There is no proof as yet that the exposes on 1MDB made by the Sarawak Report are false, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) said.

This was revealed by MCMC monitoring and enforcement chief Zulkarnain Mohd Yassin at a meeting with the chief  editors of online news organisations, including Malaysiakini , in Putrajaya today.

Zulkarnain said access to Sarawak Report was blocked as a preventive measure.

He said the commission would wait for the police to complete their investigation into the whistleblower website before deciding whether to lift the block.

"Let the investigation take its course," he said.

When pressed, Zulkarnain was not prepared to state as to when MCMC will make a decision to lift its ban on Sarawak Report .

“We could have blocked it much earlier, but we didn’t,” he said, indicating that the commission had received complaints against the whistleblower website.

Zulkarnain however would not reveal where the complaints came from.

On Sunday, MCMC blocked access to Sarawak Report , which has published a number of exposes on the 1MDB scandal.

The commission said the contents on the website “could affect the peace and cause national instability, disrupt public order and  affect economic stability."

‘Misinformation’ tops the list

The rare briefing by MCMC today was attended by about a dozen of media organisations, among others The Malaysian Insider , Sinar Harian , The Star and New Straits Times .

Zulkarnain told the editors to be “a little cautious” in their reporting, but stressed that this was “not a warning but a friendly advice”.

“When the situation warrants it, we will take action,” he said.

Zulkarnain lamented that the statistics gathered by the commission last year showed most complaints received were related to “misinformation”.

According to MCMC, recent cases of misinformation which threatened “national security, political and economic stability” included the Low Yat issue where the social media played a major role in spreading false information.

Violence broke out on July 12 at Low Yat Plaza , a shopping complex in Kuala Lumpur famous for electronic products, after a youth was nabbed for stealing a mobile phone.

Rumours spread by social media that the Malay youth was cheated by Chinese traders peddling counterfeit phones, resulted in a mob descending on the mall.

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