Press freedom in Asean under severe threat, M'sia backsliding since Harapan fell

Since 2015, democracy actors in five Asean countries have been witnessing an upsurge of attacks against the institution of the press which have only exacerbated due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, said the Asian Democracy Network which published a study on the matter earlier this week.

The study, called "State of Media Freedom in Southeast Asia: Confronting the Regression of Media Freedom in Southeast Asia", covered five countries - Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand.

Ironically it highlights that Malaysia had made great strides in press freedom under the Pakatan Harapan administration but that this had undergone a substantial regression under the...