Access to news portal The Malaysian Insider blocked for violating country's law

Access to news portal The Malaysian Insider has been blocked this afternoon by several Internet providers for violating the country's law.

Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) enforcement chief Zulkarnain Mohd Yasin confirmed this in a text message to the portal.

"We will issue a statement," as told by the The Malaysian Insider.

It was reported that several Celcom and Unifi users had complained about the lag in accessing the website this afternoon.

They were later greeted with a notification from MCMC saying that the news portal had flouted Malaysian laws hence access to it has been blocked.

The Malaysian Insider, in a response, said that it never received any notice about flouting any laws prior to the ban.

"This is an unpleasant surprise. MCMC has replied to my query and said they will issue a statement," said TMI's editor and chief executive Jahabar Sadiq.