The Malaysian government was today advised not to isolate or intimidate malaysiakini and to allow journalists from the online news portal to cover government events without restriction.

"[#1] Seapa [/#] is deeply disturbed by the reports that your government intends to ban reporters from the online newspaper Malaysiakini.com from attending or covering any government activities," Southeast Asian Press Alliance (Seapa) chairman Kavi Chongkittavorn said in a fax sent today to Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

He was commenting on a statement by Deputy Home Minister Chor Chee Heung on Sunday that malaysiakini journalists would be barred because the news portal was not a licensed publication.

In Malaysia, Internet websites, unlike the print media, are not required to obtain an annual licence to operate.

" Malaysiakini should have full and equal access to news events with other media," said Kavi.

He added that any licensing requirement would inevitably lead to formal and informal censorship of news content to the detriment of the public's right to know.

Excuse to attack

Kavi urged Mahathir to instruct the Home Ministry and others to allow malaysiakini to cover government events without restrictions.

"We further urge your government to stop any attempt to isolate or intimidate malaysiakini . As a respected source of news and opinions, the site is closely watched by not only Malaysians but others in this region," he added.

"We fear that the current controversy over the site is being used by opponents of press freedom in Malaysia as an excuse to attack one of the few independent voices in the Malaysian media."

Kavi was referring to Chor repeating the allegation that malaysiakini received funding from financier George Soros' foundation.

The deputy home minister has threatened to take unspecified action against malaysiakini if those allegations were true.

The controversy was sparked by a report in the current issue of the international magazine, Far Eastern Economic Review , which stated in an article titled [#2] Levelling the field [/#] that malaysiakini was among the media organisations in Asia which received funds from the infamous billionaire.

Untrue report

Malaysiakini.com chief executive officer Premesh Chandran has issued a statement that the Review 's report was not true.

This erroneous detail appeared in the introduction to an interview with Soros conducted by the Review 's Nayan Chanda in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan 28.

Both Seapa and Soros' [#3] Open Society Institute [/#] issued statements that malaysiakini was not a recipient of any fund, either directly or indirectly, from the American financier.

The Review has since issued a clarification, which is carried on its website, but it was described as "inadequate" by Chandran as it suggested that the web company received funds indirectly from Soros, which was not the case.

Chandran added that malaysiakini , launched in November 1999, was financed from a mix of different sources, including grants from the Bangkok-based Seapa, a regional network of journalist organisations. ([#4] FEER report untrue, M'siakini never got Soros funds [/#], Feb 2)

Soros, a notorious currency speculator, was blamed for causing the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

As a result, he was labelled as a "moron" by Mahathir. Soros has used part of his wealth funding charity projects around the world through his Open Society Institute.