KUALA LUMPUR, March 15 ― A local rights group today urged Putrajaya to relax its rules on the media industry here, following yesterday’s closure of independent news portal The Malaysian Insider (TMI).

In a statement, the National Human Rights Society (Hakam) noted that one of the factors that contributed to the portal’s shutdown was the prolonged block on the site by local Internet regulators.

“The government's undemocratic action to shut out critical reporting, especially as related to the notorious scandals, shames us in the eyes of all right thinking people; and denigrates our standing in the international community.

“We urge the government to rethink its repressive stance against media freedom as it undermines and subverts the rule of law ― a fundamental and non-negotiable precept of our Rukun Negara,” the group said in a statement signed by its chairman Datuk Ambiga Sreenavasan and secretary-general Robyn Choi.

TMI shut down at midnight last night after eight years of operations after its backers in The Edge Media Group (TEMG) failed to get buyers to take over the news portal.

In a statement, TEMG publisher and group CEO Ho Kay Tat said it was likely that one of the reasons behind the failed negotiations was the portal’s recent run-in with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), which later led to the TMI website getting blocked.

The block, according to minister Datuk Seri Dr Salleh Said Keruak recently, was because the news portal had caused public “confusion” when it published an article quoting an unnamed source from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) advisory panel.

TMI first went online in February 2008.