Malaysia remains on the bottom quarter 175 countries in the worldwide press freedom ranking index released today by Paris-based watchdog Reporters sans Frontieres (RSF, Reporters Without Borders).

In the latest 2009 ranking, Malaysia inched one place up to 131 from last year. Just four years ago, RSF had placed Malaysia at 92.

Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Norway and Sweden all share the No 1 spot, with Luxembourg, United Kingdom and the United States sharing the 20th spot.

Out of 10 Asean countries, Malaysia ranks sixth behind Thailand (130) and ahead of Singapore (133).

Self-imposed censorship

azlan Other bottom rung countries includes Brunei (155), Vietnam (168), Laos (169) and Burma (171).

"The authoritarianism of existing governments, for example in Sri Lanka (162nd) and Malaysia (131st), prevented journalists from properly covering sensitive subjects such as corruption or human rights abuses," wrote RSF in its official website.

"In Malaysia, the interior ministry imposed censorship or self-censorship by threatening media with the withdrawal of their licence or threatening journalists with a spell in prison," it added.

A full country report has yet to be published at the time of writing.