''New Naratif'' ( Malay for New Narrative) is a

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

n–based online

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...

platform and self-described

independent media Independent media refers to any media (communication), media, such as television, newspapers, or Internet-based publications free of influence by government or corporate interests. The term has varied applications. Independence stands as a corne ...

outlet that publishes content on

Southeast Asian Southeast Asia is the geographical southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Australian mainland, which is part of Oceania. Southeast Asia is ...

current affairs. Founded in 2017, it is managed by Singaporean historian and former athlete Thum Ping Tjin and freelance journalist Kirsten Han. The outlet publishes investigative reporting, academic research, comics, explainers, videos and

podcasts A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an episodic series of digital audio files that users can download to a personal device or stream to listen to at a time of their ...

in English, Malay and other languages of Southeast Asia. It describes itself as promoting "

democracy Democracy (from , ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitiv ...

, freedom of information and

freedom of expression Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The rights, right to freedom of expression has been r ...

in Southeast Asia". It is funded by membership fees, philanthropic grants and undisclosed donations. The outlet is registered in

Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...

, Malaysia.

Disputes with Singaporean authorities

The site has been involved in a number of disputes with Singaporean authorities, with the website often posting about Singaporean politics. Singaporean authorities have accused ''New Naratif'' of being a vessel of foreign interference – the website is based in Malaysia and relies heavily on undisclosed donations – an accusation that the outlet has denied. During the

2020 Singaporean general election General elections were held in Singapore on Friday, 10 July 2020 to elect 93 members to the Parliament of Singapore across Constituencies of Singapore, 31 constituencies. Parliament was Dissolution of parliament, dissolved and the general elect ...

, ''New Naratif'' was investigated by Singaporean police for allegedly publishing paid advertisements on

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

, which according to the Elections Department amounted to illegal conduct. Thum was subsequently questioned by police and his phone and laptop were seized. The post was taken down by Facebook after the

Infocomm Media Development Authority The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) is a statutory board under the Singapore Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI). History The Telecommunication Authority of Singapore (TAS) was the statutory board that acted a ...

issued a notice to the social media site for "unauthorised paid Internet election advertising" as the post was still available after June 30 (Nomination Day) and not sanctioned by any candidate or election agent. ''New Naratif'' responded by asking authorities to stop their "long-standing campaign of harassment". A number of civil society groups led by South Africa's Civicus along with Article 19,

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

and

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

requested authorities to drop charges against the site.{{Cite web, last=Gaebee, first=Kgalalelo, title=Singapore: Drop police report against independent media outlet New Naratif, url=https://www.civicus.org/index.php/media-resources/news/4669-singapore-drop-police-report-against-independent-media-outlet-new-naratif, access-date=2021-03-01, website=www.civicus.org, language=en-gb

Reception

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

–based ''

Columbia Journalism Review The ''Columbia Journalism Review'' (''CJR'') is a biannual magazine for professional journalists that has been published by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism since 1961. Its original purpose was "to assess the performance ...

'' highlighted ''New Naratif'' as an example of a number of emerging independent outlets from Asian countries, where

freedom of the press Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic Media (communication), media, especially publication, published materials, shoul ...

is rare, as an "alternative" to the media dominated by primarily Western and Chinese outlets.

References

Malaysian news websites Investigative journalism Southeast Asian studies Censorship in Singapore