KUALA LUMPUR: The government defended its decision to block The Malaysian Insider pending criminal charges for its "undesirable content" similar to that of porn websites.
Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak said that was how the ministry dealt with websites that carried pornographic or extremist contents.
He said the authorities "cannot wait to act after a website is seen to have abused network services."
"If we do, we would leave undesirable content accessible while investigations are proceeding.
"If we wait as Sepang MP (Hanipa Maidin) said, for them to be charged before acting, there will be a lot of websites with pornographic content that we need to act on," Salleh told reporters at Parliament lobby.
He said if the content violated the law, the relevant authorities would take the necessary actions.
The Malaysian Insider was blocked for violations under Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, which covers the improper use of network services.
Salleh said the portal had ceased operations due to commercial reasons.
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