COMMENT | Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on the Malaysian authorities to put an end to the investigation targeting journalist Rex Tan, arrested on suspicion of “sedition” simply for having asked a question at a public lecture on Gaza.

Instead, authorities should focus on protecting the journalist, who resigned from the online news site Free Malaysia Today, due to the harassment he faced after the lecture.

RSF warns this is a new episode in the misuse of the country’s Sedition Act, which continues to pose a serious threat to press freedom in Malaysia.

On Jan 17, 2026, Tan was arrested and detained for half a day, from midnight to around 1pm by police in Kuala Lumpur as part of an investigation into an alleged violation of Section 4(1) of the Sedition Act, as well as Section 505(c) of the Penal Code, which criminalises the circulation of a report or rumour “with intent to incite, or which is likely to incite” public mischief.

He was released on bail, but...