Prior to its closure on the midnight of March 15, two companies linked to Umno and MCA respectively offered to buy The Malaysian Insider (TMI), according to an editor of the defunct news portal.

However, the offer was turned down by its editor Jahabar Sadiq, TMI's features and analysis editor Zulkifli Sulong said.

Zulkifli spoke on the how the TMI struggle to survive to find a new buyer and its predicament following the blocking of access to its site on the Internet three weeks before its closure at a forum last night, titled 'One Pen, Ten Thousand Men - Media Freedom in Malaysia'.