Home Ministry suspends The Edge Weekly, The Edge Financial Daily

The Home Ministry has suspended the publishing permit of The Edge Weekly and The Edge Financial Daily for three months beginning July 27.

In a statement today, The Edge said the ministry cited the publications' reporting on 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) issues as "prejudicial or likely to be prejudicial to public order, security or likely to alarm public opinion or is likely to be prejudicial to public and national interest".

The ministry also warned The Edge that failure to stop publication for three months will result in the withdrawal of the publishing permits, the KDN letter said.

Meanwhile, The Edge Media Group publisher and CEO Ho Kay Tat expressed disappointment with the decision.

"We don’t see how exposing the scam to cheat the people of Malaysia of billions of Ringgit can be construed as being detrimental to public and national interest.

“This is nothing more than a move to shut us down in order to shut us up,” he said.

Ho added that The Edge will go to court and try and get the suspension lifted.

The Edge Media Group’s Malaysian operations have a staff count of around 350.