Malaysiakini barred from covering police event

• UPDATED 5.05PM | Added Malaysiakini being allowed to cover Saifuddin’s press conference later in the day.

Malaysiakini has been barred from covering a police event in Kuala Lumpur that was supposed to feature Inspector-General of Police Razarudin Husain today.

The event called “PDRM Special Dialogue II” began with closed-door discussion sessions between the Bukit Aman Narcotics Department and stakeholders, including other law enforcement agencies under the Home Ministry and Finance Ministry.

The media was supposed to be able to cover the launch by Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail scheduled at 12.30pm.

However, at around 11am, a press officer for Bukit Aman told Malaysiakini journalists that they were not allowed to enter the event.

This was despite Malaysiakini having received an invitation for the event via email from Bukit Aman, to which this portal replied within the same day with details of two reporters who were assigned to cover the event.

‘Following orders’

According to the officer, there was a screening process and only those who received a second invitation email on Aug 21 were allowed to cover the event.

However, when confronted by Malaysiakini reporters that there were other media personnel who came without an official invitation and were allowed ad hoc registration at the venue, he told the reporters “do not question about other media”.

The officer also indicated that the Bukit Aman Corporate Communications Unit could not let Malaysiakini in because they were “only following orders”, but declined to reveal where the order came from.

Malaysiakini has sent queries to Razarudin and Saifuddin, who is also scheduled to attend the event, for comments.

Later after the launching event, Malaysiakini was allowed to cover a press conference held by Saifuddin together with Deputy Inspector-General of Police Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay and Home Ministry secretary-general Ruji Ubi.

Malaysiakini has not been barred from covering events since after the 2018 general election.

The last recorded instance of the news portal being kicked out was in 2017 when one of its journalists was told to leave a Youth and Sports Ministry event.

Prior to that, Malaysiakini had often been barred from the Prime Minister’s Office, Treasury, the Defence Ministry, and press conferences at the MCA headquarters.

Probe on Mkini journos

Two weeks ago, police launched an investigation against Malaysiakini and three of its reporters over a news report on a possible Bukit Aman reshuffle.

The three reporters were summoned to give their statements at the Dang Wangi district police headquarters on Aug 9, where the investigating officer posed a direct question seeking the identity of the source quoted in the article.

However, the reporters stood firm in not revealing the source’s identity.