REVISED: MALAYSIAKINI WEBSITE SUSPENDED (not Twitter account)

Bruno-Manser-Fonds Press Release

Note: The previous title of the article suggested that Malaysiakini's twitter account was suspended. Fortunately there's not confirmation on that and that it is still accessible.

The outcome of the Sarawak election is likely to decide on the future of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak who has taken the election campaign completely out of the hands of Sarawak's incumbent "kleptocrat" Chief Minister, Abdul Taib Mahmud.

Malaysiakini, Malaysia's leading online news service that is covering the Sarawak state election, has been under cyber attack since yesterday 11 a.m local time. The attack follows a similar cyber attack on Sarawak Report, which has been down for three days already.

Both Malaysiakini and Sarawak Report have posted their content on Facebook under the following links:

www.facebook.com/sarawakreport
www.facebook.com/MalaysiaKini

Bruno-Manser-Fonds also recommends the following Facebook pages:
www.facebook.com/taibmustgo as well as www.facebook.com/pages/Baru-Bian-for-CM/110167189050902
as well as www.barubian.net and www.freemalaysiatoday.com

Worryingly, it has been reported that Twitter has suspended Malaysiakini without any reason being given.

Anwar Ibrahim, leader of the opposition coalition Pakatan Rakyat, stated that the cyber attacks were proof that the Barisan Nastional government is running scared of the opposition's campaign momentum.

One of the reasons the internet media are being attacked might be the worry over reports on electoral fraud. It has just recently been reported that Barisan Nasional is offering voters in the Ba Kelalan constituency (the constituency of PKR state leader Baru Bian) 2000 MYR (700 USD) for their vote.[my emphasis]

The Bruno Manser Fund asks the Malaysian government and Barisan Nasional to make sure all cyber attacks on the independent internet media will cease as they are unworthy of a state that claims to be a democracy.