Reformati’s press freedom and free speech?

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Reformati’s press freedom and free speech?

 KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 2, 2025: The detention and arrest of Australian political commentator Murray Hunter by Thai immigration authorities linked to the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has highlighted Malaysia’s state of press freedom and free speech to the rest of the world.

It has also raised questions about Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s PKR’s so-called Reformasi (Reformation) agenda with Malaysians now dubbing it as Reformati (Dead Rerformation).

The matter of press freedom and free speech is now labelled by some Malaysians as worst than the Umno-led Barisan Nasional regime.

And, this is what Prof Dr James Chin has to say about the matter posted on Facebook:

 

James Chin

This is absolutely outrageous. The MCMC has no business doing this. Murray was voicing his professional opinion — something he's completely entitled to, just like anyone else is entitled to their political views. Since when did that become a crime in Madani land?
Fahmi has the authority to put an end to this nonsense. So why isn’t he stepping in? Isn’t he supposed to be a reformer? Then why is he standing by while the MCMC tramples over basic freedoms?
Let’s be real — Murray will win his case in Thailand. The Thai were doing a favor for their Malaysian counterpart. This is blatant state overreach, plain and simple. It reeks of harassment and insecurity.
And let’s not forget how utterly stupid this move is. More people will now seek out what Murray wrote. Ever heard of the Streisand Effect? Congrats, MCMC and the so-called Madani government — you just made his voice even louder.
Total backfire. You played yourselves. 

No News Is Bad News reproduces below a news report on the MCMC-linked Murray-arrest saga:

Malaysia

Murray Hunter freed on bail, considering charges against MCMC

Hunter later told The Vibes that he was freed on bail and awaiting what comes next in what he describes as a perplexing legal case.

Updated 2 hours ago · Published on 01 Oct 2025 5:24PM

“I’m shocked at what is happening. I have not done anything wrong in Thailand,” he claimed. - October 1, 2025

 

by Ian McIntyre

AUSTRALIAN political commentator Murray Hunter has been released from Thai immigration custody after posting bail.

Having earlier spent some 48-hours in a holding cell in Bangkok, the former academic, is now seeking legal advice over charges of criminal intimidation against the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).

In April 2024, MCMC categorically rejected all accusations made by Hunter, who accused the agency of being politically influenced by the current government administration.

The MCMC announced in a statement then that Hunter’s postings were slanderous as he openly accused the commission of acting beyond its jurisdiction for personal interests and claimed that the commission and the police were trying to scare the public.

Hunter was charged under Section 328 of the Thai Criminal Code with defamation, where four of his Substack articles were quoted as defamatory material.

Freed on bail

According to reports, critics have compared Hunter's case to that of Nuon Thoeun, a Cambodian worker.

In October last year, Cambodian authorities reportedly collaborated with the Malaysian government to arrest and deport Thoeun after she posted criticisms of Cambodia’s former long-time prime minister and current Senate president, Hun Sen, on her Facebook page.

As for Hunter, he was detained by the Thai immigration authorities at the Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok on Monday about 7.30am as he was about to leave the country to Hong Kong.

“I’m shocked at what is happening. I have not done anything wrong in Thailand,” he claimed.

Hunter later told The Vibes that he was freed on bail and awaiting what comes next in what he describes as a perplexing legal case.

"I do not think the Thai police even understand why they were arresting me and only told me that I was charged with defamation.

“They could barely pronounce the titles of my articles in English and barely spoke English and repeatedly told me that I had been arrested for defamation,” he said.

Hunter, who has since engaged legal help, said that his case showed that MCMC can detain persons anywhere in the world on ‘trivial matters’ of alleged abuse on social media postings.

"One is not spared even if he or she is living outside the country. I think that is the consequence of my detention."

Hunter has claimed he has not done anything wrong in his postings, saying that he wrote it on the premise of what any journalist does under the globally accepted practise of press freedom.

In the past, Hunter was wanted after a series of reprimands by MCMC for alleged unverified allegations on his social media postings and blogs.

After quitting his lecturing post at Universiti Malaysia Perlis, the Australian academic had lived in Haadyai, southern Thai for the past several years.

He had also taught at an institution of higher learning in Thailand and enjoys ties with both Thai and Malaysian civil societies.

He had occasionally continued to offer analysis and opinions about the state of governance in Malaysia.

MCMC also needs to clarify what role it plays

Senior lawyer S. Raveentharan, an advocate for human rights, said that the case is interesting to note in terms of legal interpretation.

If Hunter committed an offence in Malaysia, he should be repatriated from Thailand to face the latter's courts, and the Thai side need not wait on this matter.

"Why was he detained and then granted bail." 

Raveentharan said that MCMC also needs to clarify what role it plays as the authority on media content.

A formal extradition treaty does exist between Thailand and Malaysia through a treaty signed by both neighbours.

The treaty does provide a framework for one country to request the surrender of a fugitive from the other to face legal proceedings or punishment.

Raveentharan said that it remains to be seen if Hunter was facing charges in Thailand or Malaysia.

