Malaysia dips in press freedom rating amid Putrajaya's clampdown on media, internet

Malaysia has dropped in the latest annual World Press Freedom Index, falling seven places from 88th last year to 95th, a rating that comes amid a clampdown on media and online content critical of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's government.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF), which issues the annual index ranking media and journalistic freedom in 180 countries, also gave Malaysia an overall score of 52.73, down from 56.09 last year, and remaining in the "problematic situation" category.

The index is based on an assessment of the media landscape last year, which saw continued suppression of online dissent as well as police investigations into financial news outlet Bloomberg over shocking revelations of abuses by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

This time, the index is released just three days after police carried out a widely condemned raid at the home of Malaysiakini journalist B Nantha Kumar over a report on the government's controversial migrant worker recruitment system.

The latest rating also comes a year after critics and many local media practitioners questioned Malaysia's sharp jump in the 2025 index, where it was ranked 88th after a disastrous performance in 2024 that was widely seen as an indictment of Anwar's failure to implement promised reforms in his first year in power.

Among its Asean neighbours, Malaysia is ranked just one spot above absolute monarchy Brunei, and below East Timor (30th) and Thailand (92nd).

Meanwhile, among predominantly Muslim countries, Malaysia is placed behind Qatar, Senegal, Albania, Kosovo, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Chad.

RSF named Malaysia among countries in the Asia Pacific where "journalists are routinely subjected to strategic lawsuits against public participation... typically brought by political or economic elites exploiting a legal framework that offers scant protection to the press."

Meanwhile, it notes a worldwide decline in press freedom, and issued a scathing assessment of the current US government's widely known dislike of the country's established media.

"US President Donald Trump has turned his repeated attacks on the press and journalists into a systematic policy," it said. The US is ranked in 64th place, a fall of seven spots from last year.