Umno Youth today lodged a police report against popular online daily malaysiakini over a letter which was published on the website on Jan 9.

The movement's information chief Azimi Daim ( photo ) filed the complaint at the Dang Wangi district police headquarters at 11.15am, accompanied by several Umno Youth supporters.

According to the report, the letter titled ' Similarities between "new Americans" and bumiputera ' contained seditious remarks that could create chaos in the country.

Azimi told a press conference later that the letter, by making false accusations as well as questioning the Malay special rights, could instill hatred towards the government in non-Malay Malaysians.

"The letter falsely accused the government of ignoring the benefits of orang asli (indigenous people) and said allowances and medical care are only given to those who become Muslims.

"It also implied that Malays are the cause of poverty among Indians as Malay businessmen were said to have bought plantations for project development," he said.

Azimi said Malay special rights have been provided for under Article 153 of the Federal Constitution and should not be questioned.

He said the letter was also malicious for having likened Umno Youth to the Ku Klux Klan in America "which was ready to kill other races".

Censor offensive materials

Azimi urged the Home Affairs Ministry to monitor closely content on the Internet and take action against malaysiakini or any other website that publishes materials which are detrimental to national interests.

He also hoped that news websites and media organisations will be more responsible when disseminating information.

"If they fail to censor offensive materials which are unfit for publication, the authorities should then investigate and act on them," he said.

Malaysiakini editor Steven Gan ( photo ) said that the online daily's policy with regard to the letters forum is to encourage free and open discussion on controversial issues.

"But that does not mean we publish letters without due care. We exercise a strict selective process in which letters that are considered personal attacks or those which could possibly breach existing laws are left out," he said.

"We believe that the said letter did not carry any seditious remarks that could incite racial violence, but was based on a factual comparative study."

Today's police report is the third made against malaysiakini since its launch three years ago.

In March 2001, Selangor police lodged a report against the news website for quoting the opposition that the death toll from the Petaling Jaya Selatan racial clashes could be higher than the official count of six.

In July the same year, a university student leader filed a report claiming that a letter published on malaysiakini bearing his name was not written by him.