MalaysiaNow is back!

Last October, MalaysiaNow decided to stop its regular updates.

The decision to terminate our small team came not long after our website was subjected to a 48-hour block. Until today, no explanation has been forthcoming from the government, which has issued only empty denials.

This incident shows the lengths to which the government will go to ensure that journalists return to being parrots and tape recorders. It is effectively a return to the 80s and 90s, a time without online platforms to document the stupidity of politicians which would go on to become national policy.

But while Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's vows of reforms have been exposed as a complete sham – something that history textbooks will find hard to gloss over – the opposition has not been up to mark, either.

Many opposition politicians appear resigned to being branded as "Malay-centric" and "right wing", while others have proven a disgrace to those who voted for them in the hope that they would play their role of providing checks and balances.

Meanwhile, the outlets recognised as media have failed to fill this vacuum, with many simply regurgitating government policies in their coverage. At press conferences, ruling politicians and ministers are spared the hard questions, nevermind challenged over unjust laws.

Take for example the current bid to amend citizenship provisions in the constitution which, if successful, will stand testament to this government's failure to reform.

Have the media or the opposition – part of the so-called fourth estate in democracy – questioned this unnecessary attack on human dignity that would affect the lives of thousands of Malaysians forced to live as undocumented refugees in the country of their birth?

This is one of countless issues that have not received the attention they deserve, either from the media or from opposition politicians, both of whom are supposed to play the role of providing checks and balances.

That role has fallen on the shoulders of common people on social media, and a few good public figures who through their writings and podcasts have outshone professional journalists.

Now, with our limited resources, MalaysiaNow seeks to uncover and shame misbehaving politicians and expose their harmful plans for the country.

No doubt, there will be hurdles ahead of us in the form of network blockages, threats and intimidation, as well as restrictions on media passes, none of which, we hope, will deter us from fulfilling our task.

In doing so, we will stick to the truth, as we have done since 2020 with our coverage and exposes – for it is this role of scrutinising and reporting that vindicates our existence as a news outlet.