S. Mahfuz/BenarNews
The Malaysian government’s desire for “absolute control” over information led Reporters Without Borders to drop the nation 18 spots on its World Press Freedom Index released Tuesday – the biggest dip among all counties ranked in the watchdog group’s annual report.
Elsewhere in the region, the governments of Bangladesh, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand used the coronavirus pandemic to repress the media in 2020, the Paris-based group reported.
Just one year after it jumped 22 notches on the index, Malaysia fell to 119 in the ranking of 180 nations.
“Malaysia … embodies the desire for absolute control over information. Its astonishing 18-place fall, the biggest of any country in the index, is directly linked to the formation of a new coalition government in March 2020,” Reporters Without Borders said in an analysis of the report on its website.
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Nontarat Phaicharoen/BenarNews
Thai activist Parit Chiwarak appeared in court in a wheelchair Monday, looking extremely frail after a 35-day hunger strike, and telling officials he had been unable to gather evidence for his defense against sedition and royal-defamation charges because he was repeatedly denied bail, eyewitnesses said.
Parit, a university student and prominent figure in youth-led pro-democracy protests that sprang up here last year, had to be wheeled into the Bangkok Criminal Court for the closed-door hearing on charges related to a Nov. 13, 2020, incident at the Democracy Monument. It led to royal defamation charges being filed in February against him and six other anti-government protesters.
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