KUALA LUMPUR, July 23 — Individuals with ill-intent will inevitably find ways to access Sarawak Report, said the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) when conceding it could not completely block access to website.
When maintaining that it ordered local service providers to block the UK-based website based on public complaints, the commission added that prohibiting access to online content was not limited to barring an individual website.
“This is because other methods still exist to access the content, as there is no such thing as a universal block on the Internet,” it said in a statement posted on the MCMC Facebook page.
“It is the nature of the Internet and those will evil intent will always overcome existing obstacles.”
Earlier today, an MCMC official conceded that it did not have evidence that Sarawak Report was guilty of fabricating documents on 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).
Citing “national stability”, the MCMC on Sunday confirmed that it ordered all Internet service providers in Malaysia to block access to the website, pending a multi-agency taskforce’s investigation into 1MDB.
Sarawak Report has since stood by its reports, however, and said on Tuesday that it may sue Umno minister Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan for criminal libel after the latter accused the website of publishing lies and labelled its founder Clare Rewcastle Brown “scum”.
