KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 19 — Dissatisfied with Putrajaya’s call to stop speculation, the DAP demanded a full probe today on the alleged blocking of BBC’s recent online “kangkung” report, insisting on the likelihood of an attempt to cover-up orders for internet censorship.

DAP social media strategist Yeo Bee Yin said Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek’s “no cover up” and “stop speculation” assertion yesterday reeked of suspicion that the report had been indeed been censored.

“We... found that MCMC statement is far from sufficient in explaining the peculiarity of the temporary inaccessibility of BBC’s kangkung’ site and will continue to ‘speculate’ until we receive reasonable answer from Putrajaya,” Yeo said in a statement here.

She was referring to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), which had Thursday said that it “has not blocked nor instructed any Internet Service Providers in Malaysia to block the BBC’s online report”.

In its statement, the regulator had also noted that it understood there could have been some “temporary difficulties” of access, but said the disruption has since been resolved.

Yeo had immediately disputed MCMC’s statement, claiming it was a possible cover-up of an attempt to censor the Internet, a move that violates the government’s commitment to keep the Internet free under the Mutimedia Super Corridor’s Bill of Guarantees.

She had also urged Ahmad Shabery, who is the Communication and Multimedia Minister, to probe the matter and hold those involved in the alleged blocking responsible.

Today, Yeo pointed out that a security expert and freelance IT solutions provider using the Twitter handle @sniiffit had been “almost 99 per cent” certain this was a case of filtering.

She noted that Sinar Project, an Internet freedom NGO, had also suggested a filter was in place to block that specific page on BBC’s website.

“Therefore it is highly probable to us that censoring did happen at ISP level, Telekom Malaysia (TM) in particular,” she said.

A large number of Malaysian users had complained that they could not access the BBC report, which cantered on the viral parodies of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s “kangkung” remarks, on Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

Difficulties in accessing the article had appeared to primarily affect Internet users on TM’s network, while those using other internet service providers reported sporadic success in accessing the page in question.

Asked to respond, however, TM passed the buck to the MCMC, saying: “With regards to the allegation on the inaccessibility to a certain article on the BBC website, TM wishes to reiterate that issues of national content blocking should be directed to the MCMC.”

Yesterday, Ahmad Shabery said there was no need to speculate over the incident any longer, insisting that MCMC’s reply was sufficient.

“I consider it sufficient and there is no need to speculate anymore,” the minister told The Malay Mail Online briefly, in a text message.

But Yeo said that instead of asking Malaysians to stop their speculation, Ahmad Shabery should clarify if the page had indeed been censored with “technical evidence and arguments”.

“If censoring did happen, then the minister should find out who initiate such block,” she said.

“If there was really ‘no cover up’ as insisted by Shabery, perhaps he should advice TM to issue a clearer statement that it has indeed filtered the page based on self-initiative?” she added.

Yeo also demanded that the government direct all ISPs not to feel obliged to filter political contents in the future regardless where the order comes from.

“We call upon the government to investigate the matter in a more transparent manner to show its sincerity in honouring it commitment to no Internet censorship under Multimedia Super Corridor’s Bill of Guarantees,” she said.

The “kangkung” controversy erupted as Malaysians, hit by a slew of price hikes in essential goods and services from the start of the new year, took issue with the Najib’s use of the water spinach in a recent analogy.

Najib had questioned recently why the government is blamed whenever the prices of goods rise, but not conversely praised when these fall, pointing out that the cost of kangkung has dropped.

The prime minister’s remarks immediately sparked widespread mockery on social media, with kangkung memes flooding Facebook and Twitter, while a YouTube remix of his comments has also been uploaded and “Keep calm and eat kangkung” T-shirts made.