KUALA LUMPUR, May 17 —Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia today called for responsible journalism amid Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s claims that he had been defamed by articles published on the news portal Malaysiakini, ignoring its own record in losing defamation cases.

In an op-ed piece, Utusan, which is widely seen as pro-government, said absolute freedom of speech does not exist and argued that free speech must be weighed against the country’s interests and unity.

“Awang believes the right to media freedom and speech must take into account the rights of others. It also needs to take into account the national interests, racial unity and morals.

“There is no absolute freedom in this world!” the Malay-language daily’s editors wrote in an op-ed piece today, under the pseudonym Awang Selamat.

In recent years, Utusan has lost many costly defamation lawsuits to politicians from the federal opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR) including Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

But Utusan said it was “not surprised” that Malaysiakini had received letters of demand from Umno and Najib for purportedly defamatory articles on the recent Terengganu crisis, saying that the portal had a “record” where its past articles carried negative elements.

Elaborating on Malaysiakini’s alleged poor “record”, Utusan today cited the portal’s apology to the then Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud in 2012 over 12 defamatory articles.

The paper also referred to Malaysiakini’s apology to Umno Youth Chief Khairy Jamaluddin in 2008 over a news report.

Najib, who is also Umno president, had in his personal capacity issued legal letters to Malaysiakini on Thursday, saying that failure to meet his and Umno’s demands within the stipulated deadline of 48 hours would result in a lawsuit.

In a copy of the letter of demand sighted by The Malay Mail Online, the law firm acting for Najib and Umno pointed to two articles published Wednesday, titled, “A case of the PM reaping what he sows” and “How much will Najib spend to keep Terengganu?”

The two articles were compilations of comments by  Malaysiakini’s readers on the recent political crisis in Terengganu, where Barisan Nasional (BN) briefly lost its majority in the oil-rich state before three Umno lawmakers returned to the party.

In the letter signed off by Umno legal adviser Datuk Mohd Hafarizam Harun, Najib and Umno claimed that the articles compiled by Malaysiakini’s editorial team amounted to irresponsible journalism, were published in bad faith and intended to damage their “reputation and credibility”.

Najib and Umno demanded that Malaysiakini issue an unconditional apology and withdraw the articles, besides providing compensation and a written undertaking to refrain from publishing any other defamatory statements.