“I believe this is all a part of bullying, intimidation, and an attempt to silence dissent in Malaysia,” says Murray Hunter.

On 29 September, Hunter, an Australian journalist, was arrested at a Thai airport, detained overnight, and charged with defamation in Thailand for his opinions over the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and politics in Malaysia.

The charges by the Thai authorities were widely criticized as transnational repression, where governments punish their dissidents beyond borders. Civil society in Thailand also criticized it as “a trend of Thai laws being used for Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP).”

In messages sent to Prachatai’s reporter, Hunter says that he believes the lawsuit is intended to put fear into activists and journalists, and that it was a warning driven by personal vengeance. He also wrote that he believes the MCMC is acting unilaterally rather than at the direction of individuals in the Malaysian government.

Hunter has been involved in business, academia, and government in the Asia-Pacific region over the last 4 decades. For many years, Hunter has worked with several organizations in Malaysia, including universities and development agencies, and he is an author and a long-time commentator on Malaysia.

“I started my Substack in April 2021 during the Covid lockdown. It was originally a repository for my old writing and new articles,” Hunter wrote.

According to Hunter, in 2022, whistleblowers provided him with information about irregularities in a sports complex project. He reported on the issue and later discovered that the MCMC chairman at the time was a major shareholder in the contracting company.

“Very strangely, the local media wouldn’t report the issue (they were threatened with legal action), and a series of bloggers were used to attack my writings.

“In 2023, my website was completely blocked in Malaysia under the direction of the MCMC without any reason. The MCMC didn’t answer my emails. My contracts as a columnist at FMT and My Sin Chew were terminated and no one in the Malaysian media would post my articles. I was totally silenced by the mainstream media. In some cases my name could not even be mentioned unless it was a state-written article by Bernama.

According to a report in January 2024, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, where Hunter was formerly a lecturer, distanced itself from him over his report on the sport complex “as it involves issues of religion, race and the position of the Malay rulers (3R)” and urged him “to remove his former lecturer position from any social media platform.”

In March 2024, the Malaysian police opened an investigation against Hunter for violation of “3Rs” after MCMC’s report to police. The action was criticized by Malaysian Lawyers for Liberty as “unnecessary” and “high-handed for a public body.”

According to Hunter, some media outlets even reported that Interpol had issued a Red Notice (a request for the location and arrest of a wanted person) and a Blue Notice (a request for information) against him, portraying him as a fugitive. Furthermore, the contracting company filed a SLAPP lawsuit against him and an activist in the Shah Alam court.

He said that after his home was raided and he was taken to police headquarters, he wrote articles criticizing the MCMC and the 3R. The MCMC later accused Hunter of making “slanderous postings” and denied all the allegations. Those articles are now the subject of the defamation case against him in Thailand.

According to the police document, the statements by Hunter alleged to be defamatory involve several mentions of Salim Fateh Din, who was the reappointed chairman of the MCMC at the time and is now serving as interim chairman.

Salim, who has a prolific business background, has also been appointed as Chair of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) Anti-Corruption Advisory Board (ACAB). A report by Asia Sentinel noted that Hunter had singled him out as a particular foe.

”I do not believe these articles are defamatory in Malaysia or Thailand. They are a warning for others about what could happen to them. I believe this is all a part of bullying, intimidation, and an attempt to silence dissent in Malaysia”, Hunter wrote.