MALAYSIA’S internet regulator has summoned five people from The Malaysian Insight, including CEO and editor Jahabar Sadiq, over an editorial titled “A sham of an RCI”.

The article was about the royal commission of inquiry into Bank Negara Malaysia’s foreign exchange losses in the 1990s, which critics have panned as an attack on former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who now leads the opposition.

Officers from the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) said the agency was responding to a report by Jaringan Melayu Malaysia, which said TMI had made fun of the RCI.

Others summoned besides Jahabar include TMI executives.

MCMC is investigating if the 9-month-old news portal breached any laws in its reports that allegedly insulted Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Claims that TMI had insulted Najib were made at the recent Umno annual general assembly by Penang delegate Mohd Nasrol Hisham Abdullah.

He called for the authorities to investigate the website in his speech during the debates.

Johor delegate Haliza Abdullah had also made a similar statement in her speech.

Nasrol said TMI was owned by Faridah Begum, the sister of Jahabar and the wife of Attorney-General Mohamed Apandi Ali.

Meanwhile, officers from the Companies Commission of Malaysia visited the TMI office today. They left after a short while, after finding everything to be in order at the office. – December 12, 2017.