Malaysian reporter threatened after exposing conditions in primary school
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on the Malaysian authorities to do everything possible to identify those who threatened Mohd Ishak Abdillah Ngah an investigative reporter in Kuala Terengganu, a city 450 km northeast of Kuala Lumpur, and to guarantee his safety.
A reporter with the TV3 channel for the past 14 years, Mohd Ishak was threatened with reprisals ranging from a beating to murder after he reported that a religious primary school in Wakaf Mempelam, a village just outside Kuala Terengganu, lacked basic amenities including water and electricity.
The death threats, which he described as “a first in my career,” were posted on his Facebook home page. Fearing for his own and his family’s lives, he filed a complaint on 1 January.
“The authorities must move quickly to arrest those responsible for these threats and to protect this journalist and his family,” RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk said. “Respect for journalists’ right to report the news has grown since the Pakatan Harapan alliance won the 2018 election and Mahathir Mohamad became prime minister. The ruling alliance must now take the additional step of ensuring that investigative reporters, who take risks to expose the truth in everyone’s interest, are able to work safely.”
Malaysia is ranked 123rd out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2019 World Press Freedom Index
Malaysia
