COMMENT The reasons given by the Home Ministry for suspending The Edge Weekly and The Edge Financial Daily for three months are completely untenable:

(i) that the two publications have raised questions and created negative public perceptions towards 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) and also implicated the government and national leaders;

(ii) that the published news reports were based on doubtful and unverified information, which might alarm public opinion and could/might be prejudicial to public order and national interest; and

(iii) that the 1MDB issue is being investigated by an investigation team that has been set up and therefore, it is inappropriate for the reporting (on the issue) to create negative perceptions of 1MDB and consequently for the government and national leaders.