#Sarawak international times cracked#
#Sarawak international times series#

Sarawak was then handed over to the British Crown by the Brookes. Towards the end of the Second World War, Sarawak was administered by the British Military for a short period before becoming a full-fledged Crown Colony in 1946. Sarawak was recognized as a sovereign nation by the United States and the British, becoming a British protectorate. While the Malaysian Bar has urged the Commission to withdraw its decision, it is still unclear whether the case will be appealed to the Federal Constitutional Court.Ĭolumbia Global Freedom of Expression is monitoring the case for further developments.In 1841, the Sultanate of Brunei passed on power over the Raj of Sarawak to the British Brooke Dynasty. Several groups, including the Malaysian Bar Association and the Centre for Independent Journalism, have condemned the Commission’s interpretation of the Act as applied to the Report, describing it unconstitutional. The warrant alleges commission of offenses under Sections 124B and 124I of Malaysia’s Penal Code. The arrest warrant is not enforceable internationally, but has effectively prohibited her from re-entering Malaysia. Subsequently, an arrest warrant was issued against the Reporter’s founder and chief editor, Clare Rewcastle-Brown, a British-national who was out of the country at the time. Under Article 211, “o content applications service provider, or other person using a content applications service, shall provide content which is indecent, obscene, false, menacing, or offensive in character with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass any person.” Article 233 also sanctions the transmission of information that is “obscene, indecent, false, menacing or offensive in character with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass another person” by means of any network facilities. With respect to the Report, the Commission found the report about the prime minister as “unverified content,” that “could create unrest and threaten national stability, public order and economic stability.” It further alleged that the publication constituted offensive content in violation of Articles 211 and 233 of the Act. Malaysia’s Communications and Multimedia Act of 1998 empowers the Commission to oversee the country’s communications industry, including granting or suspending media licenses. This alleged misappropriation was first exposed by the Wall Street Journal. In the weeks prior to the blockage, the Report had been particularly critical of Prime Minister Rajib Razak’s alleged siphoning of $700 million in government funds to his personal bank accounts. On July 20, 2015, the Communications and Multimedia Commission of Malaysia issued an order to block Internet access to The Sarawak Report, a Malaysia-focused website that had been critical of the Malaysian government.

Additional information regarding this legal matter will be updated as an official source becomes available.

It must be noted that media outlets may not provide complete information about this case.

In March 2015, the Commission announced the indefinite suspension of the Insider.Ĭolumbia Global Freedom of Expression could not identify the official legal and government records on the case and that the information contained in this report was derived from secondary sources. According to the government, these blockages were justified under Malaysia’s Communications and Multimedia Act of 1998. In July 2015, the Communications and Multimedia Commission of Malaysia blocked the Report for allegedly having “unverified content.” Later in August, police issued an arrest warrant against Rewcastle-Brown for criminal offenses under Sections 124B and 124I of the Penal Code, which effectively prohibited her from re-entering the country.įollowing that crackdown, a number of other news websites were shut down, including The Edge Financial Daily, Edge Weekly, Outsyed the Box, Din Turtle, the Asia Sentinel, Tabunginsider, Medium, the Malaysian Chronicle, and most recently, the widely read Malaysian Insider.

#Sarawak international times series#

Among them, The Sarawak Report, a whistleblowing website founded and edited by British national Clare Rewcastle-Brown, disclosed a series of bribery and financial mismanagement within the government.

#Sarawak international times cracked#

In July 2015, after allegations of financial corruption in his administration had sparked national and international controversy, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s regime cracked down on a number of news outlets and blogs that had voiced criticism against the government.