DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang is crying foul over the BN-controlled media, which he claims have failed to report several major developments, especially on corruption, in the past few days.

He was referring to calls by many international NGOs for the arrest of Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud and his family for alleged corruption, and revelations by a financial watchdog that Malaysia is among the top countries in the world for illicit capital flight , with RM150 billion (US$47 billion) siphoned off in 2009.

ops scorpene dinner 220711 kit siang As a result, "the BN-controlled media have degenerated further to become ‘blackout papers'," Lim ( left ) said in a statement yesterday, without naming any particular media.

Taib and his family are accused of graft by 17 NGOs from six countries, including the Bruno-Manser Fund, Greenpeace and forest watch organisation, Fern, in a letter last Tuesday.

And on Thursday, the Washington-based financial watchdog Global Financial Integrity estimated that Malaysia was the fifth worst country for illicit capital flight in 2009, maintaining the same ranking as in the findings of the NGO's 2000-2008 report.

The estimated capital flight include "illicit transfers from the proceeds of bribery, theft, kickbacks and tax evasion," according to the report.

The Ipoh Timor MP was also livid that Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng's victory in a defamation suit against the Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia on Wednesday went under-reported, save for "one small inconsequential paragraph".

"With the egregious ‘blackout' of unfavourable news by the BN media as happened blatantly in the past three days, Malaysia's press freedom index is set to nosedive further in future - as if Malaysia's press freedom index is not bad enough," he lamented.

Malaysia's press freedom index has been rated "not free" this year, sliding two places from the previous year to 143 out of 196 countries surveyed by US-based press watchdog, Freedom House.