KUALA LUMPUR, March 15 ― An Umno lawmaker has disagreed with the notion that the federal government was to blame for The Malaysian Insider’s (TMI) closure yesterday after eight years of operation.
The lawmaker, Lenggong MP Datuk Shamsul Anuar Nasarah reportedly pointed out that the government has so far not taken any action against other pro-opposition news portals that published news deemed critical of the government and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
“There are many pro-opposition portals that are critical and if the government wanted to act on them, all would have faced the similar fate a long time ago.
“On the issue of TMI, I still believe it was shut down due to internal problems and not because of the government,” he was quoted as saying today in Utusan Malaysia.
Shamsul also reportedly reminded media practitioners not to abuse the freedom they are given and to report news based on facts.
The Edge Media Group (TEMG) yesterday said that it failed to get buyers to take over TMI, which shut down at midnight, and that its 20-month ownership of the news portal had cost it some RM10 million in losses.
The government recently blocked access to TMI, with Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Dr Salleh Said Keruak alleging that the news portal had caused public “confusion” with an article quoting an unnamed source from a Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) advisory panel.
TEMG publisher and Group CEO Ho Kay Tat said 59 TMI staff in the layoff would receive a severance package, but did not specify the quantum.
TMI was set up about eight years ago in February 2008.
