The Home Ministry has barred Malaysiakini from covering events related to it and its minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

 

The minister's aide stopped journalists from Malaysiakini and its subsidiary KiniTV from an event this morning, saying they were not invited because their news are "biased".

 

"You guys write stories that are biased.

 

“You also spin our stories, which gives (us) a bad impression," the aide said.

 

The aide, who earlier said that the invitation was only for mainstream media, retracted his words when questioned about the presence of another news portal.

 

“The ministry has invited only some portals. (As for) the others, we are evaluating for now,” the aide added.

 

The aide added that the Home Ministry has been following closely news published on Malaysiakini , which was the reason invitation to the event was not extended to the news portal.

This is the second time in a week that the government has barred Malaysiakini from covering its events.

 

On Monday, the Prime Minister’s Office also stopped Malaysiakini from covering Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s event.

 

Previously, Zahid, in his maiden press conference as Home Minister in October 2013 ( above ), launched a tirade against Malaysiakini for allegedly "spinning" his words and confronted the journalist after the press conference.

 

At the same event, Zahid also stated that he was monitoring "every word, every sentence, every paragraph and every news item in Malaysiakini".