Right to ask questions being ignored: Azizah

Kuala Lumpur: The right of Malaysians to raise questions has been ignored by Putrajaya when it decided to suspend two local business papers over their reports on the 1 Malaysia Development Board (1MDB) scandal, opposition leader Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail claimed.She claimed the three-month printing ban on The Edge Weekly and The Edge Financial Daily is the government's latest assault on press freedom and freedom of speech, adding that this will dent the country's image.

"The iron fist of an administration that fears not just the truth, but even those who dare to question, is unveiled yet again," she said in a statement.

"At a time when the Rakyat demand answers, it appears that the right to even ask is being trampled," the PKR president added.

Dr Wan Azizah said the suspension order was disappointing, as the two publications were merely fulfilling their role as part of the media.

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She stressed that the suspension order is the latest of "many attacks on the Malaysian press", citing radio stations and online news sites that have been cautioned and journalists who were arrested and investigated for sedition, "only because they were doing what they rightfully should do: report the news".

Dr Wan Azizah warned that the printing ban on the two papers leaves Malaysia on the "brink of an abyss" — the result of "decades of arrogance, corruption and the systemic corrosion of the principles of democracy and the rule of law" — but at the same time urged Malaysians "not to lose heart".

The Edge Media Group disclosed that the Home Ministry has said it would revoke the printing permits of the group's two publications, if the suspension order which takes effect from next Monday is not complied with.

Citing a Home Ministry letter, The Edge Media Group said the ministry had stated that the two publications' reporting of the 1MDB controversy was "prejudicial or likely to be prejudicial to public order, security or likely to alarm public opinion or is likely to be prejudicial to public and national interest".

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Critics of the Home Ministry's decision have voiced concern at the emerging pattern of clampdown on the media and freedom of speech, also saying that it was sending a chilling message to the media to self-censor on issues such as 1MDB.

A multi-agency taskforce is now probing allegations surrounding the state-owned firm 1MDB.

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