By John Burton, Financial Times

Malaysia's leading political blog was being blocked on Thursday in what was seen as a crackdown on websites credited with contributing to government losses in this year's general election. 

The move came as Anwar Ibrahim, the former deputy prime minister, was being sworn in as the new opposition leader following a by-election victory this week that returned him to parliament for the first time in a decade. Mr Anwar vowed to mount a no-confidence vote against the government by mid-September.

The Malaysia Today website was blocked by state-owned Telekom Malaysia, the country's leading internet service provider, on the orders of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, which said comments posted on it were "insensitive, bordering on incitement".

The MCMC action represents an apparent reversal of government promises not to censor the internet, except for pornographic sites. The policy was introduced in the 1990s to encourage foreign investment in the showcase Multimedia Super Corridor, near Kuala Lumpur.

Abdullah Badawi, the prime minister, recently admitted the government had underestimated the influence of the internet in the March general election. News sites, such as subscriber-based Malaysiakini, have emerged as credible alternatives to the state-controlled media.

Officials have suggested that they may also adopt the policy of neighbouring Singapore, which uses sedition and defamation suits to counter "unethical" allegations on the internet and to hold bloggers accountable.

Singapore allows critical websites, but it recently jailed two bloggers and put another on probation for "racist" comments. Another blogger faces charges for questioning the impartiality of a judge hearing a court case against a leading opposition figure. The government said the comments amounted to judicial contempt.

Mr Abdullah said disinformation on the internet should not go unchallenged because it undermined trust in the government.

Malaysia Today is seen as the first test of the new policy. The website is operated by Raja Petra Kamarudin, a Malaysian royal family member, who is a long-standing government critic and has posted sensitive documents online.

"The government has written [to] all 20 internet service providers and I expect we will be blocked by all of them within the next few days. There is strong pressure from the government to do so," said Mr Raja Petra.

Mr Raja Petra was charged last month with criminal defamation after suggesting on his website that deputy prime minister Najib Razak and his wife were implicated in the murder of a Mongolian model. One of the deputy prime minister's senior advisers is now on trial for allegedly abetting the crime.

Mr Najib and his wife have denied any accusations made by political opponents, including Mr Anwar. Mr Najib took the dramatic step this week of swearing on the Koran denying that he knew or was involved with the murdered model.

Mr Najib has been named to succeed Mr Abdullah, who is due to step down in 2010.

Comments (11)