The Edge suspension: Complete probe first, then suspend - TI-M

Suspension of The Edge Weekly and The Edge Financial Daily should only be taken after the completion of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) investigation, said Transparency International-Malaysia (TI-M).

Its president, Datuk Akhbar Satar said only if there is a basis from the outcome of the investigation to suspend the publication, then the action is justified.

"Move forward to this past few weeks, we have had loads of news on allegations, accusations, threats, remands, wanted list and travel bans. We are seeing an overdose of 'slinging' from all sides. But, why then suspend The Edge?" said Akhbar in a statement.

He said TI-M felt the Home Ministry should go through the legal process and action rather than to suspend these two publications, as proper legal action would allow the relevant parties to defend their action in the court of law.

"Suspending a newspaper which reported on the 1MDB scandal is not going to help the government in any way.

"In fact it will have more negative impact on Malaysia in terms of its international standing, sovereign ratings and the other ratings including the international perception on our Press freedom," said Akhbar.

He also pointed out that the Malaysian government seemed to have reneged on its promise not to censor the internet by blocking access to Sarawak Report.

"All these unpleasant acts will lead to loss of confidence in this country and impact our economy negatively as seen by the free fall of ringgit. Our government must not go for the ‘overkill’ in suppressing free speech on the pretext of acting against critics," he added.