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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