There are many local newspaper in Malaysia. Some are new and some have been around for at least 50 years. And like any newspaper publishers around the world, most of them has a beginning in politics. Malaysia is also one of them. The New Strait Times for example has been instrumental in instilling nationalism among the people during the pre-independent days. In other words, it was used as a propaganda tool to reach to the mass.
Today, from the politically-inclined newspapers, Malaysia has spawned many other newspapers of all genres such as Finance, Business News, Entertainment and many others. To cater for the multi-racial Malaysians, one can find newspapers in most of the major languages spoken in Malaysia such as Malay or Bahasa Melayu, English, Chinese, Tamil, Kadazan, Iban and many other local dialects especially in East Malaysia. Such variety makes Malaysia one of the most unique countries in the World.
When it comes to politics, newspaper in Malaysia can be categorised into three categories: pro-goverment, pro-opposition or neutral. Most of the mainstream newspapers such as The Star or New Straits Times have long been perceived as pro-government but being a democratic country, Malaysia has never stopped pro-opposition newspapers to be in circulation though from time to time there are cases where publishers fail to renew their publication permit for being too 'vocal' in expressing their opinion against the government.
Pro-opposition newspapers are normally backed by its proxy political party in terms of resources and funding. Even though there is no such thing as absolute freedom of speech in Malaysia yet, the existence of such newspaper proves otherwise. And one can be sure that such evolution will continue in Malaysia and hopefully for the better.
jdnetleg has put together a list of online newspapers in Malaysia in his blog http://malaysiaonlinenewspaper.blogspot.com
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