United States-based Freedom House is not pleased with Information, Communications and Culture Minister Rais Yatim's statement that the NGO's rankings of the media around the world are akin to " armchair reporting ".

NONE In an immediate response, Freedom House managing editor Karin Karlekar ( right ) requested the minister to provide specific feedback about areas in which he disagrees with the findings.

Karlekar emphasised that Malaysia's legal environment was "overly restrictive by international standards".

"Malaysia has increasingly limited even the ability of bloggers and online media to operate," she told Malaysiakini in an email interview last night.

She was responding to Rais' statement to Parliament yesterday that Malaysia's 141st ranking for press freedom given by Freedom House was "not accurate".

rais yatim pc 020709 02 Rais said this when Teng Boon Soon (BN-Tebrau) asked the ministry to state if freedom of the press in Malaysia was still limited, as indicated in the global survey carried out by Freedom House.

The minister denied there was insufficient press freedom in Malaysia and said the media was growing rapidly.

As for the different levels of media freedom around the world, Rais ( left ) said the lifestyle in different continents formed the media cultures and practices in each country.

Universally accepted standards

Karlekar clarified that Freedom House's methodology of assessing press freedom was designed to evaluate universally accepted standards of press freedom and free expression.

These standards were guaranteed by international treaties and covenants that Malaysia was also party to, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, she said.

"The argument that restrictions on press freedom can be explained by cultural differences is one that holds no relevance to universal rights."

Recently, in conjunction with World Press Freedom Day in May, Freedom House issued a report on Malaysia, in which it stated that freedom of expression was constitutionally guaranteed but restricted in practice.

The NGO admitted in its report that despite restrictions, the scope of political discussion in the media expanded noticeably after the 2008 elections.

Still existing to hamper press freedom were the 1984 Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA), annual operating permits for media, self-censorship and limiting investigative journalism, the report noted.

It said the Internet has emerged as a primary outlet for free discussion and for exposing cases of political corruption but the government responded in 2007 with an escalating crackdown, including the first defamation charges against bloggers, most notably the cases of Ahirudin Attan and Jeff Ooi in January.

The NGO also criticised the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), the agency responsible in part for regulating the Internet, which it said had become one of the "greatest roadblocks" to freedom of expression in the country.

It has a record of being unnecessarily harsh toward independent news website Malaysiakini.com , which is often critical of the government, Freedom House added.

Pressure on news website

It also reported that MCMC had put pressure on Malaysiakini in 2009 for refusing to remove video clips related to last August's cow head protest from its website.

The agency argued that though the clips had the "potential to annoy a particular racial group"; nevertheless, no further action was taken against the protesters.

Founded in 1941 by prominent Americans, Freedom House is an independent watchdog organisation that supports the expansion of freedom around the world.

Former US first lady Eleanor Roosevelt and corporate lawyer and dark horse Republican Party nominee for the 1940 presidential election Wendell Willkie served as its first honorary co-chairpersons.