Jakarta Globe, April 13, 2011
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Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia’s top news portal Malaysiakini remained crippled on Wednesday, more than 24 hours after cyber attackers struck ahead of hotly contested state elections on Borneo island.
Steven Gan, its joint founder and chief editor, said the site would continue to report on Saturday’s vote in Sarawak state despite the shutdown, which came days after whistle-blowing Web site Sarawak Report was hit by a similar attack.
“I believe the attack is linked to our reporting on the campaigning for the Sarawak elections and it is no coincidence that this has happened to us three days after Sarawak Report was also attacked,” he said. “We will continue reporting on what is happening in Sarawak.”
Malaysiakini, gained international fame as an alternative source of news during the rule of former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.
Gan said the “denial of service” attack began on Tuesday morning when the portal’s servers were swarmed by massive and coordinated traffic from overseas, forcing it to post its reports on blog sites as well as Twitter and Facebook.
Malaysia’s major newspapers and broadcasters are closely linked with the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition, but online news portals and blogs have become a lively forum for dissent and debate.
Saturday’s polls in Sarawak, a resource-rich but impoverished state, are viewed as a barometer of the coalition’s popularity ahead of general elections expected to be called by Prime Minister Najib Razak this year. However, a key issue in the elections is the fate of the state’s chief minister Abdul Taib Mahmud, who has headed Sarawak since 1981.
Web sites such as Sarawak Report have been publishing articles on the wealth accumulated by Abdul Taib and his family, as well as allegations linking his close friends to the exploitation of resources in the oil, mineral and timber-rich state.
Malaysiakini has been reporting closely on the election over the past two weeks and published articles on alleged vote-buying by Barisan Nasional campaigners, as well as the post-election fate of Abdul Taib amid a clamor from critics for him to step down.
Barisan Nasional is expected to retain power in Sarawak, where it held 63 of the 71 seats in the state assembly before it was dissolved in March, but some analysts say the ruling coalition may lose seats in the vote.
Agence France-Presse
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