No licensing of news portals - PM

However, he said, to preserve the existing harmony in the country, the government would continue to enforce existing laws.

"...to ensure that no quarters try to cause disunity by using elements of race, religion, language or try to belittle the institution of the monarchy or try to subvert the system of parliamentary democracy (practiced by Malaysia), appropriate action will be taken in accordance to existing laws," he said.

Najib said this when addressing the Malaysian Journalists Night 2013 here Wednesday.

At the event, he also presented the prizes to the winners of the Malaysia MPI-Petronas 2012 Awards.

From June 1, Singapore has made it mandatory for news portals operating in the city-state that have more than 50,000 unique visitors a month to get an annual licence from its Media Development Authority.

Najib also said Malaysia was undergoing a transition from being an industrialised middle income country to a developed nation with its economy centred on modern services and high income.

He said the process changed the lives of the people, the majority of whom now lived in urban areas with the income level much higher and poverty level reduced as compared to when Malaysia just gained independence.

Besides these, he said with the national broadband penetration at 60 per cent, huge investments in the field of education and liberalisation of the higher education sector, had produced a middle class that was becoming increasingly vocal about their rights.

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"The government has to be creative and innovative in managing this new reality. The middle class which has become more assertive wants a greater say on the formulation of national policies that concern their future and this has to be made a part of the national coalition that will remake Malaysia," he stressed.