'Economist' to investigate censored Bersih report

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  'Economist' to investigate censored Bersih report

The Economist will investigate the Home Ministry's censorship of its report on Bersih 2.0 rally in its latest edition, its brand communicator manager Caroline Marrows said.

"We will investigate the claims," she told Malaysiakini in an email message yesterday.

"I can confirm that any apparent censorship of The Economist in Malaysia last week was not of our own doing. However, we won't be commenting on the matter any further."

Marrows also said weekly magazine would not speculate on the motive of the Malaysian government behind the censorship.

The Home Ministry has blotted out parts of the London-based international magazine's report on the Bersih 2.0 rally in its July 16 edition.

The report, 'Political affray in Malaysia: Taken to the cleaners', shows a number of sentences blacked out by what seems to be a permanent marker pen.

Misleading content, says Home Ministry

In a separate email to Malaysiakini , The Economist Asia edition deputy editor John Parker stated that the government had censored the report without notifying the magazine in advance.

Meanwhile, Home Ministry's Publications Control and Quranic Text Division secretary Abd Aziz Md Nor said action was taken to censor parts of the article which he claimed to be incorrect and misleading.

The sentences struck out refer to allegations of police and government misconduct in blocking the July 9 rally, during which close to 1,700 protesters were arrested.

According to Star , Abd Aziz said the decision was made after consulting the police, and the ministry had subsequently informed the magazine's publisher on the matter.

Portions of the article were blacked out before the magazine was released for distribution at the news stands.