Several organisations have expressed outrage over PC Suria's eviction order asking malaysiakini to vacate its premises in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur by end of February.

Among the first to react was the opposition Democratic Action Party (DAP). Its national chairperson Lim Kit Siang has called for a national and world-wide boycott of PC Suria computers unless it "apologises and withdraws its arbitrary and high-handed eviction order".

Lim told a press conference in Kuala Lumpur today that the eviction is part of a larger political agenda to shut down the Malaysian Internet news site, clamp down o­n nascent Malaysian freedom of speech and expression o­n line and violate the Multimedia Supercorridor Bill of Guarantee of no Internet censorship.

Lim said the eviction order was done o­n a "completely spurious ground which offends the spirit and culture of an information age"

Offensive and obnoxious

"This arbitrary eviction notice is most offensive and even obnoxious o­n many grounds," he added.

"It is also a deliberate distortion of and contempt for the rule of law, as no court of law had adjudged malaysiakini guilty of being involved in activities which contravene the laws of the country.

Malaysiakini has been served with an order dated Jan 22 to vacate its rented premises in Bangsar Utama by the end of February by landlord PC Suria because the o­nline website "had been found to be involved in activities which contravene the laws of the country".

PC Suria is a sole distributor of what has been marketed as the national computer produced by Perbadanan Komputer Nasional Bhd (Nascom), a government-backed enterprise formerly known as PC Malaysia Bhd., formed in 1997 to produce a "smart" national computer.

Yet to learn lesson

Meanwhile, DAP Seputeh member of Parliament Teresa Kok said that with the eviction, it is clear that the powers that be are out to put pressure o­n malaysiakini and have yet to learn their lesson from the huge uproar by various quarters over the initial clamp down o­n malaysiakini and the adverse publicity that it has attracted in the international media.

The Paris-based media organisation, Reporters Without Borders, said in a statement today that it was appalled at plans to evict malaysiakini from its premises just days after police raided them.

It added that the raid and eviction were serious threats against malaysiakini which is considered Malaysia's chief source of independent news.