Another lawyer who preferred not to be named also questioned MCMC’s actions and what authority they have to detain someone in another country. - October 1, 2025.

ASIA SENTINEL

Thais Arrest Journalist Critic at Malaysia’s Request

Detention awakens concerns over Asean transnational repression of free speech

John Berthelsen
Sep 30

Thailand’s police have taken the extraordinary step of arresting Murray Hunter, a journalist and an Australian national, on criminal defamation charges, apparently at the behest of Malaysia, triggering charges of transnational repression of free speech in Asean.

The September 29 detention, said to have been ordered by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, immediately sent jitters through the journalism fraternity. Thailand, particularly in Bangkok and Chiang Mai, has long been a regional home to foreign journalists for major news organizations reporting critically across the area, particularly on repression in Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar, which is locked in a bloody five-year civil war with rebels seeking a return to democracy.

Critics are comparing Hunter’s arrest to a May affair in which Malaysia cooperated in the return of Cambodian domestic worker Nuon Thoeun, who was deported back to her home country after she posted on social media criticizing Cambodian government leaders. Thailand itself returned four women and two men in 2024 to be charged by Cambodia with treason for posting social media statements criticizing Cambodian policies and has returned other nationalities to China.

“This again demonstrates the hypocrisy in Asean,” said a prominent Kuala Lumpur-based lawyer, who asked not to be named, ironically for fear of retribution. “While trumpeting on the Asean Commissioner for Human Rights and their commitment to civil liberties, the political reality is that 10 countries cooperate with each other to arrest, charge, or deport governmental critics and dissidents. This occurs even if no crime is committed in the state taking the action. Thus, Murray hasn’t committed any crime under Thai law.”

Journalists are prime targets for such transnational repression, according to the London-based Freedom House. “Perpetrator governments regularly reach beyond their borders to intimidate journalists and suppress truthful reporting,” the NGO said. “Since 2014, 26 governments have carried out 124 incidents of transnational repression against exiled journalists. Authoritarian leaders view independent media and whistleblowers, both at home and abroad, as activists who threaten their power.”

Hunter, who lives in southern Thailand, told local media he was taken into custody at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok at about 7:30 am while preparing to board a flight to Hong Kong. “I was shocked by what happened. I have not done anything wrong in Thailand,” he was quoted as saying.

I’m stuck here,” Hunter said of his Bangkok ordeal in a WhatsApp interview with Asia Sentinel. “It’s unbelievable. The police forces are working together to suppress free speech.” He told Asia Sentinel that he had “just got out of jail and I’m on bail for a hearing on November 17. The MCMC conned the Thai police to use criminal defamation on me. Now journalists in Thailand are not safe if third countries seek Thai assistance to prosecute people they don’t like.”

A long-time resident of Malaysia and Thailand, Hunter is widely known for his stinging critiques of Anwar Ibrahim’s Pakatan Harapan coalition government. Originally an academician and consultant to Asian governments on community development and village biotechnology, he was a lecturer at Universiti Malaysia in the northern state of Perlis until 2015. He has written for a long list of publications including New Mandela, Online Opinion, Pravda, Eurasia Review, MIC, local Malaysian news sites, and others, and is the author of several books. He wrote for Asia Sentinel as well but started his own blog on Substack two years ago.

“I’m tired from a night on the floor in jail,” he said. His troubles with the MCMC actually started last February, he said, when the Malaysian agency filed the defamation charges against him, “but we thought it was all bullshit.”

In April 2024, the MCMC accused Hunter of “slanderous postings” for accusing the commission of acting beyond its jurisdiction for personal interests, of being politically influenced by the Pakatan Harapan administration, and claiming that the commission and the police were trying to scare the public. The commission “categorically rejected all baseless accusations.”

Thai authorities took his passport, he said, and he can’t leave Bangkok before his November hearing.

His troubles with the Malaysian government have been growing for several years, he said. The MCMC blocked his blog, carried on Substack, three years ago. He singled out Salim Fateh Din, formerly the Interim Chairman of MCMC and a senior member of the United Malays National Organization, as a particular foe.

While Hunter has become widely known across Malaysia as an Anwar critic, repeatedly delivering specific examples of corruption and predicting the Pakatan Harapan coalition’s imminent demise, which has earned him the anger of the government, there is little doubt that despite Anwar’s liberal credentials, his administration has become increasingly more restrictive to freedom of information.

Blogs have been summarily shut down, and journalists have been threatened by government officials. “Don’t get upset with me if there is a call or a radio car outside of your house. We are monitoring, behave yourself,” Fahmi Fadzil, the minister of Communications, famously told reporters in 2023. Asia Sentinel has been repeatedly blocked over the years for reporting critically on Malaysian politics and scandals although Fahmi denied it personally in an email.

Earlier this month, the MCMC fined Sin Chew Media Corporation Bhd RM100,000 (US$23,762) for uploading what was described as an incomplete illustration of the national flag, the Jalur Gemilang, on its website, and Sinar Karangkraf Sdn Bhd the same amount for posting what was said to be false information about Inspector-General of Police Khalid Ismail’s alleged involvement in a local political party.