Malaysia enforces rule to bar online reporter<\/p>\n
KUALA LUMPUR (Agencies): Malaysian officials barred a reporter
\nfor an outspoken Internet service from a news conference on
\nMonday, enforcing a rarely applied rule that only accredited
\njournalists can cover official events, the service's editor said.<\/p>\n
A reporter from malaysiakini.com was told to leave a news
\nconference given by Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister
\nAbdullah Badawi, according to malaysiakini editor Steven Gan.<\/p>\n
Gan said officials, who had previously taken a less strict
\napproach, said they were following a Home Ministry directive.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who has linked Malaysia's
\nfuture to mastery of information technology, has promised never
\nto censor the Internet.<\/p>\n
\"The ban, which seems to be an underhanded way of censorship,
\nwill not keep us out or stop us from doing our job,\" Gan told
\nAFP.<\/p>\n
Gan said Malaysiakini applied to the information ministry in
\nApril last year for press credentials but was told these could
\nnot be granted as it did not have a publication license.<\/p>\n
The home ministry which issues such licenses for print media
\nhad then told Malaysiakini it did not need a publication license,
\nGan said.<\/p>\n
Despite the lack of credentials Malaysiakini previously had
\nlittle difficulty covering government functions, Gan said.<\/p>\n
He said the ban could have been sparked by complaints from
\nsome ministers about \"being asked difficult questions.\"<\/p>\n
The apparent crackdown came just three days after it was
\nreported that malaysiakini had received money from financier
\nGeorge Soros, an arch enemy of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.<\/p>\n
Soros and Mahathir have kept up verbal sparring match since
\nthe 1997 Asian financial crisis, which Mahathir has partially
\nblamed on Soro's speculative activities.<\/p>\n
Mahathir has called Soros \"a moron\" and Soros has described
\nMahathir's government as \"repressive\".<\/p>\n
The Far Eastern Economic Review said in its latest issue that
\nthe Soros Open Society Foundation supported malaysiakini and
\nother media and human rights groups in Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n
Gan told Reuters that Soros's foundation had given money to a
\nBangkok-based journalists' group that funds his paper but that
\nnone of that money was channeled to malaysiakini.<\/p>\n
The magazine has since clarified that the Open Society money
\nwent to the journalists' organization -- the South East Asian
\nPress Alliance -- and not directly to malaysiakini.<\/p>\n
But Gan said authorities had seized on the chance to make life
\ndifficult for malaysiakini.<\/p>\n
Deputy Home Minister Chor Chee Heung was asked specifically
\nabout malaysiakini when he announced the stricter application of
\naccreditation rules to local journalists on Sunday.<\/p>\n
\"If this portal is receiving financial aid from Soros it is
\nvery wrong. What is their position if their service is to the
\nbenefit of the donor organization?\" Chor said.<\/p>\n
Chor did not return calls from Reuters on Monday.<\/p>\n
\"It's sort of expected. Some ministers are not happy with our
\ncoverage...partly because of the fact our journalists ask tough
\nquestions and that puts ministers in an embarrassing situation.\"<\/p>\n
Since its launch a year ago, malaysiakini has become an
\nalternative to Malaysia's mainly pro-government mass media.<\/p>\n
In December, Gan received the International Press Freedom
\nAward from the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.<\/p>\n
He said the paper had faced no government interference,
\nalthough some ministers had barred its journalists from events.<\/p>",
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