"I think the decision made against us and the hefty fine that has been put against us is perhaps an attempt to not only punish us but shut us down.”

– Steven Gan

COMMENT | To Ayah Punya kata, GrayDeer0609, Legit, Semua Boleh – Bodoh pun Boleh and of course, the aptly named Victim, your comments are apparently worth half a million ringgit. Of course, for half a million ringgit I would have expected rhetorical Molotov cocktails instead of the usual Malaysiakini drive-bys which is what these comments were.

I guess the "Malaysiakini 5 learnt his or her lesson", someone texted me. Really? Five anonymous subscribers wrote something that the political elites have said and the news portal gets fined but Malaysiakini managed to raise more than was needed through public appeals in record time, what exactly is the lesson here?

Of course, Malaysiakini is now going to take a tougher stand on comments - which was the point of this intervention by the state. Folks who normally complain about “cancel culture” are texting me, and saying that if Malaysiakini does not police the comment section, then the state has to step in...