Monday, March 14, 2016

Goodbye to The Malaysian Insider

A farewell message from its Editor Jahabar Sadiq:


Goodbye readers from near and far, and those reading us in Malaysia despite the government block.

The Edge Media Group has decided to shut down The Malaysian Insider from midnight today, for commercial reasons. Perhaps it is fitting that we go offline at the start of the Ides of March. I hope we have served you well since our first day of going live on February 25, 2008. And I hope others will continue to serve you in our absence.

We worked as impartial journalists to inform Malaysians and other readers so that they make informed decisions. We worked to make all voices heard in this marketplace of ideas. But our work in The Malaysian Insider has now come to an end in a Malaysia that more than ever requires more clarity, transparency and information.

All said and done, I want to thank everyone of you in Malaysia, around the world, and those who have been with The Malaysian Insider from day one until now for your support, well wishes and criticism during these fantastic eight years and 18 days of The Malaysian Insider.

I won’t put down my pen, I won’t lay down my camera, I won’t shut up and I won’t be blinkered or turn a deaf ear to what goes on in Malaysia and the world. And I urge all of you to do the same. And I shall always be the biggest fan of this news portal called The Malaysian Insider.

Goodbye.

The Editor



Sad to see it go as I've enjoyed reading its news and articles.

TMI had earlier suffered a major loss of staff when many left to form the new Malay Mail Online (which is different and separate from the Malay Mail, the latter being run by an UMNO man).


12 comments:

  1. tmi was ban by yr najib. it seem u support the ban.

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    1. you're so hard in your wish to blame me but lack the competency to do so and thus make reckless unfounded accusations - pathetic as typical of a pkr bloke, wakakaka

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    2. i wrote "it seem" implied i am not that hardcore, purely base on deduction. when najib govt stop the edge, u said nothing n carry on yr criticism against mahathir. when the najib govt ban msia chronicle, no sound fr u, u r busy writing on mahathir n those that wan to hold najib accountable. n when najib govt ban tmi, again u buat tak tahu n still carry on yr attack on mahathir. sekarang tmi tutup kedai then only shed crocodile tear but still no a word of najib govt. am i wrong in my conclusion albeit a guess one? is that not an approach u adopt to accuse pkr n anwar n azmin all the time?

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    3. HY, you have formed the totally incorrect and conceited (self-centred) belief that I should be writing on what you think I should write. Let me correct you now - I'm the blogger, not you, and I write on what "I" (not you) want to write. Got that?

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    4. Did you read TMI's own press release? They say they've made a RM 10M loss and cannot sustain the news portal anymore. By their own admission, it was a business decision. How did you come to the conclusion that govt had anything to do with them ceasing operations?

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  2. wow... the ides of march? is it a warning? something bad is going to happen? that's not a good way to say goodbye?

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  3. Hi

    Pls refer to some news about to be the next Bank Negara Governor from whatsapp. Can't post it here.

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    1. Thiru, I'm not very familiar with banking affairs, However Malay Mail Online has an article on potential candidates - see http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/whos-who-in-the-search-for-the-next-bank-negara-governor

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    2. From my sources it is someone who is not listed as potential candidates by Malay Mail Online. But let's wait.. my sources may be wrong. He went to Cambridge, I think.

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  4. On the surface, the Malaysian Insider was shut down for commercial reasons. The site had and was making a loss.
    If you are incapable of looking deeper than superficial reasons, don't bother to comment further.

    The Malaysian Insider had been arbitrary blocked by the MCMC, essentially the Najib administration, acting as prosecutor and judge, without right of appeal. If you are an on-line news-site, being blocked basically means you do not exist. In Malaysia anyway.
    Australians like Ktemoc probably didn't notice it at all, so it was a non-issue to him.

    So whatever deals with prospective buyers as well as the proposed management buyout simply collapsed.

    In a very real sense , the Najib administration killed the Malaysian Insider. And for what ? To cover up 1MDB, SRC and Billions disappearing into Najib's personal bank accounts.

    Meanwhile Ktemoc has been desperately rushing around like a headless chook attacking anybody, everybody and any organisation which criticises Najib.

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    Replies
    1. please don't shift the blame to pm najib la.. 20 months of operation and you lost rm10 million and you blame najib. our press freedom is better than singapore but yet you want to blame mcmc. ask tony fernandez to buy tmi la.. didn't he said that he is feeling better even when the government slammed him a lot?

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    2. Not completely true. I was able to access the site on a daily basis, from Malaysia. It was as if the site wasn't blocked at all. Also, you do not accumulate RM 10M in debt in the few weeks that the block was in place. They had been running at a loss most likely from day one. Unless of course you mean they were less than truthful in their own press release. And btw, it was their own press release. Not some govt prepared speech. So, how do you come to the conclusion that jib bhai was responsible for tmi shutting down? Look, as fun as it is to blame jib bhai and co. for all that ails Malaysia, we cannot become stupid and create excuses just so we can lambast umno/bn. If we do that, we become no better than umno/bn cyber troopers.

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