Australian Blogger Charged in Thai Court for Defaming Malaysian Government
Case awakens fears of transnational repression
A Bangkok criminal court has indicted Australian gadfly journalist Murray Hunter on an unprecedented criminal defamation charge brought at the behest of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), which Hunter has attacked in critical reports in his Substack blog for months.
The case has aroused deep concern over transnational repression of the press and international human rights organizations based in Thailand that report critically on surrounding countries, particularly Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar.
While Thailand has long engaged in transnational repression and a “swap mart” system in which it cooperates with neighboring countries to take action against both foreign dissidents on Thai soil and Thai critics living abroad, it has never been used against journalists before.
Hunter, a lone blogger who for several years has launched unrelenting criticism of the Malaysian government from his perch in the Thai border city of Hatyai in his Substack blog, was freed on THB20,000 (US$616) bail but faces a criminal defamation trial on December 21 in a case that could put him behind bars for two years with a fine of THB200,000. His passport was confiscated by Thai police.
The Thai case apparently stems from an October 16 ruling in Malaysia for civil defamation of the MCMC – without his knowledge, he says – in a High Court in the Kuala Lumpur suburb of Shah Alam. The case is doubly extraordinary because although Hunter was charged with criminal defamation in Thailand, Malaysia has no criminal defamation statute. The MCMC blocked his blog, carried on Substack, three years ago.
“Thai authorities should drop the criminal defamation charges against Murray Hunter and restore his travel documents immediately,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “Thai courts and laws shouldn’t be used to threaten and try journalists who report critically on government agencies in other countries. The case should be thrown out on jurisdiction issues alone.”
Although international journalists have long used Thailand as a regional base for critical reporting throughout Southeast Asia, as far as can be determined, this is the first time one has been charged. Major news organizations and human rights NGOs have reported critically on repression in Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar, which is locked in a bloody five-year civil war with rebels seeking a return to democracy.
While Malaysia has long been regarded as one of the freest states in the region, under the current government, blogs have been summarily shut down and journalists have been threatened by government officials. “Don’t get upset with me if there is a call or a radio car outside of your house. We are monitoring, behave yourself,” Fahmi Fadzil, the minister of Communications, famously told reporters in 2023. Asia Sentinel has been repeatedly blocked over the years for reporting critically on Malaysian politics and scandals although Fahmi denied it personally in an email.
“Malaysia is engaged in a blatant transnational repression by going after Murray Hunter with a criminal defamation charge, and sadly, the Thai police and prosecutors either don’t know or don’t care that they are being played for fools by the Malaysian MCMC and government,” said Phil Robertson, director of Asia Human Rights & Labor Advocates. “Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs needs to wake up, recognize that Thailand’s reputation for media freedom will be taking a serious hit for defending Malaysia’s dirty laundry in a case that has nothing to do at all with Thailand, and intervene with prosecutors to stop this travesty of justice from moving forward.”
Journalists and media workers “are increasingly targeted by governments who wish to stifle critical voices and the reporting of facts, and silence freedom of expression even beyond their borders,” according to an earlier statement by the Media Freedom Coalition of 50 member states. “Journalists are deterred from reporting inconvenient truths even if they are not taking a specific stance. This trend poses a significant threat not only to journalists, media workers and their families, but also to the fundamental principles of democracy, good governance and human rights.”
Hunter was originally taken into custody on September 29 at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok at about 7:30 am while preparing to board a flight to Hong Kong. “I was shocked by what happened. I have not done anything wrong in Thailand,” he was quoted as saying. “It’s unbelievable. The police forces are working together to suppress free speech.”
The MCMC, he said, “conned the Thai police to use criminal defamation on me. Now journalists in Thailand are not safe if third countries seek Thai assistance to prosecute people they don’t like.”
Originally an academician and consultant to Asian governments on community development and village biotechnology, Hunter was a lecturer at Universiti Malaysia in the northern state of Perlis until 2015. He has written for a long list of publications including New Mandela, Online Opinion, Pravda, Eurasia Review, MIC, local Malaysian news sites, and others, and is the author of several books. He wrote for Asia Sentinel as well but started his own blog on Substack three years ago and no longer contributes.
In April 2024, the MCMC accused Hunter of “slanderous postings” for accusing the commission of acting beyond its jurisdiction for personal interests, of being politically influenced by the Pakatan Harapan administration, and claiming that the commission and the police were trying to scare the public. The commission “categorically rejected all baseless accusations.”
His troubles with the Malaysian government have been growing for several years, he said.
While Hunter has become widely known across Malaysia as an Anwar critic, repeatedly delivering specific examples of corruption and predicting the Pakatan Harapan coalition’s imminent demise, which has earned him the anger of the government, there is little doubt that, despite Anwar’s liberal credentials, his administration has become increasingly more restrictive of freedom of information.