Malaysia’s independent radios jammed, sites hit by cyberattacks

The Malaysian Insider | APRIL 07, 2013

KUALA LUMPUR, April 7 – Two independent radios, Radio Free Sarawak and Radio Free Malaysia, have been jammed in Malaysia and their web sites inaccessible due to cyberattacks, says its founder.

The two stations broadcast from London on short-wave frequencies and are available online through their websites and online database Soundcloud.

“There have been attempts at broadcast interference on both radio stations by jamming from different parts of the world over the past few days. These have had limited success so far and we have been working on tracing the perpetrators,” founder Clare Rewcastle-Brown was quoted as saying by Malaysiakini.

Coordinated cyberattacks on their respective web sites were recorded all yesterday; they “came from all over, it appears, but mainly from the US and Malaysia, and our servers had to close down”, she added.

The Sarawak Report web site, the first launched by Rewcastle-Brown, similarly came under attack but was holding out.

“I think that all such attacks only show the weaknesses of the people behind them, who are evidently so dishonest and fearful that they resort to these underhand tactics against even the slightest attempt at a free broadcast media.

“The BN is throwing in very large sums of money to suppress our voice, but all the BN is doing is demonstrating to the world that its pretence of holding a democratic, free and fair election is a sham,” Rewcastle-Brown said.

“If these two radio stations are doing nothing else, they are showing Malaysia’s BN coalition for what it really is to the rest of the world.”

Podcasts of Radio Free Sarawak and Radio Free Malaysia programmes are, however, still available at Soundcloud, the online audio database, the Malaysiakini report said.