KUALA LUMPUR, June 2 — Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today questioned the government’s rationale for forcing media companies to obtain the International Trade and Industry Ministry’s (Miti) approval to operate during the “total lockdown.”

He noted that the media was already listed as an essential service and firms in the sector already secured their approval letters from the Communications and Multimedia Ministry (KKMM) as previously instructed.

“I was informed by media members that before this, they were told to get approval from KKMM to operate, but now they were asked to request it from Miti.

“What is the justification for complicating their business with various registrations? Doesn’t it suffice to just register with KKMM?” the PKR president wrote on Twitter.

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Media companies were notified last night by KKMM officials that their companies would have to re-register under Miti, after many already completed their applications and received approval letters from the former ministry.

Media companies said this reversal, coupled with the inability of many to access Miti’s website for its approval, were significant obstacles to the execution of their duties.

On May 30, Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said that only 1.5 million workers a day across Malaysia will be allowed to travel under new restrictions effective today under the so-called “total lockdown”.

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He said new requests to travel for work must be directed to their respective ministries.

He added that all existing permission letters issued by the Miti that allowed workers to travel under previous iterations of the MCO, will no longer be valid after May 31.

However, just a day later, Miti was put back in charge as the one-stop coordinator for businesses to get written permission to operate from today.

The National Security Council (NSC) said new approval letters will be required for the lockdown from June 1 to June 14.