Communications and Multimedia Minister Salleh Said Keruak today said the blocking of a news portal was not the same as blocking porn sites.

He said this in response to a question over why some porn sites were still accessible but news portal The Malaysian Insider ( TMI) was instead blocked.

"All of them (the porn sites) are blocked but when we block, they set up new sites.

"Of course, we monitor all of them and in principle, whether porn or religious extremism, we will block them," he told journalists in Shah Alam today.

However, Salleh said the blocking of a news portal depended on whether there were complaints.

"For the online media, we need to see if there are public complaints," he said.

Yesterday, Internet users on the Celcom and Unifi ISPs complained they were unable to access TMI and were instead greeted with a Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) notice that the site had been blocked.

The notice claimed that the website had violated Malaysian laws.

The MCMC in a statement later confirmed the block, claiming the site had violated Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act which concerned the misuse of network facilities. The agency did not provide specifics.

Salleh today confirmed that the ban was due to TMI 's article on Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

The news portal had quoted an anonymous source on the MACC operations review panel who claimed there was sufficient evidence to charge the prime minister.

Najib was investigated over the deposits of RM42 million from state-owned SRC International and RM2.6 billion from an offshore account into his personal bank accounts.

Attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali has cleared Najib of any wrongdoing but the MACC is appealing the decision not to prosecute.