Since 2015, democracy actors in five Asean countries have been witnessing an upsurge of attacks against the institution of the press which have only exacerbated due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, said the Asian Democracy Network which published a study on the matter earlier this week.

The study, called "State of Media Freedom in Southeast Asia: Confronting the Regression of Media Freedom in Southeast Asia", covered five countries - Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand.

Ironically it highlights that Malaysia had made great strides in press freedom under the Pakatan Harapan administration but that this had undergone a substantial regression under the...