates in a media environment where traditional print and broadcast journalism are still seen as government controlled. The news portal had reported extensively on the controversies surrounding state investment firm 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) and the US$680 million (S$934 million) donation into Mr Najib’s personal accounts.

Mr Najib has faced sustained pressure to resign since the middle of last year over the controversies but has maintained he did not use the funds for personal gain, and has since been cleared of any criminal offence or corruption.

Political analyst Wong Chin Huat said political pressure contributed to TMI’s closure. “For example, potential buyers may be pressured to stay out. Pressuring media moguls has always been on the playbook of authoritarianism in Malaysia,” the head of political and social analysis at Penang Institute told TODAY. TMI reporter S Ista Kyra who was affected by the shutdown said the “circumstances obviously point to the clampdown on journalism in Malaysia”.

The closure of the news portal, which ranked No 7 in the top 30 Malaysian websites for August 2015 by the Malaysian Digital Association and comScore, caught TMI’s staff and observers by surprise. “We worked as impartial journalists to inform Malaysians and other readers so that they make informed decisions. We worked to make all voices heard in this marketplace of ideas. But our work in The Malaysian Insider has now come to an end in a Malaysia that more than ever requires more clarity, transparency and information,” wrote TMI editor Jahabar Sadiq when announcing the closure late yesterday morning.

“I won’t put down my pen, I won’t lay down my camera, I won’t shut up and I won’t be blinkered or turn a deaf ear to what goes on in Malaysia and the world. And I urge all of you to do the same,” added Mr Jahabar, who has been editor since TMI’s inception in February 2008.

Managing editor Lionel Morais told TODAY it is too early to talk about future plans. “For now, most of us are taking a break,” he said.

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