Despite the shutdown, the news portal boss Steven Gan says the site will continue to report on the Sarawak state election.
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s top news portal Malaysiakini remained crippled today, more than 24 hours after cyber attackers struck ahead of hotly contested state elections on Borneo island.
Steven Gan, its co-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 whistleblowing website Sarawak Report was hit by a similar attack.
“I believe the attack is linked to our reporting on the campaigning for the Sarawak election and it is no coincidence that this has happened to us three days after Sarawak Report was also attacked,” he told AFP.
“We are trying to get our website up and running and we are providing our content for free at the moment as we will continue reporting on what is happening in Sarawak. We will not stop, we will prevail,” he added.
Malaysiakini, which gained international fame as an alternative source of news during the rule of former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, earns part of its revenues from subscriptions.
Gan said the “denial of service” attack began yesterday morning when the portal’s servers were swarmed by massive and coordinated traffic from overseas, forcing it to post its reports on blogsites as well as Twitter and Facebook.
Malaysia’s major newspapers and broadcasters are closely linked with the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) 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, is viewed as a barometer of the BN’s popularity ahead of general election expected to be called by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak this year.
However, a key issue in the election is the fate of the state’s chief minister Abdul Taib Mahmud, who has headed Sarawak since 1981.
Websites such as Sarawak Report have been publishing articles on the wealth accumulated by 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 state election over the last two weeks and published articles on alleged vote-buying by BN campaigners, as well as the post-election fate of Taib amid a clamour from critics for him to step down.
Although BN 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, some analysts say the ruling coalition may lose seats in Saturday’s vote.
The opposition is aiming to deny the government a two-thirds majority that effectively allows the BN to pass legislation without any obstruction.
- AFP
Dear Readers,
Malaysiakini has been hit by a DDOS attack since 11am, Tuesday, April 12th. Our tech team is working around the clock to find solutions
Malaysiakini's news is also being posted to malaysiakinicom.wordpress.com and www.facebook.com/malaysiakini
To know more about DDOS attacks. To read about the attack: Malaysiakini down, hit by cyber attacks
Frequently Asked Questions: When will Malaysiakini be back to normal operations? There is no easy solution to DDOS attacks. All we can say is that we are working extremely hard to resolve the issue.
You can direct further questions to subscribe@malaysiakini.com or prem@malaysiakini.com.
Premesh Chandran
CEO Malaysiakini
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