KUALA LUMPUR, May 27 — Malaysia’s internet regulator officially rescinded its directive to block access to news portal The Malaysian Insider (TMI) last week, more than two years after the outfit shuttered its operations in March 2016.

In a confidential letter sighted by Malay Mail, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) requested internet service providers (ISPs) lift the block against 179 addresses of websites and blogs writing about politics, including the news portal.

“We seek your assistance to uplift the blocking of websites as requested in our letter dated May 16, 2018,” said the letter signed by MCMC chief operating officer Datuk Mazlan Ismail, on behalf of its chairman Tan Sri Halim Shafie.

The letter was sent via email by the Network Media Management Department under its Digital Surveillance Division at 4.16pm on May 16, and had included the list of said websites.

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The ISPs were also required to reply with the status of the action within two days.

It cited Section 263(2) of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, which has been repeatedly used by the previous administration to block access to websites it deemed undesirable.

Last week, Malay Mail reported the use of the law to block several sites providing “live” updates and results for the 14th general election on the evening of the polls.

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On May 17, several media outlets had reported that whistleblower blog Sarawak Report and blogging platform Medium were finally accessible — just a day before DAP’s Gobind Singh Deo was named as the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government’s communications and multimedia minister.

The former was blocked for its coverage of the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal, and had subsequently used the latter as an alternative platform.

But the scope of the ban was much wider than was previously thought.

The first 20 of the 179 addresses banned were different permutations of Sarawak Report’s address (www.sarawakreport.org), including non-existent ones such as sarawak-report.org, www.sarawak-report.net and ww1.sarawak-report.com.

The ban against TMI also included its mirror site The Malaysian Outsider, and its backup hosted on blogging platform WordPress.

Other news sites blocked included Asia Sentinel, Malaysia Chronicle, Singapore’s The Independent and World Future TV.

The majority of the addresses blocked were political blogs, with the more significant ones being activist Hishamuddin Rais’ Tukar Tiub, Ameno World, Din Merican, Jebat Must Die, Sarawak Headhunter, photojournalist Bani Amin Ahmad’s Minaq Jinggo, Din Turtle and SPRM Insider.

Malay Mail has contacted MCMC for an official response.

The Edge Media Group decided to shut down TMI on March 15, 2016, some eight years after the news portal was started in 2008.

TMI editor Jahabar Sadiq told Malay Mail that The Edge Media Group’s decision to close the news portal was made for commercial reasons.

The previous administration had blocked access to TMI, with then-communications and multimedia minister Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak alleging that it had caused public “confusion” in an article quoting an unnamed source from a Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission advisory panel.

Jahabar later started another news outfit, The Malaysian Insight, which then suspended its operations on March 29 to “re-calibrate” its operations — due to a missed “major milestone in starting a paywall” and page views not reaching the targeted critical mass.

The portal has since announced it will resume operations tomorrow.