The government should have blocked The Malaysian Insider 's ( TMI ) website ages ago, says former information minister Zainuddin Maidin.

Zainuddin said the people, and media freedom, have become 'too open' since the government repealed the Internal Security Act 1960 (ISA) four years ago.

“I feel the timing (to block TMI ) was not right. The time was too late and if it had been blocked earlier, the situation would not have worsened to what it is now.

“To make things worse, the government abolished the ISA and promised greater freedom and created greater expectations among the people and the media,” Zainuddin, who is widely known as Zam, said in a joint interview with Malaysiakini , Free Malaysia Today and Berita Daily .

Last week, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) blocked TMI 's website for supposedly breaking the law

MCMC said the site was blocked under Section 263(2) of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 for breaching Section 233 of the Act, but the commission did not elaborate on the nature of the alleged violation.

Section 233 deals with the abuse of network facilities or services to send communications that are obscene, indecent, false, menacing or offensive in character, with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass another person.

Zainuddin, a former Utusan Malaysia editor, said the media should be controlled and not given full freedom.

“The media must have been kept under control from ages ago and not be given full freedom. To me, there is no such thing as absolute freedom on earth,” he said.

'Utusan is not racist'

Zainuddin also commented on Perak Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah's speech that Utusan Malaysia is not racist but instead embodies the 1Malaysia spirit.

He agrees with the sultan's views, saying that the daily defends the federal government, the social contract issue, and does not publish sensitive news.

“My statement is the same with the sultan's, that Utusan is not racist. All these while it has been defending the federal government, the social contract and sensitive issues that need not be discussed,” he said.

He said when he was still the editor of Utusan Malaysia , he had even allowed the opposition's views to be aired in the paper's pages so that it would not be seen as being biased.

However, Zainuddin said, this was no longer being done and caused Utusan to be perceived as being one-sided.

“In my time with Utusan , I gave space for the opposition. But nowadays they don't (publish the opposition's views) but suddenly, there is a response (to the opposition).

“So now, if people say Utusan is racist, people believe it. It's because people don't get to hear both sides of the story,” he said.