In the latest ranking, Burundi (142), Ethiopia (143), Cambodia (144), Myanmar (145) and Bangladesh (146) have all topped us.

COMMENT

For all the talk about Malaysia becoming a First World democracy, press freedom in Malaysia is still being tightly-controlled.

Therefore it was unsurprising that our Press Freedom Index (PFI) rating has dropped two rungs from 145 previously to 147 currently out of 180 countries as shown from the information released by Reporters Without Borders for this year.

This is certainly deplorable for a country that aspires to be a First World nation, especially when we have been touted as a model democracy by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak.

The placing of 147 out of 180 countries is more than three quarters down the list as 135 is the three quarter mark.

What is worse is that our ranking is even below that of Burundi (142), Ethiopia (143), Cambodia (144), Myanmar (145) and Bangladesh (146).

Certainly with this type of ranking, we cannot claim to be a model democracy and to continue claiming so would be shameful and embarrassing.

However this drop in ranking is only to be expected due to the drama involving the weekly The Heat last year.

It has to be noted that the best result was shown in the year 2006 with the ranking of 92 which was achieved under the premiership of Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

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Press freedom is going down