Prime Minster Najib Razak,
Prime Minister's Office of Malaysia,
Main Block, Perdana Putra Building,
Federal Government Administrative Centre, 62502 Putrajaya,
Malaysia
 
3 May 2013
 
 
Dear Prime Minister,
 
We are writing on behalf of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) and the World Editors Forum, which represent 18,000 publications, 15,000 online sites and over 3,000 companies in more than 120 countries, to express our serious concern at the denial of access to some Malaysiakini.com content.
 
According to reports, access to certain videos published by news website Malaysiakini.com is being denied to local viewers by some Internet Service Providers (ISPs) ahead of national elections on 5 May. Two independent investigations have shown that viewers are unable to access certain KiniTV videos on YouTube servers.
 
This apparent censorship of KiniTV, Malaysiakini.com’s internet TV channel, follows frequent reports of ISPs intermittently dropping connections to the Malaysiakini.com website in recent weeks. It also follows several weeks of cyberattacks on both Malaysiakini.com and KiniTV.com. Unlike several previous attacks carried out to coincide with major political events, such as the Bersih 3.0 rally, these attacks have so far not brought down the two websites. The site’s Twitter account has also been hacked.
 
These attacks appear to be part of a systematic campaign to reduce access to independent news on Malaysiakini.com and other online news sites, and we are seriously concerned that they may intensify before the election on 5 May.
 
We respectfully call on you to do everything possible to ensure that ISPs provide full access to Malaysiakini.com, KiniTV and all other news sites, and that all cyberattacks are halted. We urge you to ensure that Malaysia fully respects international standards of freedom of expression in the run-up to and following Sunday’s elections.
 
We look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.
 
 
Yours sincerely,
 
 
 
Jacob Mathew
President
World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers
 
 
Erik Bjerager
President
World Editors Forum