Malaysia Today is a popular Malaysian news blog

Blog

A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...

. It is known for being critical of both the governing Barisan Nasional

Barisan Nasional

Barisan Nasional is a major political coalition in Malaysia, formed in 1973 as the successor to the Alliance . Along with its predecessor, it has been Malaysia's federal ruling political force since independence...

 coalition and opposition

Opposition (Malaysia)

The Opposition in Malaysia is a term used to describe political parties represented in the Parliament of Malaysia that are not in government either on their own or as part of a governing coalition. Note that this article uses the term government as it is used in parliamentary systems, i.e...

 parties such as the Democratic Action Party

Democratic Action Party

The Democratic Action Party, or DAP is a secular, multi-racial, social democratic Malaysian political party.The DAP is one of the three major opposition parties in Malaysia, along with the PKR and PAS, that are seen as electable alternatives to the Barisan Nasional coalition of parties...

 and Parti Keadilan Rakyat

Parti Keadilan Rakyat

The People's Justice Party , often known simply as KeADILan) is a centrist political party in Malaysia formed in 2003 by a merger of the National Justice Party and the older Malaysian People's Party...

. Its founder and chief editor is Raja Petra Kamarudin

Raja petra kamarudin

Raja Petra bin Raja Kamarudin is a Malaysian editor known for running the Malaysia Today website and publishing a series of commentary articles on Malaysian politics in the website. He is also fondly referred to by the initials RPK.He was detained for a second time under the Internal Security Act,...

, a former political detainee. Founded in August 2004, it has claimed that it has received almost 100 million hits

Web analytics

Web analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of internet data for purposes of understanding and optimizing web usage....

 since then, and alleges it has a readership larger than that of the New Straits Times

New Straits Times

The New Straits Times is an English-language newspaper published in Malaysia. It is Malaysia's oldest newspaper still in print , having been founded as The Straits Times in 1845, and was reestablished as the "New Straits Times" in 1965. The paper served as Malaysia's only broadsheet format English...

, a major English language

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 daily newspaper

Newspaper

A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...

 in Malaysia. According to The Star

The Star (Malaysia)

The Star is an English-language, tabloid-format newspaper in Malaysia. It is the largest in terms of circulation in Malaysia, according to the . It has a daily circulation of between 290,000 to 300,000...

, Malaysia Today receives 1.5 million hits a day, and is one of the top ten political sites in Malaysia. The website is currently hosted

Web hosting service

A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to make their own website accessible via the World Wide Web. Web hosts are companies that provide space on a server they own or lease for use by their clients as well as providing Internet...

 in neighbouring Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

.

Founding

Malaysia Today was launched about two weeks before the release of Anwar Ibrahim

Anwar Ibrahim

Anwar bin Ibrahim is a Malaysian politician who served as Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister from 1993 to 1998. Early in his career, Anwar was a close ally of Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad but subsequently emerged as the most prominent critic of Mahathir's government.In 1999, he was sentenced...

 from prison

Prison

A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...

 on September 2, 2004; Anwar was once Deputy Prime Minister

Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia

Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia is the second highest political office in Malaysia. There has been ten deputy prime ministers since the office was created in 1957. Although there has always been a Deputy Prime Minister since independence, there is nothing preventing a Prime Minister from not...

, but fell from grace after his actions during the 1997 Asian financial crisis, and was sacked by then Prime Minister

Prime Minister of Malaysia

The Prime Minister of Malaysia is the indirectly elected head of government of Malaysia. He is officially appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, the head of state, who in HM's judgment is likely to command the confidence of the majority of the members of that House of Representatives , the...

 Mahathir bin Mohamad

Mahathir bin Mohamad

Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad . is a Malaysian politician who was the fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia. He held the post for 22 years from 1981 to 2003, making him Malaysia's longest serving Prime Minister. His political career spanned almost 40 years.Born and raised in Alor Setar, Kedah, Mahathir...

. Anwar was imprisoned in 1998 after he was found guilty of charges of corruption and released in 2004. Raja Petra, who was the webmaster of the Free Anwar Campaign website, decided to form Malaysia Today shortly before Anwar's release as part of a "Free Malaysia" campaign. Raja Petra took credit for predicting that Anwar would be released several weeks before it actually occurred. hguj

Censorship by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission

On August 27, 2008 Malaysia Today website was blocked by the Malaysian government. The censorship was removed on 12 September 2008, but Raja Petra Kamaruddin was arrested the same day under the ISA (Internal Security Act). On November 7, 2008, he was freed from detention by Malaysian authorities after Shah Alam city High Court Justice Syed Ahmad Helmy Syed Ahmad granted his habeas corpus petition and ruled that his September 12 detention was illegal.